charlie said:
Does anybody know if inherited EE savings bonds have a stepped up
tax basis like stocks, property etc?
No, because they produce unearned interest income instead of cap gains.
Eh, I'm just half a step behind Martha...
Here's some text from
Ch 1 of IRS Pub 550:
Decedents. The manner of reporting interest income on series E, series EE, or series I bonds, after the death of the owner, depends on the accounting and income-reporting method previously used by the decedent.
Decedent who reported interest each year. If the bonds transferred because of death were owned by a person who used an accrual method, or who used the cash method and had chosen to report the interest each year, the interest earned in the year of death up to the date of death must be reported on that person's final return. The person who acquires the bonds includes in income only interest earned after the date of death.
Decedent who postponed reporting interest. If the transferred bonds were owned by a decedent who had used the cash method and had not chosen to report the interest each year, and who had bought the bonds entirely with his or her own funds, all interest earned before death must be reported in one of the following ways.
The surviving spouse or personal representative (executor, administrator, etc.) who files the final income tax return of the decedent can choose to include on that return all of the interest earned on the bonds before the decedent's death. The person who acquires the bonds then includes in income only interest earned after the date of death.
If the choice in (1) is not made, the interest earned up to the date of death is income in respect of the decedent. It should not be included in the decedent's final return. All of the interest earned both before and after the decedent's death (except any part reported by the estate on its income tax return) is income to the person who acquires the bonds. If that person uses the cash method and does not choose to report the interest each year, he or she can postpone reporting it until the year the bonds are cashed or disposed of or the year they mature, whichever is earlier. In the year that person reports the interest, he or she can claim a deduction for any federal estate tax that was paid on the part of the interest included in the decedent's estate.
For more information on income in respect of a decedent, see Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators."
There are several examples in the pub after this verbiage.