Caucus Co-Chairs Maloney (D-NY) and Mulvaney (R-SC) support Americans overseas. Here's how you can help them help you.

Americans Abroad Caucus Co-Chairs Maloney (D-NY) and Mulvaney (R-SC) along with their colleagues have written to Secretary of State Kerry advising him of the serious issues with regard to the passport revocation provision as it applies to Americans living and working overseas. See Caucus letter here.

ACA has been on the forefront of this issue bringing it to the attention of the legislature and the Americans Abroad Caucus. ACA has continued to highlight to the Congress the serious negative impact such legislation could have on Americans living overseas:  ACA letter to Congress and Final ACA position paper on passport revocation.

ACA is pleased to see that the Caucus Co-chairs understand our concerns over this provision given the increase in individuals coming into compliance from overseas, the lengthy mail delivery and communication time between the IRS and overseas tax filers, the risk of error in filing from overseas and the lack of clear regulatory guidance on how the process for the final determination of those whose passports will be revoked.

UPDATE (January 2017):  IRS website update on Passport Revocation Provision.  

ACA continues advocacy on the Passport Revocation Provision.  ACA is awaiting draft regulations for comment and when made available, we will voice concerns over how this policy could put Americans overseas at a serious disadvantage if they were to have their passports denied or revoked.

The latest update from the IRS on this can be found here:  https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/revocation-or-denial-of-passport-in-case-of-certain-unpaid-taxes

UPDATE (October 2017):

Although the IRS has not yet started certifying tax debt to the State Department for the Passport Revocation Provision legislation (certifications to the State Department will begin in January 2018), in recent meeting with the Taxpayer Advocate and other administrative offices, the opinion is that FBAR penalties will not considered as seriously delinquent tax debts and won’t be certified for passport denial or revocation.  The IRS’s webpage on passport revocation alludes to this issue indirectly, see: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/revocation-or-denial-of-passport-in-case-of-certain-unpaid-taxes. The website makes clear that the only “seriously delinquent tax debt” is eligible for certification to the Department of State and FBAR penalties are not federal tax debt.  FBAR penalties are written under Title 31 which is not tax legislation which would be written under Title 26.  ACA continues to monitor developments on this and will update as information is made available.