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Can The IRS Revoke My Passport?

Don’t want to pay your taxes ehh? We’ll get your attention!

So the short answer to the question is yes, the IRS can revoke your passport if you have a “seriously delinquent” tax debt. But what exactly does that mean? More importantly, what can you do if your passport is at risk of being revoked? Read on to learn more my friend!

Background
On December 4, 2015, President Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (Pub. L. No. 114-94) into law—the first federal law in over a decade to provide long-term funding certainty for surface transportation infrastructure planning and investment. But like all legislative bills/acts, other things that may appear unrelated often get inserted into them. This act was no different.

Internal Revenue Code Sec. 7345 was enacted as part of the FAST Act. A seriously delinquent tax debt is defined as an unpaid, legally enforceable, and assessed federal tax liability greater than $51,000 (adjusted annually for inflation) and for which:

The IRS has filed a notice of federal tax lien and the individual’s right to a hearing has been exhausted or lapsed, or
The IRS has issued a levy.

Generally speaking a federal tax debt is the sum of all current tax obligations, including penalties and interest. However, a “seriously delinquent tax debt” does not include any of the following tax debt even if it meets the criteria stated above:

Being paid timely with an IRS-approved installment agreement (IA),
Being paid timely with an offer in compromise (OIC) accepted by the IRS, or a settlement agreement entered with the Justice Department,
For which a collection due process hearing is timely requested regarding a levy to collect the debt,
For which collection has been suspended because a request for innocent spouse relief under IRC § 6015 has been made

Furthermore, a passport won’t be at risk under this program for any taxpayer:

Who is in bankruptcy
Who is identified by the IRS as a victim of tax-related identity theft
Whose account the IRS has determined is currently not collectible (CNC) due to hardship
Who is located within a federally declared disaster area
Who has a request pending with the IRS for an installment agreement (IA)
Who has a pending offer in compromise (OIC) with the IRS
Who has an IRS accepted adjustment that will satisfy the debt in full

What the IRS does when you have a seriously delinquent tax debt
The IRS is required to notify you in writing at the time the IRS certifies seriously delinquent tax debt to the State Department. This is done via IRS notice CP 508C. If you have been certified to the Department of State by the Secretary of the Treasury as having a seriously delinquent tax debt, you cannot be issued a U.S. passport and your current U.S. passport may be revoked.

How do you resolve the situation?
The IRS will reverse a certification when the tax debt no longer qualifies as a seriously delinquent tax debt. This happens when:

- The tax debt is fully satisfied or becomes legally unenforceable.
- The tax debt is no longer seriously delinquent meaning:
  1. You and the IRS enter into an installment agreement allowing you to pay the debt over time.
  2. The IRS accepts an offer in compromise to satisfy the debt.
  3. The Justice Department enters into a settlement agreement to satisfy the debt.
  4. Collection is suspended because you request innocent spouse relief under IRC § 6015.
  5. You make a timely request for a collection due process hearing regarding a levy to collect the debt.
- The certification is erroneous.

The IRS will make this reversal within 30 days and provide notification to the State Department as soon as practicable.

The IRS will not reverse certification where a taxpayer requests a collection due process hearing or innocent spouse relief on a debt that is not the basis of the certification. Also, the IRS will not reverse the certification because the taxpayer pays the debt below $50,000. So…if you have been notified that your tax debt has been certified, you should consider:

paying the tax owed in full,
entering into an installment agreement, or
making an offer in compromise.

But what if the IRS made an error?
The State Department is held harmless in these matters and cannot be sued for any erroneous notification or failed decertification under IRC § 7345. If you believe that the IRS certified your debt to the State Department in error, you can file suit in the U.S. Tax Court or a U.S. District Court to have the court determine whether the certification is erroneous or the IRS failed to reverse the certification when it was required to do so. If the court determines the certification is erroneous or should be reversed, it can order the IRS to notify the State Department that the certification was in error.

Can I contact the State Department to find out the status of my passport?
The State Department does not have any information about your seriously delinquent tax debt. For questions, or to resolve your seriously delinquent tax debt, they recommend that you contact the IRS via phone at 1-855-519-4965 (1-267-941-1004 international) of via mail at:

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Attn: Passport
PO Box 8208
Philadelphia, PA 19101-8208

How can we help?
As you can tell from above, the IRS will only really reverse the certification if the debt is no longer enforceable (i.e. collectable) or if you enter into a resolution option (i.e. payment plan, currently not collectible, etc).

With regards to enforceability, the IRS only has 10 years from the date of assessment to collect on unpaid taxes. If you are getting letters, your debt is more than likely still active. But do you know when it will expire? This is called the CSED date.

While you could go through the hassle of calculating your CSED (see this blog post), do you really want to? For a flat fee, and us filing a few forms with the IRS (with your consent), we’ll look at however many years you want to analyze, and provide you with a comprehensive report that will include:

Total tax assessment, penalty, interest and accrual amounts for each year (so you know how much you really owe)
CSED calculations for each year requested (i.e. when your debt will expire)
Tolling events (if any) and the days your CSED has been extended
All IRS notices sent/received for each year
IRS account activity by year
And much, much more (we promise)

If your debt will not expire for some time, we are fully authorized to represent your before the IRS and can can help negotiate a resolution option (i.e. IA, OIC, CNC) that will satisfy the IRS conditions to have your certification revoked/lifted. You can learn more about our representation services by visiting the IRS Debt Representation page or reading the IRS Talk post within our blog.

When you are ready to get started, simply call us at (773) 239-8850 or click our email address at the bottom of this screen.

Tax Debt and 10 Year Statute of Limitations

Many taxpayers, and some practitioners, are unaware that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by law only has 10 years’ time to collect a tax debt. This is referred to as the statute of limitations or in IRS speak, the Collection Statute Expiration Date or CSED for short. This post will talk about what the CSED is, how to obtain it, what can change its date and how to stop paying taxes once it expires.

How Long Can the IRS Collect a Debt?
Per Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 6502, the limit on the IRS’ ability to collect a debt is 10 years. However, as we discuss below, most of the “popular” legal methods used to deal with tax debt also stop the CSED “clock” from running. In some cases it actually makes more sense for the taxpayer to just let the clock run.

When Does the Clock Start?
The 10-year period begins to run with the date of the “assessment” of the tax, not the tax year for which taxes are due. For example, if a return for 2012 is not filed until 2014 and the tax is assessed in 2014, the 10-year period begins to run in 2014 and expires in 2024.

The date of assessment is the date the tax liability is assessed on a particular form at an IRS Service Center. When the applicable form is signed by an IRS official, the 10-year period for that tax liability starts to run. When interest and late payment penalties (as well as other penalties) related to that tax year are tacked onto the underlying tax debt, they too must be collected within the same 10-year period.

If you never filed a tax return, but the IRS filed one for you (i.e. using a Substitute for Return or SFR), then the statute of limitations began to run whenever that assessment was processed by the IRS on your behalf.

How Can I Find Out My CSED?
To determine when the CSED began for a particular liability, the best approach is to obtain a transcript of the taxpayer´s IRS account. Transcripts should exist for each tax year and provide basic information such as the date of assessment, date of filing, and tax liability.

Taxpayers can request account transcripts on their own behalf by filing IRS Form 4506-T or requesting them online. You can then attempt to analyze the data, perform the necessary calculations and hope you arrive at the correct answer.

Another method of calculating the CSED is to look at the “Date of Assessment” for a particular tax period if you have received IRS Form 668 (Y)(c) – Notice of Federal Tax Lien. You would then calculate out approximately 10 years from this date to see when the CSED expires.

My Tax Debt Is Older Than 10 Years But The CSED Hasn’t Elapsed. Why?
While the IRS only has ten years to collect a debt, there are certain factors that can extend or pause the CSED. This is known as “tolling the statute of limitations.” Events that stop or “toll” the statute of limitations include:

Filing Certain Appeals – in most cases, the statute also doesn’t run the entire time an IRS Appeal is pending.
Filing an Offer in Compromise (OIC) – the statute of limitations does not run the entire time your Offer is under review, including any Appeals that you exercise, plus an additional 30 days.
Filing a Lawsuit Against the IRS – the statute of limitations does not run while litigation against the IRS is pending.
Filing Bankruptcy – the statute of limitations does not run the entire time you are under the protection of the bankruptcy courts or for the six months following the discharge or dismissal of the bankruptcy.

If you exercised any of these options in the past, there was probably a period of time when the statute was not running. Said another way, during any time period in which the IRS is legally unable to pursue you for collection of the debt, the statute of limitations is not running. For a complete list of tolling events and the associated time, check out IRS Publication 594 and look at “How Long We Have To Collect Taxes.”

Will the IRS Notify Me Once the CSED Elapses?
No, the IRS is not required to notify you once the debt has expired. However, they are not legally allowed to pursue collection of the debt. Thus, you will usually just stop hearing from them if your debt has expired.

My CSED Has Elapsed – Now What?
If the CSED has elapsed, congratulations! All that remains is cleaning up the chaos that your tax problem left in your life. You will need to ensure that a TC 608 credit to zero out the debt has been entered into the IRS system. You should also ensure that a Release of Federal Tax Lien is filed so that you can begin the process of repairing your credit.

My CSED Has Not Elapsed – Now What?
If your CSED hasn’t elapsed, but it is getting close, the best thing to do might be to get a plan in place with the IRS to ensure you’re protected from aggressive collection action. This may include entering into a monthly payment plan or negotiating for your account to be placed into currently not collectible status (a “temporarily” status where you aren’t required to pay the IRS).

Do YOU Need Help With Your IRS Debt?
While you could go through the hassle of calculating your CSED, do you really want to? For a flat $150 fee, and us filing a few forms with the IRS (with your consent), we’ll look at however many years you want to analyze, and provide you with a comprehensive report that will include:

Total tax assessment, penalty, interest and accrual amounts for each year (so you know how much you really owe)
CSED calculations for each year requested
Tolling events (if any) and the days your CSED has been extended
All IRS notices sent/received for each year
IRS account activity by year
And much, much more (we promise)

Call us at (773) 239-8850 or click our email address at the bottom of this screen to get started.

By the way, this post (the one you’r reading) is by far the most viewed on our site. Why? Because many people have tax issues that they want to resolve. If you have old tax returns that need to be filed or want to learn how a professional can help you with your situation, why not visit our sister site File Old Tax Returns? You might be surprised to learn that we may be able to help you out for less than you are thinking. Plus, hear some valuable information on your taxpayer rights from the IRS Commissioner himself!

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