GUWonder

The President has now signed this passport denial/revocation into law:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwo...gned-into-law/

GUWonder

The passport denial/revocation provision in the law is retroactive to October 1, 2015, even as the bill became law in December 2015.

So much for due process and advance notice.

GUWonder

While CFR doesn't seem to have been updated yet since the Congress and President made this law, those passport-holding parties potentially impacted by this law should be aware that submitting your passport for additional pages, renewal or any other purpose to State Department -- whether within the US or beyond -- will facilitate revocation of already issued passports.

What is to be seen is: if issued passports will be revoked under this law and thus seized by DHS on exit from or entry to the US for those with proclaimed civil debts to the IRS; and/or if issued passports will only be seized under this law if the person is seeking passport services; and/or if issued passports will be revoked under this law and reported to Interpol for entry in the Interpol databases for reported stolen, lost, revoked passports.

For those who may be subject to being hit by this law as the implementation structure gets in place, getting a new passport as soon as possible may make sense -- at least if applying on a basis that doesn't involve handing in a currently valid passport and/or if having a reasonable basis to have more than one US passport with overlapping validity. And the expedite fee could be well worth it.

A newly-issued, full-duration, adult passport not being presented to State Department employees may end up useful for as long as ten years. And ten years is long enough to: potentially acquire a new citizenship and related passport; and/or wait out the statue of limitations for collections and/or assessments assuming the person has filed their taxes and there has been no fraud involved. Just saying.

susiesan

If your passport were to be revoked without your knowledge and you live oversees, will you still be able to travel to other countries on a US passport? Will other countries know if a passport has been revoked or not?

Boggie Dog

Odds of this new law, or this particular part, being challenged?

GUWonder

With regard to the first question, it depends on the answer to your second question; and that answer that will vary based upon:

the specifics of the travels/destination country (and possibly even transit country); and

what the US decides to do in informing Interpol about passports of persons whose passports may be subject to revocation on this tax claim basis.

The answer to your second question isn't clear yet, but at least some countries may become aware if the US files a revocation feed to Interpol for the passport and the other country checks against the Interpol databases or with the US State Department. Other countries may not, unless checking against the Interpol databases or with the US directly.

You can call or email the State Department to ask about the current status of your passport.

I expect that there may be a challenge -- probably relatively high chances of that over the course of the next 7 years -- but it may lead to another Weinstein v. Madeline Albright type conclusion. That Weinstein v Albright would be a case related to the child support arrears-related passport denial program. This would be a case related to this tax arrears-related passport denial program.

Odds of a successful challenge? I don't hold out much hope.

SkiAdcock

I bumped up the thread in Omni PR that had been started a few years ago re: this.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/omni-...owe-taxes.html

Cheers.

GUWonder

I don't go there, even as that thread was started here or somewhere in Travel & Dining. For your information, the law isn't in practice until federal regulations are reached to enforce it. So there still may time to get a passport and/or renew one. And revocation may possibly stay unlikely for already issued passports unless and until such passport is acquired directly by State Department employees. But nothing is that clear about what happens to issues passports until the federal register deals with this.

SkiAdcock

Huh?

GUWonder

As a practical matter, it may turn out that those subject to this passport blacklisting may keep using their already-issued-and-delivered US passports unless and until those passports are provided to a State Department employee in the ordinary course of things -- such as the bearer of the passport seeking additional passport services from a State Department employee -- whereafter they would be seized/cancelled. In other words, the passport revocation may end up being conditioned upon the bearer of the passport voluntarily surrendering the passport to a State Department employee.

Example: Let's say a "seriously delinquent taxpayer" who is legally a free person has a US passport already issued in October 2015 traveled from the US in November 2015. This person returns to US in May 2016 using their US passport. The person present their US passport to CBP, and CBP hands it back to the "seriously delinquent taxpayer" after admitting the person. The person then uses the passport to fly back out of and into the passport for the remaining duration of the passport as indicated by the original, printed expiration date of the passport. However, if the "seriously delinquent taxpayer" takes in their passport to the US to a US Embassy/consulate to seek any passport services, then the State Department employee would seize and revoke the passport.

I'm not sure this is how it would work, but (perhaps due to privacy reasons and other stipulations applicable to different government agencies and what can and cannot be shared or passed on between government agencies), it could be that the revocation could only take place after a State Department employee gets their hands on the passport of such person, with CBP only handing over the passports to State in rather more extraordinary circumstances than that of a "seriously delinquent taxpayer", legally free US citizen presenting a passport for use with CBP and other non-State Department governmental employees.

Also, even after a law passes, it takes time for implementation by the Executive Branch. For example:

[I added "[2010]" above to make it clear in which year the article above was published.]

For a law to be implemented by the bureaucracy involves certain administrative steps. Those required, administrative implementation steps can take months or years before an administrative procedure required by law can be implemented.

Watch the Federal Register to see how and when this actually gets implemented by the Administration.

GUWonder

Even after the 1996 law to deny/revoke passports of "seriously delinquent"-type debtors owing child support, people with greater than $2,500 in debt were still able to get passports for several months due to administrative procedure implementation requirements.

And I don't recall those issued passports from the last quarter of 1996 and early 1997 being generally revoked due to that provision in the 1996 welfare reform law unless and until the passports were brought in to the hands of State Department employees as part of seeking passport or other services from the State Department at some point after the US CFR was publicly updated.

Adult passports are generally valid for ten years. The IRS statute of limitations for collection after assessment is ten years unless fraud is involved. The IRS statute of limitations for assessment is also not greater than ten years when fraud is not involved.

There may still be an opportunity (if an OIC, installment plan, or tax court trial is less than ideal, if even possible) for people who may be subject to collection efforts (exceeding $50,000) to have a passport for nearly the entire ten year period if they act now to get a new passport. And getting a new passport is possible still even if your passport is several years from expiring.

Act now if you want to try protect your travel rights for the better part of the next ten years: apply for, or renew, a passport -- before the bureaucrats catch up with the new law.

DaveBlaine

Holy wall of text Batman!

GUWonder

Indeed. I hope it helps some who need/want a passport to use over the next several years but may otherwise be subject to IRS collection efforts for amounts exceeding $50,000.

GUWonder

There is no doubt that the new law is not currently being enforced by the Executive Branch.

I've verified that there is currently a very real opportunity for all people who may be subject to IRS collection efforts (exceeding $50,000) to have a standard US passport for nearly the entire ten year period if they act now to get a new/renewal/replacement passport.

The US Treasury and State Departments still have no administrative procedure in place to enforce this new law. That means if you apply for a passport now, you'll still be issued a passport regardless of what the IRS thinks about the nature and amount of the civil debt.

Apply now and you may be good to travel for the next ten years, even if you are to be subject to passport denial under this law when next seeking passport services.

Passport invalidation/revocation is apparently a more complex minefield for the US than passport denial; so as a matter of practice, the US may end up not revoking/invalidating passports under this new law unless and until the passport bearer seeks passport services or otherwise presents US passports for State Department services.

This is of course subject to change, but until the government goes through the applicable administrative procedures, it is what it is: an opportunity to still have a US passport and US passport services, with the latter likely to be denied sooner than the former is to be invalidated/revoked unless seeking services from the State Department while using that passport..

Euphonix8

This is a bit scary to me considering that the IRS will be responsible for enforcing fines from the affordable care act.