IRS to Require Selfies for Online Account Access Beginning This Summer

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Image: IRS

U.S. taxpayers who wish to access their online accounts at the irs.gov website for tax record management will have to submit to facial recognition scans starting this year.

As spotted by Brian Krebs (KrebsonSecurity), IRS has teamed with an online identity verification service called ID.me for its new directive, which requires users to not only submit copies of bills and other identity documents, but a live video feed of their faces, in order to access their accounts on the agency’s website. According to a notice on the sign-in/account creation page, users will not be able to log in with their existing usernames and passwords beginning summer 2022.

“[…] applicants are asked to upload images of their driver’s license, state-issued ID, or passport — either via a saved file or by scanning them with a webcam or mobile device,” Krebs wrote in a section detailing his experience with ID.me.

“If your documents get accepted, ID.me will then prompt you to take a live selfie with your mobile device or webcam. That took several attempts. When my computer’s camera produced an acceptable result, ID.me said it was comparing the output to the images on my driver’s license scans.”

Applicants will then have to submit a phone number (voice-over-IP services like Google Voice and Skype aren’t accepted) and additional documents such as a Social Security card and birth certificate before being transferred to a live agent via video call. Based on what Krebs initially saw, the wait time could last up to 3 hours and 27 minutes.

Source: KrebsonSecurity

Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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