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ResourcesCorporate and Tax AdvisoryUS Tax LawHas My US Passport Has Been Revoked Due to Tax Delinquency?

Has My US Passport Has Been Revoked Due to Tax Delinquency?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video, suggests we are going to be discussing possible passport revocation in connection with delinquency of tax payments.

In other videos on this channel we have discussed tax liability, pursuant to various acts and various regulations created in the United States, can now be the basis for revocation of one's US passport. But I have had some questions here recently about “How do I know? Well there is a couple of ways.

First of all, this is coming from the IRS website, irs.gov. Specifically, Taxpayer Notification - Notice CP 508C. Quoting directly from this, "The IRS is required to notify you in writing at the time the IRS certifies seriously delinquent tax debt to the State Department. The IRS is also required to notify you in writing at the time it reverses certification. The IRS will send written notice by regular mail to your last known address."  Now for some, that may be a fairly straightforward way of ascertaining whether or not one's passport has been revoked due to certification by the IRS.

One thing to take away from this. I did a video specifically on this topic. I urge those who are watching this to check it out with respect to IRS certification to Department of State,. You have to keep in mind that there's two government agencies in play here. One is Department of State with respect to the passport issuance and revocation function. The other one is IRS with respect to the assessment of not only tax liability but possible fines and penalties associated therewith. IRS has to actively go to the Department of State, initiate certification that there is delinquent debt involved to the IRS and then State Department, upon certification, will go ahead and revoke the passport. So it doesn't just sort of happen overnight. But that being said, once certified, mail will be sent by regular postal mail to the last known address of the person for whom the passport is being revoked.

So if you are living at your last known address of IRS, that is great. What happens if you're not? More difficult to say. It may be required to possibly hire the assistance of a representative to inquire with the various agencies associated with the process of not only assessing one's tax liability but certifying it for purposes of passport revocation in order to ascertain whether one's passport is still valid.

Another thing to take away from this is if one is abroad, this does not mean they can't return to the United States.  No. In fact even where a passport is revoked, US Department of State can issue what is called a Travel Letter to an individual with a revoked passport and can basically put them on a plane back to the United States to go ahead and deal with the matter so that they can presumably get their passport back and then resume traveling or living abroad etc.

But the thing to take away from this video is that there is a mechanism for notifying folks of passport revocation in the event that IRS does go ahead and request certification for revocation. There is a mechanism by which the individual whose passport has been revoked will go ahead and be notified of that revocation.