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[BigLee Haslup <biglee AT haslups.com>]

If you have purchased EE US Savings Bonds for your children's education, 
PLEASE READ.

Hello. I'm in the middle of helping my daughter with her taxes an I realize 
that I have, once again, managed to mess things up and cost us money.

Back in the early '90s I enrolled in a savings plan at work where I bought 
one EE Series US Savings bond for each of my two children each payday -- 
the cost was deducted from my pay and the certificate was mailed with my 
paycheck. I was careful to make sure that the bonds were issued in my 
children's names because, I was told, that was needed to make the interest 
tax-exempt for college. THIS IS EXACTLY BACKWARDS. To be tax deductible the 
bonds have to be in MY name, not the kids.

My daughter is in her third year of college. She is studying abroad this 
year (among the cranky French) and, to help with the additional cost, we 
finally got around to cashing in those bonds. Now, come tax time, I find 
that the interest on the bonds is taxable income to my daughter. It's not a 
lot of money -- her tax rate is fairly low and I wasn't enrolled in that 
savings plan for terribly long -- but it is maddening, nonetheless. 
Especially since money is a bit tight this year.

I think I can fix the problem for my son's bonds. He won't start college 
until he gets out of the Army and there is a way to get the bonds re-issued 
in my name. (I must send form PDF 4000 to the regional Federal Reserve 
Bank, along with the bond certificates. You can read about it in the 
Frequently Asked Questions section of the Savings Bonds web site at 
http://www.savingsbonds.gov/sav/saveduca.htm ).

I am not aware of a way to retroactively fix the problem with my daughter's 
bonds. I suspect that, even if there is a way it involves more paperwork 
than it is worth (see "not a lot of money... but maddening," above). So, I 
will console myself with the hope that some of the extra income tax will be 
used to buy bullets for my son in Iraq. (Mr. President, if you happen to 
get this, that's $117.00 worth of extra bullets for the Third Infantry, 
Seventh Division.)

And I will also console myself by performing this experiment to see if 
eMail trees can be used to be spread actual, useful information, or if they 
only work for rubbish.

If you know anyone who is holding Series EE Savings Bonds for their 
children's education, tell them to MAKE SURE THE BONDS ARE CORRECTLY 
REGISTERED BEFORE THEY ARE CASHED.

Kindly forward this to anyone for whom you think the information might be 
useful.