Look what’s in mom’s shoebox
Tuesday, November 16th, 2004
Categorized as: Stinker bonds
We have found a shoebox full of approximately $100,000 worth of Series E bonds under the bed of our aging mother. A lot of them matured 20 years ago. Can you advise me on the best way to cash these bonds in? Can you tell me what the penalty and interest would be that we would have to pay if these bonds are cashed in today?
Tom’s response
First, get a Power of Attorney from your mother that specifically mentions Savings Bonds so you can begin to deal with this.
Your mom has already paid the biggest penalty by not cashing these bonds in when they stopped paying interest. Had she cashed them in, paid the taxes, and reinvested in new Savings Bonds, she’d have over $300,000 now.
$200,000 is a pretty big penalty for not attending to your investments, but it is what it is.
I doubt the IRS is interested in an amended return from 20 years ago, but given the amount of money involved here, I think it would be worth it to you to pay a tax accountant or attorney to help you sort this out.
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Tom Adams