529 Plan delayed withdrawals

My son won a large scholarship to college and I may have overfunded the 529 plans for my three children but I won't know for 5 or 6 years when they are all through with college. I believe I can withdraw the amount of the scholarship by paying the regular taxes without the 10% penalty. Can I wait 5 or 6 years to withdraw the money equal to the scholarship without paying the penalty of 10% or do I have to do it the year the scholarship is paid or by some other date?

Dwofsey - Read the sections entiitled "Figuring the Taxable Portion of a Distribution" and "Additional Tax on Taxable Distributions" pp. 44-45 of IRS Publication 970. The way scholarships are factored in is as an adjustment to qualified expenses and then an adjustment to the calculated taxable distribution. So you have to do it all within the same tax year as the education expenses were incurred - you can't defer it.

Hope this helps.

TJ