IRS Wants Your Face on File, Will Require Facial-Recognition Online - Privacy Experts Sound Alarm
(CBN) If you want to access your tax records online, as soon as this summer you'll have to submit a selfie to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to verify your identity to access your account.
To verify their identity with ID.me, taxpayers will need to provide a photo of an identity document such as a driver's license, state ID, or passport. They'll also need to take a selfie with a smartphone or a computer with a webcam. Once their identity has been verified, they can securely access IRS online services, the IRS explained in a November press release.
Users who already have IRS usernames may continue to use their credentials from the old system to sign in until this summer, but will then be prompted to create an ID.me account as soon as possible, the IRS said.
The new process is one more step the IRS is taking to ensure that taxpayer information is provided only to the person who legally has a right to the data.
"Identity verification is critical to protect taxpayers and their information. The IRS has been working hard to make improvements in this area, and this new verification process is designed to make IRS online applications as secure as possible for people," said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "To help taxpayers and the tax community, we are improving the accessibility of online tools that help families manage their Child Tax Credit, check on their IRS accounts and securely perform other routine tasks online."
The IRS said the change is necessary to protect U.S. taxpayers from identity theft. But as multiple news outlets report, privacy advocates say it's invasive and point out that the company behind ID.me has a spotty record in verifying people's identities.
The move "will only lead to further ruin for Americans when their data is inevitably breached," Jackie Singh, director of technology and operations at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, said on Twitter.
Story by Steve Warren for CBN News
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