Government Considers Denying Passport Services to Tax Cheats

One common question we get asked here at RushMyPassport is whether or not you can be denied a passport if you owe taxes. In most cases, the answer is no: the IRS does not share its tax data with the Department of State, and current law does not allow passports to be denied simply because you owe the government money (though if you’ve got a criminal case against you for tax evasion, that might be a different story).

But that may change in the future. As you’re no doubt aware, Congress is currently looking at ways to reduce the nation’s deficit. One method recommended by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a new report is to deny passport services to people who owe the IRS more than a certain amount.

According to Fox News, the GAO estimates that in 2008 alone, over 5.8 billion dollars was owed collectively in back taxes and penalties by citizens who applied for and received US passports. Some of it is owed by normal people who got behind paying their taxes, but it’s hard to have much sympathy for some of the worst offenders. For example, one person owed $40 million in taxes and hadn’t filed a return in four years. Forget TurboTax, this guy could obviously afford to hire an accountant!

The GAO report notes that “The federal government has a vital interest in efficiently and effectively collecting the billions of dollars of taxes owed under current law. Such legislation could have the potential to help generate substantial collections of known unpaid federal taxes and increase tax compliance for tens of millions of Americans holding passports…IRS officials stated that screening passport applicants for federal tax debts would likely improve tax collections.”

It’s important to note that before the government makes paying your taxes a condition of getting a passport, Congress would have to pass a law tying the ability to receive passport services to a person’s tax status. We’ll keep you updated – in the meantime, taxes are due Monday, so if you haven’t paid yet, you might want to get on that.

Also, whether or not you owe taxes, if you plan to travel internationally anytime soon, you should go ahead and apply for passport services as soon as possible. Remember, regular service takes at least 6 weeks, and even the government’s expedited service, which costs an additional $60, takes 3 weeks.

For faster service, a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport is the easiest and most convenient option. We’ll walk you through the necessary paperwork and personally deliver your application to the Department of State, for processing in as little as 24 hours.

For quick, hassle-free passport service, contact us today!

8 Responses

March, 12th 2013Shawna
And I know.....I should have dealt with this long before now. I kick myself everyday and every night. Some nights can't sleep because I am so worried, but IRS has been very good and extremely patient. I worry about calling and checking that they would now block my cruise!!!
March, 12th 2013Shawna
I found an article that states that this part of the law was taken out? Do you know if this is true???http://www.newsmax.com/US/irs-highway-bill-passports/2012/07/05/id/444486I am worried about getting in my closed loop cruise!!!
November, 6th 2012Alison Kroulek
At the moment, it depends on how much you owe and how mad you've made the IRS. You'll generally still get your passport unless the IRS has a criminal case against you or is garnishing your wages. But that could change in the future,to where simply owing a significant amount of back taxes would be enough to trigger a passport denial.
October, 31st 2012Michele Kiely
It says right on the passport instructions that the applicant's "social security number will be provided to the US Department of Treasury...It may also be used for identification verification for passport adjudication and in connection with debt collection." So if you owe back taxes and apply for a passport what happens?
April, 3rd 2012sonic
Senate Bill 1813 (Highway trust fund), which was passed by the Senate last week and is now pending in the House of Representatives contains a provision that would allow the IRS to order the State Department to refuse to grant, refuse to renew, revoke or restrict the passport of any US citizen which the IRS certifies owes the IRS $50,000 or more in unpaid taxes. There is no requirement that the tax payer be guilty of or even charged with tax evasion, fraud, or any criminal offense - only that the citizen is alleged to owe the IRS back taxes of $50,000 or more.
- April, 4th 2012Alison Kroulek
  Thanks for the update!
August, 31st 2011Karl
But, if a person has no other ID except a US passport and the passport expires, you will find it impossible to get ID without a currently valid US passport. I tried with my birth certificate and they would not accept it in Texas even though it was produced and certified by the Texas government. This outrageous behavior needs to stop. Without US identification, a person can work all of his life, pay pay social security and medicare taxes and then be denied social security when he wants to retire because he doesn't have the proper ID.
- August, 31st 2011Alison Kroulek
  Hi Karl,That's awful. You should still be able to get a passport with secondary proof of citizenship, but it can be hard to dredge up those documents so many years after the fact. Have you contacted your Congressional Representative to see if he or she can help?

Government Considers Denying Passport Services to Tax Cheats

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