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Recharacterizations: IRA Contributions and Transfers (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Recharacterizations” within ira contributions and transfers. The following material presents the IRS treatment of this topic, including the qualifications, exceptions, and examples in the source section. Read the rules alongside the facts of your own situation before deciding what to report, deduct, or document.

Adapted from Publication 590-A (2025), Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), published by the Internal Revenue Service. This guide retains the source edition’s years, amounts, deadlines, and examples. It is guidance for that edition, not a statement that the same figures apply to every tax year.

Context for these rules

You can transfer, tax free, assets (money or property) from other retirement programs (including traditional IRAs) to a traditional IRA. You can make the following kinds of transfers.

  • Transfers from one trustee to another.

  • Rollovers.

  • Transfers incident to a divorce.

Recharacterizations

You may be able to treat a contribution made to one type of IRA as having been made to a different type of IRA. This is called recharacterizing the contribution.

To recharacterize a contribution, you must generally have the contribution transferred from the first IRA (the one to which it was made) to the second IRA in a trustee-to-trustee transfer. If the transfer is made by the due date (including extensions) for your tax return for the tax year for which the contribution was made, you can elect to treat the contribution as having been originally made to the second IRA instead of to the first IRA. If you recharacterize your contribution, you must do all three of the following.

  • Include in the transfer any net income allocable to the contribution. If there was a loss, the net income you must transfer may be a negative amount.

  • Report the recharacterization on your tax return for the year during which the contribution was made.

  • Treat the contribution as having been made to the second IRA on the date that it was actually made to the first IRA.

No recharacterizations of conversions made in 2018 or later.

A conversion of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, and a rollover from any other eligible retirement plan to a Roth IRA, made in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, cannot be recharacterized as having been made to a traditional IRA. If you made a conversion in the 2017 tax year, you had until the due date (including extensions) for filing the return for that tax year to recharacterize it.

No deduction allowed.

You can’t deduct the contribution to the first IRA. Any net income you transfer with the recharacterized contribution is treated as earned in the second IRA. The contribution won’t be treated as having been made to the second IRA to the extent any deduction was allowed for the contribution to the first IRA.

Conversion by rollover from traditional to Roth IRA.

You receive a distribution from a traditional IRA in 1 tax year. You then roll it over into a Roth IRA within 60 days of the distribution from the traditional IRA but in the next year. For recharacterization purposes, you would treat this transaction as a contribution to the Roth IRA in the year of the distribution from the traditional IRA.

Effect of previous tax-free transfers.

If an amount has been moved from one IRA to another in a tax-free transfer, such as a rollover, you generally can’t recharacterize the amount that was transferred. However, see Traditional IRA mistakenly moved to SIMPLE IRA next.

Traditional IRA mistakenly moved to SIMPLE IRA.

If you mistakenly roll over or transfer an amount from a traditional IRA to a SIMPLE IRA, you can later recharacterize the amount as a contribution to another traditional IRA.

Recharacterizing excess contributions.

You can recharacterize only actual contributions. If you are applying excess contributions for prior years as current contributions, you can recharacterize them only if the recharacterization would still be timely with respect to the tax year for which the applied contributions were actually made.

Example.

You contributed more than you were entitled to in 2025. You can’t recharacterize the excess contributions you made in 2025 after April 15, 2026, because contributions after that date are no longer timely for 2025.

Recharacterizing employer contributions.

You can’t recharacterize employer contributions (including elective deferrals) under a SEP arrangement or SIMPLE IRA plan as contributions to another IRA. SEP arrangements are discussed in chapter 2 of Pub. 560. SIMPLE plans are discussed in chapter 3 of Pub. 560.

Recharacterization not counted as rollover.

The recharacterization of a contribution is not treated as a rollover for purposes of the 1-year waiting period described earlier in this chapter under Rollover From One IRA Into Another. This is true even if the contribution would have been treated as a rollover contribution by the second IRA if it had been made directly to the second IRA rather than as a result of a recharacterization of a contribution to the first IRA.

How Do You Recharacterize a Contribution?

To recharacterize a contribution, you must notify both the trustee of the first IRA (the one to which the contribution was actually made) and the trustee of the second IRA (the one to which the contribution is being moved) that you have elected to treat the contribution as having been made to the second IRA rather than the first. You must make the notifications by the date of the transfer. Only one notification is required if both IRAs are maintained by the same trustee. The notification(s) must include all of the following information.

  • The type and amount of the contribution to the first IRA that is to be recharacterized.

  • The date on which the contribution was made to the first IRA and the year for which it was made.

  • A direction to the trustee of the first IRA to transfer in a trustee-to-trustee transfer the amount of the contribution and any net income (or loss) allocable to the contribution to the trustee of the second IRA.

  • The name of the trustee of the first IRA and the name of the trustee of the second IRA.

  • Any additional information needed to make the transfer.

In most cases, the net income you must transfer is determined by your IRA trustee or custodian. If you need to determine the applicable net income on IRA contributions made after 2025 that are recharacterized, use Worksheet 1-3. See Regulations section 1.408A-5 for more information.

Worksheet 1-3. Determining the Amount of Net Income Due to an IRA Contribution and Total Amount To Be Recharacterized

1. Enter the amount of your IRA contribution for 2026 to be recharacterized 1. _____
2. Enter the fair market value of the IRA immediately prior to the recharacterization (include any distributions, transfers, or recharacterizations made while the contribution was in the account) 2. _____
3. Enter the fair market value of the IRA immediately prior to the time the contribution being recharacterized was made, including the amount of such contribution and any other contributions, transfers, or recharacterizations made while the contribution was in the account 3. _____
4. Subtract line 3 from line 2 4. _____
5. Divide line 4 by line 3. Enter the result as a decimal (rounded to at least three places) 5. _____
6. Multiply line 1 by line 5. This is the net income attributable to the contribution to be recharacterized 6. _____
7. Add lines 1 and 6. This is the amount of the IRA contribution plus the net income attributable to it to be recharacterized 7. _____

Timing.

The election to recharacterize and the transfer must both take place on or before the due date (including extensions) for filing your tax return for the tax year for which the contribution was made to the first IRA.

Extension.

Ordinarily, you must choose to recharacterize a contribution by the due date of the return or the due date including extensions. However, if you miss this deadline, you can still recharacterize a contribution if:

  • Your return was timely filed for the year the choice should have been made; and

  • You take appropriate corrective action within 6 months from the due date of your return, excluding extensions. For returns due April 15, 2026, this period ends on October 15, 2026. When the date for doing any act for tax purposes falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the due date is delayed until the next business day.

Appropriate corrective action consists of:

  • Notifying the trustee(s) of your intent to recharacterize,

  • Providing the trustee with all necessary information, and

  • Having the trustee transfer the contribution.

Once this is done, you must amend your return to show the recharacterization. You have until the regular due date for amending a return to do this. Report the recharacterization on the amended return and write “Filed pursuant to section 301.9100-2” on the return. You can file your amended return electronically if you are amending your tax return for the current or 2 prior tax periods and your original return was filed electronically. Returns filed before these 3 tax years or tax returns filed by paper must be amended by filing an amended return by paper. See the Instructions for Form 1040-X for more information.

Decedent.

The election to recharacterize can be made on behalf of a deceased IRA owner by the executor, the administrator, or another person responsible for filing the decedent's final income tax return.

Election can’t be changed.

After the transfer has taken place, you can’t change your election to recharacterize.

Same trustee.

Recharacterizations made with the same trustee can be made by redesignating the first IRA as the second IRA, rather than transferring the account balance.

Reporting a Recharacterization

If you elect to recharacterize a contribution to one IRA as a contribution to another IRA, you must report the recharacterization on your tax return as directed by Form 8606 and its instructions. You must treat the contribution as having been made to the second IRA.

More than one IRA.

If you have more than one IRA, figure the amount to be recharacterized only on the account from which you withdraw the contribution.

Using the guidance

Keep the documents that establish the dates, amounts, and circumstances described above. References to other chapters, forms, worksheets, or earlier and later sections refer to the linked IRS publication. Check the full publication and its updates before relying on a rule for a different tax year or a situation not addressed here.

Sources and further reading

The cited U.S. government text is in the public domain. Source accessed October 28, 2026. Fynoptic has organized this material for educational use and is independent of, and not endorsed by, the IRS.

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