I plan to liquidate my Roth IRA this year to take a tax loss (subject to 2% AGI threshold on schedule A). My questions are:
1) Can I open a new Roth IRA next year or is there a waiting period that must be satisfied?
2) If the answer to #1 is yes, can I make contributions to the new ROth IRA for both 2009 and 2010?

With respect to your first question, "No, I see nothing that prevents you from opening another Roth IRA."

With respect to your next question, the answer is yes, you can make contributions to the new Roth IRA for both 2009 and 2010.

You have until your tax return deadline, ie April 5, 2010 to set up and make contributions for the 2009 tax year. The maximum amount that a taxpayer can contribute is $5,000 for 2009 as long as your income falls below $105,000if you're single, and $166,000 if you're married filing a joint tax return.

The contribution limit is then phased out incrementally if you make between $105,000 and $120,000 (single filers) or $166,000 and $176,000 (married filing joint filers).

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