The FAST Act May Affect Your Travel Plans
Planning on traveling out of the country soon…..well not so fast! At least if you plan to apply for or renew your passport, and you are seriously delinquent with the IRS! Generally, if you owe more than $51,000.00 in back taxes, penalties and interest, and the IRS has filed a Notice of Federal Tax Lien, the challenge period has expired, or a levy has been issued, the FAST Act may affect you. The FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act) signed into law in December of 2015 requires the IRS to notify the State Department which requires them to deny new and renewal passport applications and even in some cases revoke passports.
There are ways in which taxpayers can avoid having the IRS notify the State Department of their seriously delinquent debt and certain circumstances where your passport won’t be at risk under the program, even if you have IRS debt.
Contact our office for more information if you believe you may be in jeopardy of having your travel plans put on hold for seriously delinquent tax reasons.
