The State Department provided the following statement:
On December 4, 2015, President Obama signed H.R.22 - FAST Act, which became Public Law 114-94. The FAST Act, which stands for “Fixing America's Surface Transportation,” includes provisions related to the denial and revocation of U.S. passports. Specifically, the law provides that the State Department shall not issue a passport to any individual certified by IRS as having a seriously delinquent tax debt. The State Department also may revoke any passport issued to a person certified by the IRS as having a seriously delinquent tax debt. U.S. citizens overseas who have their passport applications denied or passports revoked on this basis are eligible for a limited passport valid only for direct return to the United States. The State Department is working with the IRS to implement these provisions.
Once the program is in place, anyone who owes a certain amount to the IRS may either have their passport application denied, or their passport will be revoked. If that individual is currently overseas, their passport will no longer be valid and they'll need to obtain a "limited passport," which will only be valid for a nonstop trip back to the US.
Overall, this is bad news for anyone who owes taxes, but if you have a significant tax debt, you should be working with the IRS to pay that off before spending thousands of dollars on international travel. If you think this new policy could affect you, consider reaching out to the IRS to settle your debt before this new procedure takes effect.
