Roth IRA distributions - after IRA rollover

[KJ Judd]

Does the 5 yr waiting period for withdrawing contributions converted from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA only apply to the funds that were in the traditional IRA at the time of conversion?

Can you withdraw contributions which were contributed after the date of conversion to a Roth? Or are those subject to the 5-year waiting period also?

For example, I convert $5000 traditional IRA to Roth on Jan 1, 2007. Then in August 2007 I contribute $1000 to the Roth as current year contributions. Can I withdraw the $1000 at any time? I think yes, but wanted to confirm. Didn't know if any sort of allocation rule applied.

[Bees Knees]

TTB, page 13-5 lists the order in which distributions come out of a Roth IRA.

1) Contributions
2) Conversions
3) Earnings

Since contributions are not deductible when contributed, they come out tax free when distributed. When you take money out of a Roth IRA, it all comes out tax free from previous contributions until the distributions exceed prior contributions.

The 5-year rule is explained on page 13-14 in TTB and only applies to conversions and earnings, not contributions.