recharacterization of Roth IRA
If you roll your 401(k) directly to a Roth IRA, do you still have the ability to recharacterize this, if you choose to, by your tax filing date?
If you roll your 401(k) directly to a Roth IRA, do you still have the ability to recharacterize this, if you choose to, by your tax filing date?
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Fri, 2010-05-21 23:57
Yes, the recharacterization options are the same as for a TIRA to Roth conversion. The recharacterization of a direct QRP conversion to a Roth IRA is done to a traditional IRA, and NOT back to the employer plan.
If you had after tax contributions in your QRP that you converted, the tax would of course only apply to the pre tax amount. However, if you then recharacterized that conversion to a TIRA, you would have to file Form 8606 at the proper time to report the added basis in your TIRA. That would prevent double taxation of the after tax amount when you eventually reconverted from the TIRA. For the reconversion, the after tax amount would be commingled with any non deductible TIRA contributions you may already have from prior 8606 filings. This would change the amount of the next conversion that would be taxable vrs the amount that was taxable when the QRP was originally converted.