The Internal Revenue Service is giving taxpayers a new, albeit temporary way to verify their identities as the agency moves away from a controversial system that would have required filers to use a third-party facial recognition service to access their tax information.
In a statement posted Monday, the IRS said it will allow taxpayers to “sign up for IRS online accounts without the use of any biometric data, including facial recognition.”
Individuals creating a new account with the IRS will be able to confirm their identity through a virtual chat with an IRS agent; taxpayers who choose this option will not have to submit further proof of identity, like a self-photo or video, in order to create an account.
Taxpayers can still choose to verify their identity through the third-party platform ID.me, a digital identity verification network that boasts contracts with numerous state agencies and private entities.
The IRS had planned to shift all verification procedures to ID.me by this summer, a rollout that was paused in early February after numerous lawmakers voiced concerns over potential security flaws within the process.
Concern over the expanded partnership between the IRS and ID.me was bipartisan. In one letter, a group of House Democrats pointed to a major cybersecurity breach that impacted Customs and Border Protection in May 2019, in which tens of thousands of images and personal information from travelers was accessed and later appeared on the dark web.
A separate group of over a dozen Senate Republicans issued an open letter saying they were “deeply concerned for many reasons” about the rollout of ID.me, and requested commissioner Rettig respond to a number of questions no later than Feb. 27.
Now, ID.me and the IRS have put “new requirements” in place for those who do choose to verify their identity through the third-party platform, in part to ensure that all photos submitted are subsequently deleted after confirmation of identity. The agency is working on retroactively deleting biometric data for individuals who previously submitted a photo to ID.me, a process that will take several weeks, the IRS said.
“While this short-term solution is in place for this year’s filing season, the IRS will work closely with partners across government to roll out Login.Gov as an authentication tool,” the agency added in part, saying the Login.Gov option will likely not be available until after the 2022 tax filing deadline.
