fanfare, the issue is that when one is in the phase out range for a Roth IRA contribution and there have been investment gains, one needs to do the calculation to figure out how much needs to be returned since the earnings will add to AGI and change the amount of the excess. That's not a calculation the custodian can do for you. Of course once you do know the amount that needs to be returned, at least pretty closely, one needs to request that amount to be returned and the custodian will do the actual earnings calculation to determine the amount of the distribution. For investments that vary from day to day it might be a good idea to request a little extra be returned, although any small amount of excess that might remain can be handled by paying the 6% penalty on that small amount and taking a regular distribution of that amount to eliminate the excess.
