What’s your policy on accounts that have been inactive?

As of August 31, 2019, if a person does not sign into their Microsoft account within 2 years, the account will be closed which would free up the tag. Keep in mind that does include signing in on other Microsoft services. So even if they are not active
on an Xbox, they may be active elsewhere.

They close bunch of it lately. My advice is to contact support. https://support.xbox.com/contact-us

that account may be used for PC and not Xbox.

just because it doesn't have Gold or a gamerscore doesn't mean it is inactive

After the last mass openings of inactive gamertags there was a new policy put into place that the ONLY way gamertags will be released is if the MS account that they are attached to has been inactive for FIVE years from 2016.

What this basically means is that the MS account attached to a tag can not be signed into anything to do with MS for five years starting in 2016 Keep in mind that the MS accounts are more then just Xbox so even if the account shows inactive on the Xbox the
account may be signed in elsewhere. If it is truly inactive the earliest that it will be released would be 2021 five years from the date that the policy was implemented.

Hey there, Asmodeous Noctis

If your account has been closed due to inactivity which means you can't use it as a recovery method for the account. You will need to submit an account recovery form to Microsoft via this link: Account recovery form

This will allow the Microsoft account team to verify you are the account owner and send a password reset link. It should allow you to reset your password and security information on your account.

In terms of the inactive account, once it has been marked as inactive and deleted. Everything on the account is deleted. To learn more about Microsoft's account inactivity policy, please look at this article: Microsoft account activity policy - Microsoft Support

Hope this information helps,

Nathan