Can I use Form 8815 to Write Off Series EE Bond Interest for Education Expenses?

The education savings bond program (Form 8815) lets you exclude interest from your income if you use the bonds for qualified education expenses, but there are several requirements you need to meet. For bonds issued after 1989, they must be issued in either your name (as the owner) or in the names of both you and your spouse. If your mom is listed as an OR owner, that technically means they're in both names, which complicates things. The key issue is that for the exclusion, the bond owner must have been at least 24 years old when the bond was issued. Since you mentioned you were under 23 when the bonds were issued, and they list both you and your mom, the bonds would need to be in your mom's name only (not jointly) for the interest to potentially qualify for the exclusion. And if they were in her name only, she would need to be the one claiming the exclusion on her tax return, not you. There are also income limitations that phase out the exclusion for higher-income taxpayers. Make sure to check those limits too if you think you might qualify.

After struggling with a similar bonds situation last year, I found https://taxr.ai super helpful for figuring out the education bond exclusion rules. I had several EE bonds with different ownership structures and wasn't sure how to handle them for tax purposes. The tool analyzed my bond documentation and clarified which bonds qualified and which didn't. It explained that for jointly owned bonds like yours (with the "OR" designation), neither owner can typically claim the education exclusion since the IRS wants the bonds to be solely in the name of the person who was 24+ when issued. I ended up scanning my bonds and uploading them to get specific guidance. Saved me from making what would have been a costly mistake on my taxes!

I wanted to follow up about https://taxr.ai after trying it with my Series EE bonds. I was honestly surprised by how helpful it was. I've had these education bonds sitting around for years because I wasn't sure how to handle them tax-wise. I uploaded pictures of my bonds showing the different registration formats (some with just my name, others with my parents as co-owners), and the analysis cleared everything up. It explained which bonds qualified for the Form 8815 exclusion and which didn't based on the exact registration and issue dates. The tool even pointed out that I could reissue some of my bonds to change the registration before cashing them, which might let me qualify for the exclusion in the future. Definitely more specific and helpful than I expected!

If you're still having trouble getting answers about your Series EE bonds, you might want to try calling the IRS directly. I know, I know - getting through to an actual human at the IRS seems impossible these days. I spent HOURS on hold trying to get clarification about my savings bonds last year. That's when I found https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual IRS agent within 45 minutes instead of waiting for days. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent was able to explain exactly how the "OR" designation on my bonds affected my ability to use Form 8815 for the education exclusion. Turns out I had misunderstood the ownership rules completely and almost filed incorrectly.

I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr being a scam. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself since I was getting nowhere with the IRS regarding my own savings bond questions. I used the service last week, and sure enough, I got a call back when an IRS agent was available - took about 40 minutes instead of the 3+ hours I had wasted previously. The agent walked me through exactly how Form 8815 applies to bonds with different registration types and confirmed that bonds with "OR" co-owners don't qualify for the education interest exclusion regardless of who paid for the education expenses. Just wanted to share that it actually worked and saved me from filing incorrectly. The direct confirmation from an IRS agent was worth it for the peace of mind alone.

Something nobody has mentioned yet - have you checked if your college expenses even qualify? For Form 8815, qualified expenses include tuition and fees required for enrollment. But if you received tax-free educational assistance (like scholarships or employer assistance), you have to reduce your qualified expenses by that amount. Also, room and board don't count as qualified expenses for the savings bond interest exclusion, which is different from some other education tax benefits. So even if you figure out the ownership issue, make sure your expenses actually qualify before going through the trouble.

Hey does anyone know if theres a time limit for using the bonds for education? Like if the bonds were issued in 2010 but I'm using them for college now in 2025, does that still work for Form 8815? Or is there some kinda window I had to use them in?