A little-known provision tucked into a piece of legislation signed by former President Barack Obama on December 4, 2015 has given the Internal Revenue Service authority to refer taxpayers to the State Department for passport denial and even revocation.

The legislation known and the FAST Act, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, has put delinquent taxpayers on notice that their international travels can be curbed if they owe the Internal Revenue Service $52,000 or more in delinquent taxes and are not currently engaged in some sort of resolution to work out that debt.

The resolution options include proposing or having an active Installment Agreement, a pending Offer in Compromise, appealing levy enforcement through a Collection Due Process Hearing request, or having a pending Innocent Spouse case pending. 

Although this law was signed in late 2015, we didn’t see much in the way of enforcement until Spring of 2018 when taxpayers began receiving letters from the IRS indicating “Certification of Seriously Delinquent Tax Debt” referrals to the Department of State.

Since then we have seen letters directly to taxpayers from the Department of State indicating citizens ineligibility for passport services.

It would appear that the infrastructure setup took some time from the signing of the law in 2105, but enforcement measure are now in place and being acted upon by the Internal Revenue Service in conjunction with the Department of State.

Our recommendation is to ensure your outstanding liability is being resolved prior to applying for or attempting to renew your existing passport.