Consumers With Tax Debt Could See Restrictions on Passport Use

The FAST Act requires the IRS to use private collection agencies for some debts and strict rules are in place to ensure the collection efforts follow the new law. Tax debt collected by the IRS could impact consumers’ access or use of their passport. The Fixing American’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act includes a provision for the IRS to revoke, deny or limit passports for anyone it certifies as having a seriously delinquent tax debt that is more than $50,000. It could mean no new passport and no renewal. It could even mean the State Department will rescind existing passports. Under the new law, the IRS must use private collection agencies to collect inactive tax receivables, which often amounts to tax debt the IRS hasn’t collected in the past due to lack of time or resources. Currently, the IRS is unable to collect $380 billion in tax debt – a 23 percent increase since 2009–according to a July report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.