IRS/STATE/TAXES: “A law that would deny or revoke passports for U.S. citizens with seriously delinquent tax debt is set to take effect later this month.
Under the law, the Internal Revenue Service is required to notify the State Department after it has certified that an individual has unpaid federal taxes, including penalties and interest, of more than $51,000. The State Department may then deny issuing or renewing a passport or revoke an existing passport. The threshold for being considered seriously delinquent will be indexed yearly for inflation.
In most cases, the State Department would move to deny or revoke a passport only if a taxpayer is subject to a lien, which advises creditors of a debt to the IRS, or a levy, which gives the IRS the authority to seize assets. The law, which was signed in December 2015, will apply to existing tax debts.
The IRS, in a news release Tuesday, ‘strongly encouraged’ taxpayers who are seriously behind on their taxes to pay what they owe or enter into a payment agreement with the service ‘to avoid putting their passports in jeopardy.’ “
-Daisy Maxey, “Coming Soon: Serious Tax Debts to Put Passport Privileges at Risk,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 16, 2018 06:01pm