Canada Savings Bonds: Redemption, CRA Reporting, and FBAR

To redeem Canada Savings Bonds, take any paper certificate along with government-issued photo ID to a Canadian bank or credit union where you have an account; the teller processes the redemption on behalf of the Bank of Canada. If your bonds were held electronically through a Payroll Savings Program and you never received the payout, contact the Bank of Canada’s Unclaimed Properties Office. Every series of Canada Savings Bonds and Canada Premium Bonds matured by December 2021 and none of them earn interest anymore, so any remaining bonds should be cashed as soon as you can get to it.¹

What you’ll actually receive depends on how the bond paid interest. Regular Interest bonds (R-Bonds) paid interest annually along the way, so you get the face value only. Compound Interest bonds (C-Bonds) rolled interest back into the bond each year, so you get face value plus all accumulated interest in one lump sum.²

Redeeming a Paper Certificate at Your Bank

Bring the certificate and valid government-issued photo ID to any Canadian bank or credit union. You sign the back of the certificate at the counter, and the teller verifies your identity against the registered owner name shown on the bond.¹

If more than one person is listed as a registered owner, every owner must sign. A jointly registered bond cannot be redeemed with one signature. Most institutions deposit the proceeds on the spot or within a few business days.

Electronic Bonds That Were Never Paid Out

Bonds bought through the Payroll Savings Program were held electronically, not as certificates. As each series matured, the Bank of Canada redeemed those bonds automatically and paid the money out by cheque or direct deposit using the contact and banking details on file. Most of these payouts went out in 2021.¹

If the payment never reached you, often because an address or bank account had changed, the funds are usually transferred to the Bank of Canada’s Unclaimed Properties Office. You can look up a holding through the online bond status search at unclaimedproperties.bankofcanada.ca, using your certificate number or plan details.

To claim the money, call the Unclaimed Properties Office at 1-833-876-2267 or write to Bank of Canada, Unclaimed Properties Office, 234 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0G9. Staff verify your identity against the original bond records before releasing payment.³

Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed Certificates

A missing certificate doesn’t mean the money is gone, but replacing one takes weeks and costs money. Start by mailing a Lost Bond Request Form to the Unclaimed Properties Office. Once staff review it, they send back a Bond of Indemnity Form with detailed instructions. You describe how the certificate was lost, stolen, or destroyed, and provide the total matured value including accumulated interest.⁴

Every registered owner has to sign the Bond of Indemnity. If a minor owns the bond, both parents sign. Witness requirements depend on the total maturity value:

Under $3,500: any witness of legal age.
$3,500 or more: a Commissioner of Oaths or Notary Public, such as a lawyer or Justice of the Peace.

You also pay a surety fee to HUB International Ontario Limited, which guarantees the bond’s value while the replacement is processed. The fee scales with the total maturity value of the lost certificates:

$100 to $1,000: $30 flat fee.
$1,000.01 to $3,500: $70 flat fee.
$3,500.01 to $250,000: 3% of the total.

Manitoba residents add 7% Retail Sales Tax on the surety premium, and Saskatchewan residents add 6%. Applicants living outside Canada, the U.S., or the U.K. face a $75 minimum premium and a 0.5% rate increase. The fee has to be paid by cheque or money order made out to HUB International Ontario Limited; it cannot be deducted from your redemption proceeds. Once HUB International has the completed Bond of Indemnity, the signed schedule, and the surety payment, expect 8 to 10 weeks for the redemption payment to be issued.⁴

Redeeming Bonds for Someone Who Has Died

When a bondholder has died, the executor or estate administrator normally presents letters probate or letters of administration to the Bank of Canada, together with the certificate if there is one.⁵

Probate is slow and expensive, and the regulations let the Bank waive it in defined situations. The Bank may proceed without probate when it is satisfied that no one intends to apply for probate and one of these applies:

There is no will, and the applicant can show they are entitled to the whole estate under provincial intestacy law.
There is a will, and the applicant is the sole beneficiary who would also have been entitled under intestacy law.
The deceased’s total bond holdings had a face value of $20,000 or less at the time of death.

The $20,000 small-holdings route is often the practical one for families with a modest number of bonds. Request the prescribed application form from the Unclaimed Properties Office.⁵ If the certificate itself is also missing, you’ll need to run the lost bond process on top of the estate paperwork.

Redeeming Under a Power of Attorney

If a living bondholder can’t act for themselves, someone holding a valid financial power of attorney can redeem on their behalf. The Bank of Canada has no form of its own; you use the document prepared under your provincial law.⁶

What you send in depends on the total bond value:

Under $2,000: a photocopy of the legal document.
$2,000 to $5,000: a photocopy of a previously certified document bearing an embossed seal.
Over $5,000: a certified true copy, where a notary has compared the original to the photocopy and added their signature and embossed seal.

Everything goes by mail to the Unclaimed Properties Office. Documents are not returned unless you specifically ask, and an incomplete submission means starting the notarization over.⁶

Bonds Held Inside an RRSP or RRIF

If the bonds are inside a Registered Retirement Savings Plan or Registered Retirement Income Fund, you don’t redeem them at a bank counter. The financial institution that administers the plan handles it, and the proceeds either stay in the plan as another investment or come out as a withdrawal, following your instructions. RRSP withdrawals trigger withholding tax and are included in your taxable income for the year; RRIF withdrawals above the annual minimum are also subject to withholding.

Reporting the Interest to the CRA

Interest on bonds held outside a registered plan is taxable. R-Bond holders should have been reporting the interest each year as they received it. For C-Bonds, the Canada Revenue Agency generally requires interest on an investment contract to be reported at least every three years, on the anniversary basis, though many holders reported annually. Any accrued interest that was never reported has to be included in income for the year you redeem the bond.

When interest from a single issuer reaches $50 or more in a year, a T5 slip should be issued reporting the amount.⁷ Even without a T5, you’re still required to report the interest. The scenario where this matters most now is redeeming a C-Bond carrying years of unreported compound interest.

If You’re a U.S. Citizen or U.S. Resident

U.S. citizens and residents are taxed on worldwide income, so interest from Canadian bonds is reportable to the IRS wherever you live. Convert the Canadian-dollar interest into U.S. dollars using the IRS-approved annual average exchange rate for the reporting year. Interest goes on Schedule B of Form 1040 when total taxable interest for the year is more than $1,500.⁸

Canada does not impose withholding tax on interest paid to non-residents on arm’s-length obligations such as Canada Savings Bonds, so there is generally no Canadian tax withheld on your redemption. If Canadian tax were withheld for any reason, you could claim a Foreign Tax Credit on IRS Form 1116 against the U.S. tax on that same income.⁹

FBAR

If the combined value of all your foreign financial accounts, including Canadian bank and brokerage accounts and any unredeemed bond holdings, went over $10,000 U.S. at any point during the year, you have to file FinCEN Form 114 (the FBAR). It’s a separate filing from your tax return, submitted electronically through the BSA E-Filing System.¹⁰

Form 8938

Separately, Form 8938 attaches to your tax return when foreign financial assets exceed higher thresholds. For unmarried filers living in the U.S., filing is required when the total value of foreign assets is over $50,000 on the last day of the year or over $75,000 at any point during the year. For married couples filing jointly, those thresholds are $100,000 and $150,000.¹¹ Penalties for missing either the FBAR or Form 8938 are steep, so if you hold other Canadian accounts alongside your bonds, check both thresholds.

1
Bank of Canada. Bank of Canada Unclaimed Properties – Canada Savings Bonds and Government of Canada Bonds
2
Bank of Canada. Redeem Your Bonds
3
Bank of Canada. Contact Us
4
Bank of Canada. Report a Lost, Stolen, or Destroyed Certificated Bond
5
Justice Laws Website (Government of Canada). Domestic Bonds of Canada Regulations
6
Bank of Canada. Resources for Bond Owners
7
Canada Revenue Agency. When Do You Have to Prepare a T5 Slip
8
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule B (Form 1040)
9
Internal Revenue Service. Foreign Tax Credit
10
Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
11
Internal Revenue Service. Do I Need to File Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets