The next time you try to log in to the Internal Revenue Service’s website you’ll be urged to use facial-recognition software to verify you are who you say you are.The verification process includes taking a picture of a photo ID, like a driver’s license or passport, and then taking a video selfie with a smartphone or computer so software can compare the two. It’s part of a partnership the IRS has with ID.me, a fast-growing company that uses facial recognition software as part of its identity-verification process.For now, this process is optional if you already have an IRS username and password. But if you don’t, and you want to use online tools to request an online tax transcript or see information regarding your tax payments or economic impact payments, you’ll need to sign up with ID.me. And starting this summer, those old IRS usernames and passwords will no longer work.As CNN reported last year, ID.me already verifies identities for more than half of all states’ unemployment agencies as well as a growing number of US federal agencies. In addition to the IRS, ID.me works the Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The company says it has 70 million users and adds 145,000 new users each day.The IRS used ID.me in a more limited capacity last year, verifying people who wanted to opt out of receiving advance child tax credit payments. In November, the IRS announced it was expanding this verification process for all logins, but it is gaining attention and some scrutiny as tax season begins and millions of people visit the agency’s site.”I think any plan that inserts a private intermediary into the system for accessing critical information or obtaining benefits from a government agency warrants a lot of scrutiny,” said John Davisson, director of litigation and senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC.In a statement to CNN Business, the IRS pointed out that it’s not necessary to have an online account with the IRS at all. The agency said it “emphasizes taxpayers can pay or file their taxes without submitting a selfie or other information to a third-party identity verification company.” (Taxpayers can also, for instance, request a transcript that will come by mail.)”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.
The next time you try to log in to the Internal Revenue Service’s website you’ll be urged to use facial-recognition software to verify you are who you say you are.
The verification process includes taking a picture of a photo ID, like a driver’s license or passport, and then taking a video selfie with a smartphone or computer so software can compare the two. It’s part of a partnership the IRS has with ID.me, a fast-growing company that uses facial recognition software as part of its identity-verification process.
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For now, this process is optional if you already have an IRS username and password. But if you don’t, and you want to use online tools to request an online tax transcript or see information regarding your tax payments or economic impact payments, you’ll need to sign up with ID.me. And starting this summer, those old IRS usernames and passwords will no longer work.
As CNN reported last year, ID.me already verifies identities for more than half of all states’ unemployment agencies as well as a growing number of US federal agencies. In addition to the IRS, ID.me works the Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The company says it has 70 million users and adds 145,000 new users each day.
The IRS used ID.me in a more limited capacity last year, verifying people who wanted to opt out of receiving advance child tax credit payments. In November, the IRS announced it was expanding this verification process for all logins, but it is gaining attention and some scrutiny as tax season begins and millions of people visit the agency’s site.
“I think any plan that inserts a private intermediary into the system for accessing critical information or obtaining benefits from a government agency warrants a lot of scrutiny,” said John Davisson, director of litigation and senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC.
In a statement to CNN Business, the IRS pointed out that it’s not necessary to have an online account with the IRS at all. The agency said it “emphasizes taxpayers can pay or file their taxes without submitting a selfie or other information to a third-party identity verification company.” (Taxpayers can also, for instance, request a transcript that will come by mail.)
“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.
