Can Roth IRA contributions be recharacterized to traditional IRA to ge

[Guest ntaylor]

I have a $2000 roth IRA purchased for the year 2000. It was in an index fund and now is worth $1100. I am over 60 years old. It appears that this investment(?) will never again be worth $2000. Can I somehow cancel the Roth IRA or recharacterize it so I get some tax benefit from the loss?

i.e., can I change it to a regular IRA and thereby take the tax deduction allowed for the traditional IRA? Or is recharacterization only permitted for traditional IRA's that were converted to Roth?

[Appleby]

ntaylor,

You may recharacterize the Roth IRA to a traditional IRA. You may then take a deduction for the contribution if your income threshold permits.

This IRS link provides information on deductibility .

http://www.irs.gov/forms_pubs/pubs/p5900108.htm