In the year 2020 October, travelers may face more hassles for domestic air travel. Very soon your driver’s license might not be a sufficient document to get you through the security and on board. In fact, as per the Los Angeles Times, including California, there are 26 states which don’t meet the regulations of the government. For these states, there has been allowed a time extension till 10th October, 2016 but soon after that you can be sure that the US passport will be required. Till 22nd January, 2018, there is a relief and Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security Secretary mentioned in a statement that until the aforementioned date, residents can continue using their driving license for traveling in domestic flights. However by 1st October, 2020, every traveler who travels by air will require a Real ID- compliant license for traveling domestically. As per the Real ID Act, they created a national standard for IDs issued by the state.
It is therefore clear that a US passport will have increasing vitality even with regards to domestic traveling and the rise of importance of the passport clashes with a brand new law which gives enough power to the IRS to revoke passports. The easy solution to travel issues might be to dig your passport out and they’re already in proof within domestic air check in lines. However, have you ever wondered about what would happen if you still owe money to the IRS?
Will the IRS revoke passports of the indebted?
HR.22 added a new part 7345 to the tax code which has been given the name of “Revocation or Denial of Passport in case of Tax Delinquencies”. This idea dates back to the year 2012 when it was reported by the Government Accountability Office that passports could be used to collecting IRS taxes. Now that there is a change and the entire thing has become a law, the department of State will gradually start blocking all those Americans who are seriously drowning in tax debt. This will include anyone whom the IRS certifies as having accumulated tax debt which is more than $50,000.
Many months after this law was passed, there were no such administrative details about how it will be executed. But there were higher chances that it would mean no passport and no renewal of passports. It could even mean that the State Department may cancel the current passports of those people who fall into this section. The list of taxpayers who will be affected will be compiled by the IRS and while doing this, they will use $50,000 as a limit to unpaid government taxes. One more point to note is that if you’re contesting a tax bill with IRS at the court, that won’t be considered as delinquent. Apart from this, there is also another administrative exception which allows the State Department to issue emergency passports for various reasons.
Considering the 8 million Americans who live abroad, most of them are feeling the sting of FATCA related problems. Although passports are extremely vital for traveling internationally, state flights should also make them more fundamental.
