Help! Married, filing separately

[Guest glennchapin]

I am an administrator of a school affiliated with the US Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan and need help with a number of Roth questions:

1) My wife and I converted our IRAs to Roths in '98, and at the time we met the AGI and joint filing requirements. Since then our income has increased making it no longer possible to file jointly because we each need to take advantage of the $74,000 Foreign Earned Income exclusion (Form 2555) in order to protect that part of our income. What are my options at this point? Must I recharacterize back to a traditional IRA? Or can I keep the Roth, but no longer contribute to it until I return to joint filing status, which I anticipate in 3? If so, can I establish a traditional IRA in the interim and make contributions therein?

2) To further complicate matters, I misunderstood the Roth IRA tax implications in '98 and need to submit an amended tax return for '98 and '99. I am in the need of a tax advisor available for consultation over the internet, as I will not be returning to the US until February.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Glenn

[John G]

I can answer the 98 conversion Q. That is a done deal as long as you qualified in 1998 and do all the tax stuff correctly. A subsequent status change does not impact the '98 deal.