IRS lets taxpayers opt out of facial recognition

The Internal Revenue Service is allowing taxpayers to create online accounts through a live, virtual interview with agents, instead of submitting a selfie or other biometric data, after a backlash erupted over privacy concerns.

The IRS announced the new authentication option Monday after the agency came under fire from privacy advocates for starting to require taxpayers to submit a selfie for facial recognition, along with a government document like a passport and driver’s license, to set up an online account through a third-party provider, ID.me.

The IRS introduced the selfie authentication procedure last November for new taxpayer accounts as a way to combat taxpayer identity theft after a series of data breaches in recent years (on apps such as Get Transcript) and had planned to require it for existing taxpayer and tax professional accounts by this summer. But the agency backtracked from the plans earlier this month after mounting criticism in Congress (see story). As of Wednesday, the requirement for a selfie and a government document still seemed to be in place.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

“The IRS announced today that a new option in the agency’s authentication system is now available for taxpayers to sign up for IRS online accounts without the use of any biometric data, including facial recognition,” said the IRS in a statement. “This is consistent with the IRS’s commitment earlier this month to transition away from the requirement for taxpayers creating an IRS online account to provide a selfie to a third-party service to help authenticate their identity. Taxpayers will have the option of verifying their identity during a live, virtual interview with agents; no biometric data — including facial recognition — will be required if taxpayers choose to authenticate their identity through a virtual interview.”

The IRS noted that taxpayers would still have the option to verify their identity automatically through the use of biometric verification through ID.me’s self-assistance tool if they choose. “For taxpayers who select this option, new requirements are in place to ensure images provided by taxpayers are deleted for the account being created,” said the IRS. “Any existing biometric data from taxpayers who previously created an IRS Online Account that has already been collected will also be permanently deleted over the course of the next few weeks.”

The IRS has begun looking for an alternative to ID.me, but it's still widely used in other parts of the federal government and by dozens of states.

“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,” said the IRS. “The General Services Administration is currently working with the IRS to achieve the security standards and scale required of Login.Gov, with the goal of moving toward introducing this option after the 2022 filing deadline.”

ID.me may still be used for taxpayer authentication in the meantime by the IRS, even without selfies. “ID.me is an identity verification company,” the company said in a statement. “Our capabilities extend well beyond facial recognition. We have thousands of customer support agents who verify people through video chat. ID.me believes in choice. Our customers and the public asked for more options to choose the verification pathway that works best for them. We moved swiftly to accommodate those requests.”