FS Form 3500: The Continuation Sheet for Listing Savings Bonds

FS Form 3500 is one of the quietest forms on TreasuryDirect’s savings bond list. Its full title is “Continuation Sheet for Listing Securities,” the revision is dated April 2026, and its only job is to hold the overflow when the bond list on another form runs out of lines. TreasuryDirect’s forms index describes it simply: “List additional bonds for payment; attach to a form.”

If you landed here because a form told you to attach it, the practical question is how much care the sheet deserves. The answer is some. It asks for nothing the main form does not already ask, but the inscription column is where transcription mistakes tend to happen, so it pays to copy it slowly.

What the sheet looks like and what goes in each column

The form opens with the instruction “Print in ink or type all information.” Beneath it sits one sentence with a blank: “The bonds described on this form are included in the attached FS Form” followed by a line. That blank is the only link between the sheet and the rest of your package. Write the number of the main form there, for example 1522 or 5336, because a loose continuation sheet otherwise says nothing about the transaction it belongs to.

Below that is a table with four columns, labeled this way on the form:

On the printed sheet, the first three columns are ruled into 23 lines, one bond per line, while the inscription column is a single open box that runs the full height of the table.

The inscription column is the one that trips people up. It is not asking for the name of the person cashing the bond today. Read the header again: it asks for the Social Security number, names and addresses “on the bonds,” meaning what is printed on the bond itself, including middle names or initials. Two of the main forms add a note for one common wrinkle. FS Form 1048 and FS Form 3062-4 both say, “If a bond was received as a gift, provide the purchaser’s Social Security Number.”

It has no signature line and no certification block

The text of FS Form 3500 contains no signature line, no “Sign here” box and no certification block. That sets it apart from the main forms it supports, many of which require a signature in front of a notary or a certifying officer. Our guide to which TreasuryDirect forms need a notary or a certifying officer covers that split form by form. The continuation sheet sits outside it altogether, because the signed and certified page is the main form.

One practical consequence is that you can fill in the sheet at home, before you go to the bank or notary. The person certifying your signature is witnessing the main form, and the sheet gives them nothing to complete. Attach the sheet to the main form so that the blank at the top does the work of tying them together.

You may not need the form at all

Read the exact words on the main forms, because they differ, and none of them makes FS Form 3500 mandatory.

• FS Form 1522, the request to cash paper bonds by mail, says on page 1: “If you need more space, attach either a list or FS Form 3500.” Our FS Form 1522 guide walks through that form.
• FS Form 5336, for a deceased owner’s bonds when no court is administering the estate, uses the same “either a list or FS Form 3500” language beginning on page 2, wherever securities are described. See the FS Form 5336 guide.
• FS Form 4000, the reissue request, says on page 3 to attach “either FS Form 3500 … or a plain sheet of paper.” Our FS Form 4000 guide covers it.
• FS Form 1851, the reissue to a personal trust, uses the “either a list or FS Form 3500” phrasing on page 1. Read the FS Form 1851 guide for that route.
• FS Form 1048, the lost, stolen or destroyed bond claim, says on page 1 to attach “either a list or FS Form 3500,” and its instructions on page 5 say to attach “either a plain sheet of paper or attach a ‘Continuation Sheet for Listing Securities’ (FS Form 3500).” The FS Form 1048 guide explains the claim.

Other FS forms carry the same pointer: FS Form 1849, FS Form 2243, FS Form 2966, FS Form 3062-4 and FS Form 5512. On FS Form 5512, which handles TreasuryDirect accounts, the pointer sits under its lists of confirmation numbers and account numbers rather than under a bond table. Across all of them, the continuation sheet is one option among others, never the only one, and FS Form 2966 even accepts “a photocopy of this section” as a third choice. I read that as Treasury caring about the four pieces of information rather than the page they appear on. Still, the careful approach is to make a plain list look exactly like the official sheet: copy the four headings, keep each bond on one line, and write the main form’s number at the top yourself, since the preprinted blank will not be there.

A short worked example

Here is how a small overflow looks in practice. The bonds below are invented for illustration, and the Social Security number is the placeholder from the form’s own example. Suppose the main form has room for the first bonds and three more spill over onto the sheet.

On the official sheet, the inscription goes in the open box to the right rather than on a line of its own for each bond. The face amounts on these three lines add up to $800. That total is only a bookkeeping figure, because face amount is not the same thing as current redemption value, which is the figure FS Form 1522 uses for its certification rule. That form says that if the current redemption value of your bonds totals $1,000 or less, your signature need not be certified (you may enclose a current copy of your driver’s license, passport, state ID or military ID instead), and that if it totals more than $1,000, you sign in the presence of a notary or certifying officer. So do not use the face column to decide whether you need a witness. The sheet lists the bonds; it does not value them.

The sibling attachments: FS Form 2778-1 and FS Form 5396-1

Two other attachments get confused with the continuation sheet because they also attach to a main form. They do different work.

FS Form 2778-1, Certification Attachment (revised April 2026). The header reads “Attached to and made a part of FS Form:” with a blank, and the instruction is “Sign in ink in the presence of a certifying officer and provide the requested information.” Each signer block asks for a printed name, a Social Security number, a mailing address, a daytime telephone number and an e-mail address, and each certification block has the certifying officer attest that the named persons “personally appeared before me” and signed the form. TreasuryDirect’s index summarizes it as “Additional signature boxes and signature certifications to attach to a form.” FS Form 2513 shows a use case: for more than two signatures, it points to the Certification Attachment. That is the opposite of FS Form 3500, because this attachment exists for signatures and must be signed in front of the certifying officer.

FS Form 5396-1, Direct Deposit Sign-Up Form Attachment (revised April 2026). This is a signature page for FS Form 5396. TreasuryDirect says to use it “if FS Form 5396 doesn’t provide sufficient space for signatures,” and the form’s instruction is “Sign in ink.” Unlike FS Form 2778-1, it has no certifying-officer block.

If you are assembling a package, the rule of thumb is simple. Extra bonds go on a list or FS Form 3500. Extra signatures that need a witness go on FS Form 2778-1. Extra signatures for a direct deposit sign-up go on FS Form 5396-1.

A related list form, FS Form 2490

FS Form 2490, “Description of United States Savings Bonds & Notes,” has the same four column headings (its issue-date column asks for the “Specific month and year of purchase”), but it is a stand-alone form rather than an attachment. It says “The following is a list of United States Savings Bonds & Notes currently in my possession,” carries a signature line for the person submitting it, brings its own continuation sheet on page 2 instead of pointing to FS Form 3500, and gives the mailing address as Treasury Retail Securities Services, PO Box 9150, Minneapolis, MN 55480-9150. The form does not say what Treasury does with the list, so I will not guess. The contrast is what matters here: FS Form 3500 supports another form, while FS Form 2490 stands on its own.

A checklist before you mail the package

Before you send anything, run through five checks. First, confirm that the revision date printed at the top of the sheet is the current one (April 2026 when this guide was written). Second, write the main form’s number in the blank at the top. Third, copy each bond’s inscription exactly as printed, including the full Social Security number. Fourth, keep the sheet with the main form so the two travel as one. Fifth, do the signing and any certification on the main form, not on the sheet.

Sources

• FS Form 3500, Continuation Sheet for Listing Securities (Revised April 2026), page 1: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav3500.pdf
• FS Form 2778-1, Certification Attachment (Revised April 2026): https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav2778-1.pdf
• FS Form 5396-1, Direct Deposit Sign-Up Form Attachment (Revised April 2026): https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav5396-1.pdf
• FS Form 2490, Description of United States Savings Bonds & Notes (Revised April 2026): https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav2490.pdf
• FS Form 1522 (Revised April 2026), page 1: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav1522.pdf
• FS Form 1048 (Revised March 2026), pages 1 and 5: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav1048.pdf
• FS Form 5336 (Revised April 2026), page 2 onward: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav5336.pdf
• FS Form 4000 (Revised April 2026), page 3: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav4000.pdf
• FS Form 1851 (Revised April 2026), page 1: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav1851.pdf
• FS Form 3062-4 (Revised April 2026), page 1 and instructions: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav3062-4.pdf
• FS Form 1849 (Revised April 2026): https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav1849.pdf
• FS Form 2243 (Revised April 2026), page 1: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav2243.pdf
• FS Form 2966 (Revised July 2025), page 1: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav2966.pdf
• FS Form 5512 (Revised April 2026): https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sec5512.pdf
• FS Form 2513 (Revised August 2022), page 3 (reference to the Certification Attachment): https://www.treasurydirect.gov/forms/sav2513.pdf
• TreasuryDirect, Forms for Savings Bonds (form descriptions): https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/forms/