The IRS was previously partnering with third-party software provider ID.me to verify online accounts. Amid alarm, the agency is no longer doing so.
Highlights
- The IRS will no longer require taxpayers to use facial recognition software to authenticate online accounts.
- The agency previously announced that starting this summer, taxpayers would have had to use ID.me.
- The move was met with alarm from privacy experts, who questioned the need for the government to partner with an outside firm to collect biometric data.
- The IRS says it will develop an “additional authentication process that does not involve facial recognition” The move should happen in the next few weeks, the agency says.
- Some lawmakers have asked the IRS to “immediately discontinue any programs that collect, process and store facial recognition or other types of biometrics”