You can find Form 5329 on the IRS website at IRS.gov, where both the fillable PDF and its line-by-line instructions are posted for free on the “About Form 5329” page.1Internal Revenue Service. About Form 5329, Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans Search “Form 5329” on IRS.gov, or go straight to that page, and download the version for the specific tax year you are addressing. If you are cleaning up a 2024 problem, use the 2024 form, not the current year’s.
Most commercial tax software also includes the form and will generate it automatically once you enter an early distribution, an excess contribution, or a missed required minimum distribution during the interview.
When You Actually Need This Form
Form 5329 is the form the IRS uses to collect additional taxes on retirement accounts, HSAs, Coverdell ESAs, and similar tax-advantaged accounts. Three situations cover almost every filing:
- You took money out of a retirement account before age 59½, which generally triggers a 10% additional tax on the taxable portion.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 72 – Annuities; Certain Proceeds of Endowment and Life Insurance Contracts
- You put more than the annual limit into an IRA, HSA, Coverdell ESA, or Archer MSA, which triggers a 6% excise tax on the excess every year it stays in the account.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4973 – Tax on Excess Contributions to Certain Tax-Favored Accounts and Annuities
- You reached age 73 and failed to take the full required minimum distribution, which triggers a 25% excise tax on the shortfall.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Retirement Plans
You also need the form even when a penalty exception applies to an early withdrawal. If your 1099-R shows distribution code 1 in box 7 (early distribution, no known exception), the IRS will assess the full 10% unless you file Part I of Form 5329 to claim the exception yourself. When box 7 shows code 2, 3, or 4, the exception is already built into the reporting and you generally do not need Form 5329 for that distribution.
How to File It: Attached vs. Standalone
Most people file Form 5329 as part of their annual Form 1040. The tax calculated on the form flows to Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 8, and then into your total tax.5Internal Revenue Service. Form 5329 – Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans (Including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored Accounts When attached to a 1040, the whole package can be e-filed, and the payment deadline is the regular April 15 return deadline. An extension to file does not extend the deadline to pay.6Internal Revenue Service. Taxpayers Who Need More Time to File a Federal Tax Return Should Request an Extension
If you do not otherwise need to file a return for the year, or if you are correcting a prior-year issue, you can file Form 5329 by itself. A standalone Form 5329 cannot be e-filed; it must be mailed on paper.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329 (2025) Write the correct tax year clearly at the top of the form, include your current mailing address on page 1, and sign and date page 3. Mail it to the same IRS address where you would send a Form 1040 for that year; the instructions include a table of addresses by state. You can still pay the tax electronically through IRS Direct Pay or EFTPS even when the form itself goes by mail.
How the Form Is Laid Out
Form 5329 has nine parts, and you only complete the ones that apply. Picking the wrong part is a common mistake, so it helps to know what each one covers.8Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329
- Part I: additional tax on early distributions from IRAs, qualified retirement plans, and modified endowment contracts.
- Part II: additional tax on certain distributions from education accounts and ABLE accounts.
- Part III: excess contributions to traditional IRAs.
- Part IV: excess contributions to Roth IRAs.
- Part V: excess contributions to Coverdell ESAs.
- Part VI: excess contributions to Archer MSAs.
- Part VII: excess contributions to HSAs.
- Part VIII: excess contributions to ABLE accounts.
- Part IX: excess accumulations from missed RMDs, including IRA RMDs.
The top of the form asks for your name, Social Security number, and the tax year.
What the Penalties Actually Are
The 10% early-distribution tax in Part I applies to the taxable portion of a pre-59½ withdrawal, after you subtract any amount that qualifies for a numbered exception. Exceptions include disability, unreimbursed medical expenses above 7.5% of adjusted gross income, qualified higher education expenses from an IRA, and up to $10,000 lifetime from an IRA for a first-time home purchase.9Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions The SECURE 2.0 Act added more, including qualified birth or adoption expenses, distributions to terminally ill individuals, and distributions to domestic abuse victims.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 72 – Annuities; Certain Proceeds of Endowment and Life Insurance Contracts
The 6% excess contribution tax is not a one-time hit. It recurs every year the excess sits in the account at year-end. To stop it, withdraw the excess plus any net income it earned before your tax filing deadline, including extensions. Your IRA custodian can calculate the net income if you request a “return of excess contribution.”10eCFR. 26 CFR 1.408-11 – Net Income Calculation for Returned or Recharacterized IRA Contributions
The missed-RMD tax was 50% before 2023 and is now 25%. It drops to 10% if you correct the shortfall during the correction window, which generally runs through the end of the second tax year after the year you missed the RMD, or until the IRS mails a notice of deficiency or assesses the tax, whichever comes first.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Retirement Plans On a $16,000 shortfall, that is the difference between a $4,000 penalty and a $1,600 penalty.
Asking the IRS to Waive the RMD Penalty
You can ask the IRS to waive the missed-RMD tax entirely if the failure was due to reasonable cause and you have already taken steps to fix it. Complete Part IX, calculate the tax as if it applies, enter “RC” next to the applicable line, attach a written explanation, and do not pay the penalty amount with the return. The IRS treats serious illness, death in the immediate family, natural disasters, and system errors as common reasonable-cause grounds. The IRS has stated that lack of knowledge, reliance on a tax professional, and ordinary oversight generally do not qualify.11Internal Revenue Service. Penalty Relief for Reasonable Cause If the waiver is denied, the IRS bills you for the tax plus interest.
Why Filing Matters Even When You Think You Owe Nothing
The general rule is that the IRS has three years from the date a return is filed to assess additional tax. If no return reporting the excise tax was ever filed, that clock may not start.
The SECURE 2.0 Act capped the lookback period at three years for IRA-related RMD failures even when Form 5329 was not filed. For the 6% excess contribution penalty, the lookback is six years if you filed a Form 1040 but did not file Form 5329 separately; filing the Form 5329 brings that back down to three years. These rules apply to tax years beginning in 2023 and later, with no retroactive effect for earlier years.
So even in a year when you believe no penalty is owed, filing Form 5329 showing a zero balance starts the clock. Skipping it gives the IRS a much longer window to come back on an amount it later calculates differently, and interest on an old assessment compounds the cost.