On December 3, 2015, Congress passed a bill requiring the IRS to notify the State Department of any taxpayer with "seriously delinquent tax debt" and requiring the State Department to revoke that taxpayer's passport until the debt is resolved. President Obama signed the bill into law on December 4. The new law defines seriously delinquent tax debt as a tax liability that has been assessed for an amount greater than $50,000 and for which the taxpayer has exhausted all administrative rights. For taxpayers who live outside of the U.S., this provision could leave them outside of the U.S. without a U.S. passport. Obviously, taxpayers with significant unresolved tax debt should take immediate steps to address this situation.
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