Can I recharacterize a Roth I opened years ago to a traditional IRA and recoup the taxes I paid when I opened the Roth?

[Esad]

The Roth was in stock and the company is now in bankrupcy.

[Critter · Accepted solution]

That is not what "recharacterize" means ... if you didn't convert the amount from an IRA to a ROTH you cannot recharacterize it now.  And if you did convert the amount in a prior year it is too late to recharacterize it now. 

https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/retirement/how-to-reverse-a-roth-conversion

Instead ...   https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/investments-and-taxes/are-losses-on-a-roth-ira-tax-deductible/L...

[Hal_Al]

However, there is a way to get tax benefit. 

Deductible Roth losses. If you withdraw all your Roth IRA funds from all your Roth IRAs; you can  deduct the loss as a misc.  itemized deduction subject to the 2% of AGI threshold. You cannot deduct it as a  capital loss on schedule D. 

[fanfare]

do it now for as I understand it the 2% misc deduction is going away.

[dmertz]

The loss that would be deductible subject to the 2% of AGI threshold under these circumstances is the amount that you converted to Roth plus the amount of any regular Roth IRA contributions minus the total amount distributed (the total of all Roth IRAs) during the year.

This deduction hasn't been repealed yet, and none of the proposed repeals of this deduction would be effective until at least 2018.

[fanfare]

2018 is only a few weeks away