Roth Conversion 5 Year Period

[Guest Lucee]

I understand that Traditional IRA to ROTH IRA conversions have the five year holding rule. It's also been told to me that each conversion has a separate holding period based on when it is made. Need to confirm when this five year period begins. Is it calculated from the exact date that the money moves into the ROTH, such as five years from February 6th ?

[Appleby]

The five-year period begins on the first day of the year for which the conversion as made. For example, if your conversion was done in 2000 ( it doesn’t matter if it was January 1 or December 31), then five year period would begin January 1,2000

[Guest Lucee]

Is there an IRS publication that I could refer to that clearly states how this works ? Would like to reference it in my papers.

[Appleby]

This URL will take you to the Roth IRA final regulations.

http://rothira.com/rothregsf.htm

Perform a word search for '5-year'

[Guest Mary Ann]

So, if I understand correctly, contributions to a Roth in different years would still have only one 5 year period (5 years from the first contribution).

But, a conversion to a Roth in different years would have a different 5 year period for each year of conversion.

Is this right?

Who has written a good reference book on this subject?