I Bond Purchase Limit: $10,000 per Person per Year

The electronic I bond limit is $10,000¹ per Social Security or Employer Identification Number per calendar year. The minimum purchase is $25², or any amount above that to the penny. There is no longer a paper route.

The limit is a ceiling on purchases, not on holdings. You can hold I bonds from many years at once; the I bond calculator values a single purchase, and the current I bond rate page shows what a purchase made today would earn.

What the limit is attached to

Question	Answer for Series I bonds
Limit per what	One Social Security or Employer Identification Number
Limit per period	One calendar year, January 1 to December 31
Electronic maximum	$10,0001
Electronic minimum	$252
Paper bonds bought with a tax refund	Discontinued — no paper I bonds with a tax refund since January 1, 20253

The limit belongs to the taxpayer identification number that owns the bond, not to the bank account that paid for it. Two adults with their own TreasuryDirect accounts therefore have two separate annual limits.

The limit is also per series. Series EE and Series I bonds have separate annual electronic limits of the same size, so buying the maximum of one does not reduce what you can buy of the other. The I bonds and EE bonds comparison sets out how else the two differ.

The paper option is gone

TreasuryDirect’s wording is unambiguous: “As of January 1, 2025, you are no longer able to buy paper Series I savings bonds with your tax refund.” Treasury’s stated reasons were cost, low take-up, and the exposure of mailed bonds to “fraud, theft, loss, and delays.”

Two things follow. First, the old combined annual figure that added a paper allowance on top of the electronic limit no longer describes anything. Second, guidance published before 2025 that tells you to file Form 8888 to direct part of a refund into paper I bonds is describing a route that has been closed since January 1, 2025.

Treasury paired the change with two loosenings on the electronic side: purchases now start at $25² rather than the previous $50 floor, and they can be made in penny increments.

Entities have their own numbers

An Employer Identification Number carries its own annual limit, which is why a business, an estate or a trust can buy separately from the individuals behind it. The entity must have its own TreasuryDirect account, and the bonds are owned by the entity.

Gifts

A gift purchase is made from your own account and held in your Gift Box until it is delivered. TreasuryDirect requires the recipient’s full name, Social Security or taxpayer identification number, and TreasuryDirect account number, so both you and the recipient must have accounts. A gift must be held “in your account for at least 5 business days before you deliver them to the gift recipient.” How a delivered gift counts against the recipient’s own annual limit is set out on TreasuryDirect’s gift page.

Can I still buy paper I bonds with my tax refund?

No. TreasuryDirect states that “as of January 1, 2025, you are no longer able to buy paper Series I savings bonds with your tax refund.” Electronic purchase through a TreasuryDirect account is the only route.

Does the I bond limit reset every January?

Yes. The limit is per calendar year, so it resets on January 1 and is not a rolling twelve-month allowance. A purchase in late December and another in early January therefore use two separate years’ allowances.

Can a married couple buy two annual limits?

Yes. The limit attaches to a Social Security Number, so two people with their own TreasuryDirect accounts each have a full annual limit. Each bond is owned by the person whose number it was bought under.

Do I bonds and EE bonds share one limit?

No. The two series have separate annual electronic limits of the same size, and both are counted per calendar year. Buying the maximum in Series EE does not reduce what you can buy in Series I.

What is the minimum I bond purchase?

$25², and any amount above that to the penny. TreasuryDirect’s wording is “$25 minimum or any amount above that to the penny.”

Does a business or trust get its own limit?

Yes. The annual limit is per Social Security or Employer Identification Number, so an entity with its own Employer Identification Number and its own TreasuryDirect account has a separate annual allowance from its owners.

Does the limit change with the rate?

No. The annual limit and the composite rate are set separately, and the limit has not moved with any rate announcement. Treasury announces new rates twice a year; the next one is November 1, 2026⁴ (a Sunday; Treasury usually posts on the next business day).