Congress Passes H.R. 22 on December 3, 2015

Love to travel?  Hate to pay your taxes?  With Congress’ passing of H.R. 22, which is currently on the President’s desk for signature, you may find these sentiments a hindrance to seeing the Great Wall of China or the Taj Mahal.

H.R. 22 is also known as the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.  The Act contains many provisions, one of which aims to revoke or deny passports to delinquent taxpayers.  Through proposed new Code section 7345, Congress is aiming to limit travel for taxpayers with a “seriously delinquent tax debt”, which is defined as an amount that exceeds $50,000.  Congress would like this new law to be effective January 1, 2016.

An interesting thing to note is that the administration of passports is not within the purview of the IRS.  So the new law, if passed, will require tax return information sharing between the State Department, which is responsible for passport-related determinations, and the IRS.  Perhaps we’ll need to add copies of our 1040’s to our packing list of sunscreen, guidebooks, and electrical converters lest we be denied entry coming home or ability to head out.

As it is widely expected that President Obama will sign the Act, please keep in mind your tax filing obligations as you plan those bucket list trips.

Contact us to learn more about the changes and how they could impact your travel plans!