how do you allocate earnings when recharacterizing ira contributions 
if you opt to recharacterize an ira contribution you have to transfer the contribution plus any earnings related to those funds or less any losses 1 if the ira is composed entirely of the contribution and earnings that you want to recharacterize for instance it s a new ira to which you ve made only one contribution then you can transfer the entire ira this is called a full recharacterization conversely if you want to transfer part of your ira it s considered a partial recharacterization in this case you have to determine how much of the ira s earnings are attributable to the contribution that you want to recharacterize you can skip the math by asking your ira provider to calculate this amount for you 