I was trying to make a traditional IRA contribution in Feb 2020 for 2019, the last year that I had any earned income. When I did the contribution, I apparently selected the wrong IRA account and deposited the contribution into my Roth account without realizing it at the time. I filed my 2019 taxes with the assumption that I had made the tax-deductible IRA contribution. When I received my F-5498 in May, I realized that the contribution was put into my Roth. I also realized that I had too much income to qualify for doing a Roth contribution and needed to do a recharacterization to a traditional IRA (which for 2019 I had sufficient earned income to cover). I also thought that it would reconcile with my 2019 taxes (including my F8606 showing the traditional contribution). However, when the recharacterization took place (based on my F-5498 received in May 2020), the contributions were deposited in early May 2020 in my traditional IRA. Since I have no earned income in 2020 (fully retired), I’m guessing this would be considered an excess contribution in 2020 and would need to be removed by the end of 2020 (which I did anyway due to a Dec 2020 IRA withdrawal that exceeded that contribution). I want to confirm that doing the recharacterization does not somehow “link” back to the date of the original (in this case) Roth contribution (and thus, apply to 2019). If this does not “link back” and apply to 2019, am I correct that I will now have to do an amended 2019 return eliminating the 2019 IRA contribution (and the tax savings from that contribution)? Because I did an erroneous or excess Roth contribution (in 2020 but also recharacterized to traditional IRA in 2020), would I be subject to any fees? Since I don’t have earned income in 2020 and cannot do a traditional IRA contribution, would I also be subject to another fine (although I did have 2020 IRA withdrawals that exceeded that contribution)? The circumstance of one erroneous pull down selection seemed to have a rippling effect.