Owe the IRS enough, for long enough, and your passport becomes collection leverage. Under §7345, the IRS certifies a “seriously delinquent tax debt” to the State Department, which can then deny your passport application or renewal — and, after a separate IRS referral, revoke the passport you already hold. For 2026, the threshold is more than $66,000 in unpaid, legally enforceable federal tax debt, including assessed penalties and interest. This page owns the certification process: the test, the notices, the State Department’s 90-day hold, and every route that reverses a certification — including the route that does not work, paying the balance down below the threshold.
General information, not tax or legal advice. This page is maintained annually for the §7345 threshold (for 2026: $66,000); confirm your own certification status against your CP508C notice and the IRS’s current passport page.
A debt is seriously delinquent under §7345(b)(1) when it is an unpaid, legally enforceable federal tax liability that (A) has been assessed, (B) totals more than the threshold — $66,000 for 2026 (the statute’s $50,000 base figure, inflation-adjusted under §7345(f); $64,000 for 2025) — and (C) has crossed an enforcement step: either a notice of federal tax lien has been filed under §6323 and your §6320 appeal rights have exhausted or lapsed, or a levy has been made under §6331. Federal tax lien help and IRS levy release cover those prerequisites — certification sits on top of them.
The $66,000 for 2026 is the aggregate unpaid balance of assessments — tax plus assessed interest and penalties. Amounts still accruing but not yet assessed do not count. The debts counted include individual income tax, trust fund recovery penalties, and business taxes you are personally liable for. FBAR penalties and child support are not certifiable debts.
Section 7345(b)(2) excludes debt being paid timely under an installment agreement (§6159) or an offer in compromise (§7122), and debt whose collection is suspended because a §6330 collection due process hearing is requested or pending, or because innocent spouse relief has been elected or requested under §6015. The IRS’s administrative non-certification list is broader still: taxpayers in bankruptcy, victims of tax-related identity theft, taxpayers in a federally declared disaster area, taxpayers in currently not collectible hardship status, taxpayers with a pending installment agreement or offer request, taxpayers with an accepted adjustment that will fully satisfy the debt, and taxpayers under a Department of Justice settlement. Certification is postponed for combat-zone or contingency-operation service. If you sit in one of these categories, certification should never have happened — itself one of the reversal grounds below.
Under §7345(c), the IRS must reverse a certification when:
The arrangements themselves are owned elsewhere: payment plans, offer in compromise, currently not collectible status, and innocent spouse relief for the suspension route.
The route that fails: paying the balance down below the threshold. The IRS states expressly that it will not reverse the certification if the debt becomes lower than the threshold amount through partial payments or collection statute expirations — decertification requires that you fully resolve all certified tax debt, through full satisfaction, a qualifying arrangement, or a suspension. A partial payment that takes you from above $66,000 for 2026 to below it changes your balance; it does not change your certification.
Expedited reversal: with an open passport application and travel within 45 days (or residence abroad), the IRS can generally shorten decertification to 9–16 days, on proof of travel plus a copy of State’s denial or revocation letter. The Taxpayer Advocate Service can also intervene where its criteria are met.
After the §7345(d) notice, you may sue in the U.S. Tax Court or a U.S. district court to determine whether the certification was erroneous or the IRS failed to reverse it (§7345(e)). The court’s power is narrow: it can only order the IRS to notify the State Department that the certification was erroneous. It cannot release a lien or levy or award damages. No administrative claim is required first, and the State Department is held harmless — it cannot be sued over the certification.
Can the IRS take my passport for unpaid taxes? Yes, through a two-agency process. The IRS certifies seriously delinquent tax debt to the State Department under §7345; State can then deny an application or renewal, and can revoke an existing passport after a separate IRS referral preceded by Letter 6152. Certification is the IRS step; the decision is State’s.
How much do you have to owe for the IRS to revoke your passport? More than the §7345 threshold — $66,000 for 2026 — in assessed, unpaid, legally enforceable federal tax debt, including assessed penalties and interest, with a filed lien (appeal rights exhausted or lapsed) or a levy behind it. Unassessed amounts do not count toward the figure.
What is a CP508C notice — is my passport already revoked? No. CP508C is the notice that the IRS has certified your debt to the State Department. Certification blocks new applications and renewals, but an existing passport is revoked only after a further referral, and the IRS sends Letter 6152 first, giving you 30 days to call (90 if mailed abroad).
How do I get my passport certification reversed? Fully resolve the debt, enter a qualifying installment agreement, get an offer in compromise accepted, settle with the Department of Justice, or come under a suspension (innocent spouse relief or a timely CDP request) — or show the certification was erroneous. The IRS then reverses, notifies State generally within 30 days, and sends you CP508R. Partial payments that merely drop the balance below the threshold do not reverse it.
Will a payment plan stop passport revocation? A timely installment agreement is a statutory exclusion: debt being paid under one is not seriously delinquent, and entering one is a §7345(c) reversal ground. A pending agreement request also keeps you off the IRS’s certification list. The plan has to stay in good standing — defaulting removes the protection.
General information, not tax or legal advice. Sources: 26 U.S.C. §7345 (incl. (b), (c), (d), (e), (f)); IRM 5.19.25; IRS, “Revocation or denial of passport in cases of certain unpaid taxes” and “Understanding your CP508C notice” (irs.gov) — threshold for 2026: $66,000. Currency verified 2026-10-23.