If you are applying for a U.S. passport and you owe taxes to the IRS you may want to read the following guidance.
The following is an excerpt from IRS Notice 2018-01, which was issued in the January 16, 2018 Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRS 2018-03) and includes statutory provisions from the December 2015 FAST Act:
When a certified taxpayer applies for a passport, the State Department, in general, will provide the applicant with 90 days to resolve their tax delinquency (such as by making full payment, entering into an installment agreement under section 6159, or IRS acceptance of an offer in compromise under section 7122) before denying the application. If a taxpayer needs their passport to travel within those 90 days, the taxpayer must contact the IRS and resolve the matter within 45 days from the date of application so that the IRS has adequate time to notify the State Department.
