WASHINGTON DC – Congress will enact a new law denying or revoking passports of US citizens who have not paid their taxes.
The law is aimed at denying Americans who have serious tax debts and have at least $50,000 in unpaid federal taxes, including penalties and interest which would be adjusted for inflation.
The new law is expected to take effect in January, 2016. The State Department said it would block Americans with “seriously delinquent” tax debt from receiving new passports and would be allowed to rescind existing passports of those who fell into that category.
A list of those taxpayers who will be immediately affected will be compiled by the Internal Revenue Service using the $50,000 threshold as a marker.
The rescinding or renewal of a passport would also apply if the taxpayer were subject to a lien which advises creditors of a debt owed to the IRS.
The same holds true for those who are under a levy by the IRS, where the government has the right to seize assets.
The same ‘does not apply’ if the taxpayer is in the process of trying or attempting to resolve his tax debt with the IRS. Those paying installment payments, the taxpayer is contesting the debt, or the taxpayer is in court attempting to resolve the issue at hand.
The measure to bring American tax payers to their knees is expected to raise nearly $400-million dollars over the first 10 years of its implementation.
In 2014 alone, the IRS sent out almost 855,000 notices to US citizens abroad. How many were actually ‘undelivered’ is unknown.
Those behind the bill remind US citizens of the importance of their passport when registering children in schools, registering in a hotel, opening a bank account among many other things. However, many of those living in the Philippines realise that the use for a passport is minimal, and many of the rules in foreign countries do not apply here.
No doubt, the new rule will have many Americans living in the Philippines, and numerous other Asian countries, in a predicament.
Many Americans live in Asian countries in poverty conditions, living day to day, or month to month on retirement, military and other government social benefits.
If anything, many would be hard pressed to even worry at all about a law that controls their passport when in fact they are not or have not been on the ‘radar’ for years, even decades.