Recharacterizing a 2000 Roth conversion due to high AGI

[Guest sjcassarino]

I converted my traditional IRA account to a ROTH account in April 2000. After preparing my 2000 income tax return, due to unexpected capital gains distributions, our AGI was over $100000; thus, we have to recharacterize the conversion back to a traditional IRA before April 16, 2001. Since my balance is now considerably less than in April 2000 because of the losses in the NASDAQ, it would be advantageous to me to convert the traditional account to ROTH now (I think that the NASDAQ will be going up and thus I want to do the conversion now). My main question is: can I do the two conversions on the same day, one after the other? Or do I have to wait 31 days between the two conversions, even though the first one applies to 2000 and the second one applies to 2001? I have not been able to find an answer so far. I would appreciate some help. Thanks. SJC

[BPickerCPA]

You have to wait 31 days.