Americans: Pay Your Taxes--Or Lose Your Passport

This probably won't affect too many Americans teaching in China.

U.S. government will be able to deny new passports or revoke ones held by people with serious tax debts

Under a new law expected to take effect in January, the State Department will block Americans with “seriously delinquent” tax debt from receiving new passports and will be allowed to rescind existing passports of people who fall into that category. The list of affected taxpayers will be compiled by the Internal Revenue Service using a threshold of $50,000 of unpaid federal taxes, including penalties and interest, which would be adjusted for inflation.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-pay-your-taxes-or-lose-your-passport-1447971424

50K may seem like a lot. But I have known someone whose debt started a LOT smaller and it skyrocketed past 50K in short order due to interest and penalties.

Negotiate, cut a deal. Make a payment plan.

He finally did.