First, thanks so much for your response to my original question. This is an unbelievably great resource for me as I try to work through these questions for the first time.


Hope that clears it up for you. Sorry for the confusion. Perhaps I simply misread the original question.


No problem. Everything you say in response to make makes perfect sense, so one of us was confused before. :) I have no difficulty believing that I'm the one misunderstanding the original, but since it's unclear, let me go back to the point where I got mixed up:


<<I just opened a Roth IRA account this month, with my $2000 contribution. Now, according to tax rules, I have until April 15 to make a contribution for the past tax year (in this case 1999).>>

Right you are...so your "just opened" contribution must be for year 2000. I hope that you designated it as such for the Roth IRA administrator.


My impression was that the questioner had contributed $2000 to a new account. Because it is not yet April 15th, I thought s/he could make that contribution for either 1999 or 2000, as long as it is designated properly with the administrator. Therefore, I wasn't sure why you said ". . . your 'just opened' contribution must be for year 2000." My understanding was that it could be for either year. Have I misinterpreted your response? Then,


<<Can I also make a contribution after April 15th, and consider it my $2000 contribution for tax year 2000?>>

Nope...in your first paragraph you already said that you made a year 2000 contribution. So that's done. The earliest that you can make a 2001 contribution would be January 2001.


Here, I thought the poster was trying to say that s/he wanted the initial $2000 to count for 1999 and an additional $2000, deposited after April 15th, to count for year 2000 (not 2001). According to what I understood and what you've said following up, I thought that would be OK.

Again, I could be misunderstanding the original, your response, or both. I appreciate your help and patience.

Erik