Starting this summer, the IRS is requiring users of its online tools to verify their identity by registering with its biometrics partner ID.me, which requires users to submit a driver’s license or passport along with a selfie or in some cases video, for facial recognition, according to multiple reports.
Online users’ login credentials will stop working this summer, and people will be directed to ID.me to create an account. The move affects anyone who uses the IRS portal to access documents, view tax information, make payments and verify payments such as economic stimulus or child tax credit.
New IRS online users will have to sign up with ID.me. It’s not necessary for those who want to just file their taxes.
Virginia-based ID.me already works with 27 states’ unemployment agencies to reduce the number of fraudulent claims for state and federal benefits. It also verifies identity for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, CNN reported. The company has 70 million users and claims to add 145,000 daily.
ID.me was launched by the IRS last year to verify the identity of people opting out of receiving advance child tax credit payments. The agency announced in November 2021 that it was planning to expand its use for all logins, but the news fell under the radar until tax season approached this year.
“To help protect the security of taxpayers, the IRS uses an identity verification process for accessing IRS’ self-help tools such as checking your account online and getting a transcript online,” the IRS said in a statement to CNN Business.
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Caitlin Seeley George, campaign director at Fight For the Future, told Axios that the move by the IRS is among the biggest in the country for facial recognition and “there is no question that it will harm peoples’ privacy.”
She also pointed to ID.me’s terms of service, which allows the company to share data with police, government agencies and “select partners.”
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