FS Form 1851: Reissuing Paper Savings Bonds to a Personal Trust
FS Form 1851 moves paper EE and I bonds into a personal trust as electronic bonds. The tax box you must check, who signs and what the trust account needs.
FS Form 1851 is the request you send Treasury to move paper savings bonds into a personal trust. It is narrower than it sounds, because the bonds do not come back as paper: for Series EE and Series I, the form says, “They will be electronic, in our online system TreasuryDirect.” The trust therefore needs a TreasuryDirect account to receive them, and the form also forces a tax choice that matters more than the paperwork around it.
Which form for which situation
TreasuryDirect’s forms page puts the line between the two reissue forms in plain words. Its description of FS Form 4000 reads “Use to request reissue of paper savings bonds, except for reissue to a personal trust,” and its description of FS Form 1851 reads “Request reissue of bonds to a personal trust.” The form itself says to use it “only if your existing bonds are paper.” Where the bonds stand today decides the rest.
| Where the bonds are | What the sources say to use |
|---|---|
| Paper bonds, going into a personal trust | FS Form 1851 |
| Paper bonds, going into an individual’s name | FS Form 4000 (see our guide to FS Form 4000) |
| Electronic bonds registered in your name, going into a trust | Open an entity trust account in TreasuryDirect and submit FS Form 5511 to transfer the bonds to it |
| Paper bonds, bank or trust company as trustee of its common trust fund | FS Form 1455 submitted together with FS Form 1851 |
| Heir in a non-administered estate who wants a paper bond reissued to a trust | The FS Form 5336 instructions say the person entitled must submit FS Form 1851 |
The same last point appears in FS Publication 0106, “Trust Transactions” (revised June 2022): when bonds are distributed to the persons entitled to a trust, someone who wants them issued in his or her name submits FS Form 4000, and someone who wants them issued to a trust submits FS Form 1851. Note the difference with FS Form 5336 itself, which says you cannot use that form “to distribute bonds or to make payment to a trust.” The heir’s own FS Form 1851 is a separate step.
What counts as a personal trust
The instructions define the term: “a trust established by natural persons in their own right for the benefit of themselves or other natural persons in whole or in part, and common trust funds comprised in whole or in part of such estates.” They then list who may have created the trust:
- the owner, both coowners, or either coowner;
- some other person, provided the owner or a coowner is a beneficiary of the trust; or
- for Series EE bonds only, some other person, provided a beneficiary of the trust is related by blood (including legal adoption) or marriage to the owner or a coowner.
The form says nothing about any other kind of trust, so a trust that does not fit these descriptions is a question for Treasury before you mail anything. The form also says it “should not be completed by a person under any legal disability, except for a minor of sufficient competency to sign the request and to understand the nature of the transaction.” A bank, trust company or other financial institution appointed as trustee of a personal trust should submit FS Form 1455 with this form if the bonds are to be reissued in its name as trustee of its common trust fund.
Describing the bonds and the trust
Item 1 asks for the total face amount and a description of each bond: issue date (specific month and year of purchase), face amount, bond number, and the inscription, including the complete Social Security number, names with any middle names or initials, and addresses. FS Publication 0106 says all bonds must be described by serial number on any form submitted. For more space, attach a list or FS Form 3500. Savings bonds within one month of final maturity cannot be reissued, and the same warning appears on the top of the form.
Item 2 identifies the trust: the Taxpayer Identification Number assigned to the trust, the grantor’s name, the trustee’s name, the date the trust was created, and the beneficiaries if it is an FBO trust. With more than one grantor or trustee, list them all. The form says this information is used “to ensure that the new bond inscription contains all appropriate information required by the governing regulations.”
Item 3 supplies the new inscription. For Series EE and I bonds you give the TreasuryDirect account number for the trust and the Social Security number or Employer Identification Number assigned to the trust. For “Registration,” you show the trustee, the grantor and the date the trust was created, plus any beneficiaries if it is an FBO trust. The form gives three sample registrations: “Tenth National Bank, trustee under agreement with Paul E. White, dated 2/1/02”; “Carl A. Black and Henry B. Green, trustees under agreement with Paul E. White, dated 2/1/02”; and “Paul E. White, trustee under declaration of trust dated 2/1/02 FBO Henry B. Green.”
The tax notice, and the box you must check
Item 4 is a notice, and Item 5 makes you answer it. The notice begins: “Upon the reissuance of savings bonds to a trust, you must include in your gross income any accumulated interest on the bonds, if you have not already reported it, unless, under the grantor trust provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, you are treated as the owner of the portion of the trust represented by any tax-deferred accumulated interest on the reissued bonds.”
In other words, the default is that putting the bonds in the trust brings the unreported interest into your income. The exception applies when you are treated as owner of the portion of the trust that holds the interest. If you are, the notice says the accumulated interest “continues to be your income rather than that of the trust,” so you may keep deferring it, and you must include the total accumulated interest in your gross income “when the bonds are disposed of or finally mature, whichever is earlier.” Two conditions have to be true: you own that portion of the trust, and the bonds being reissued are either Series I or Series EE.
The notice says you will generally be treated as owner of a trust you created to the extent you retain certain powers over or interests in it, and gives three examples. You will be treated as owner of the portion represented by the accumulated interest if you can, at your discretion, revoke all or part of the trust so the bonds return to you; if the trust instrument provides that the bonds or the proceeds must be distributed to you or your spouse, or held or accumulated for future distribution to you or your spouse (irrespective of the trust’s other terms); or if you retain an immediately exercisable power to determine, in your sole discretion, who will receive the bonds or the proceeds. The form is explicit that the examples are “illustrative only” and do not cover every situation. If you are unsure whether you will be treated as owner, it says you may request a letter ruling from the IRS and gives the address: Internal Revenue Service, ATTN: CC: DOM: CORP: T, P.O. Box 7604, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044.
Item 5 turns this into two boxes, and “must be completed.”
| Box | You are certifying | What the form says happens |
|---|---|---|
| a | You will be treated as owner of the portion of the trust represented by the tax-deferred accumulated interest | The interest is tax-deferred and will not be reported to the IRS as a result of the reissue |
| b | You will not be treated as owner of that portion | Interest is reported to the IRS for the taxable year in which the bonds were reissued to the trust, and a 1099-INT is generated for the Social Security number specified |
“Interest” here includes the tax-deferred interest earned from the issue date until the date of reissue. If you check box b and the bonds are in coownership form, for example “John Smith OR Jane Smith,” you also name the principal coowner, who is responsible for the tax liability. The form defines that person as a coowner who bought the bonds with his or her own funds, or received them as a gift, inheritance, legacy or through judicial proceedings and had them reissued in coownership form without receiving anything in money or money’s worth for naming the other coowner. One more sentence in Item 5 deserves attention: the statement “will also apply to all future transactions requested by the same owner(s) or person(s) entitled to the same trust.” The form does not say how to change a statement once made, so that question goes to Treasury.
Who signs, and certification
Item 6 says the completed form “must be signed by the owner or both coowners and acting trustee.” If anyone whose signature is required has died, a certified copy of the death certificate must accompany the form. If there are co-trustees, one must be able to act individually on behalf of the trust. And only the trustee listed as the account manager of the TreasuryDirect trust account must sign agreeing to electronic reissue into that account.
The grantor also certifies, under penalty of perjury, that the Taxpayer Identification Number assigned to the trust is correct. If the trust was created by someone other than the owner or coowners, the trustee must furnish an IRS Form W-9. The form includes a separate backup-withholding certification that applies to Series HH bonds; other Treasury pages say all HH bonds have reached final maturity and can no longer be reissued, and FS Publication 0106 says bonds at final maturity may not be reissued.
The signature block reads: “Sign in ink in the presence of a notary or certifying officer and provide the requested information.” Each person must appear, establish identification and sign in the notary’s or officer’s presence. A notary’s seal is the first acceptable stamp on the list, along with a financial institution’s official stamp and a Treasury-approved Medallion stamp. TreasuryDirect’s forms page and Publication 0106 describe only a certifying individual or officer, so a certifying officer at a bank or credit union is acceptable under every description. See our table of notary and certifying-officer rules for the comparison across forms.
Trust evidence
The form itself asks for no trust documents, only a death certificate when a signer has died, but reserves the right to require additional evidence in any case. FS Publication 0106, the Treasury publication on trust transactions, is older (June 2022) and goes into detail. It says that if your state authorizes a certification of trust you may need to provide a copy; if not, provide the complete trust agreement or the pertinent pages, certified as a true and correct copy of the original, including the page showing the name and date of the trust, the page identifying successor trustees, the page with the grantor’s certified signature, and any amendments that could alter the information or limit the trustees’ authority. For a testamentary trust, it asks for a copy of the certified will under court seal. Treat that as the most detailed guidance available rather than a requirement printed on the current form.
The trust’s TreasuryDirect account and ID.me
Because the bonds land in a TreasuryDirect trust account, ID.me matters. TreasuryDirect’s FAQ says that since October 28, 2026, ID.me is the only method for logging in. For accounts held by an entity, it says: “ID.me verifies the individual account manager (using their government-issued information) rather than the entity itself. The person in charge of the entity (such as the POA, manager or trustee) must verify their personal identity through ID.me first.” It adds that the trust’s own details can still be updated with help from Customer Support, and that one ID.me Wallet can serve several TreasuryDirect accounts a person manages. The FAQ does not separately describe how a new trust account is opened, so that is a Customer Support question (844-284-2676). Our guide to TreasuryDirect without ID.me covers what the FAQ says in full.
Once the account exists, changes to it travel on another form. The chart on FS Form 5446 lists entity-account changes, such as correcting the account information or changing the entity account manager, with a copy of the trust, letters of appointment or a death certificate as evidence.
Mailing it
Unless you are told otherwise in accompanying correspondence, send the form, the securities if any, and any additional information to Treasury Retail Securities Services, P.O. Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150. Legal evidence or documentation cannot be returned. The form estimates about 15 minutes to complete and gives no processing time.
Sources
- FS Form 1851, Request to Reissue United States Savings Bonds to a Personal Trust (rev. April 2026), including its instructions: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav1851.pdf
- FS Publication 0106, Trust Transactions: United States Savings Bonds & Notes (rev. June 2022): https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav0106.pdf
- TreasuryDirect, Forms for Savings Bonds: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/forms/
- FS Form 5336 (rev. April 2026): https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav5336.pdf
- FS Form 5446 (rev. April 2026): https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav5446.pdf
- TreasuryDirect, Court-appointed representatives: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/manage-bonds/death-of-owner/court-appointed-representatives/
- TreasuryDirect, FAQs about ID.me, read November 2, 2026: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/help-center/faqs/idme-faq/
Quick answers
Do I use FS Form 1851 or FS Form 4000 to put paper bonds into a trust?
FS Form 1851. TreasuryDirect describes FS Form 4000 as the form to request reissue of paper savings bonds "except for reissue to a personal trust," and describes FS Form 1851 as the request to reissue bonds to a personal trust.
Will I pay tax on the interest when the bonds go into the trust?
It depends on a box you must check. If you will be treated as owner of the portion of the trust represented by the tax-deferred interest (box a), the interest stays tax-deferred and is not reported to the IRS as a result of the reissue. If not (box b), the interest is reported for the year of the reissue and a Form 1099-INT is generated. The form says you may request an IRS letter ruling if you are unsure.
My bonds are already electronic. Does FS Form 1851 apply?
No. The form says to use it only if your existing bonds are paper. For electronic bonds registered in your name, you must open an entity trust account in TreasuryDirect and submit FS Form 5511 to transfer the bonds to that account.
Can a notary certify FS Form 1851?
The form says to sign in ink in the presence of a notary or certifying officer, and the seal of a notary is the first acceptable seal its instructions list. TreasuryDirect's forms page and an older Treasury publication on trusts mention only a certifying individual or officer, so a certifying officer at a bank or credit union satisfies every description.
Who must sign, and does every trustee need ID.me?
The owner or both coowners and the acting trustee sign the form. Only the trustee listed as the account manager of the TreasuryDirect trust account must sign agreeing to electronic reissue. For entity accounts, TreasuryDirect says ID.me verifies the individual account manager, such as the trustee, rather than the trust itself.
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