The IRS has announced a new virtual interview authentication system for taxpayers to sign up for IRS online accounts.
The new system doesn’t require biometric data such as facial recognition and is a temporary solution for the current filing season as the revenue agency works with the government to roll out Login.Gov for authentication.
Earlier this month the IRS had to steer away from the controversial ID.me authentication system. Now, the taxpayers have a new option of verifying their identity through a live, virtual interview with agents. No biometric data, including face recognition, will be required for this authentication.
Taxpayers can still use the biometric verification system using ID.me. However, recent changes mean that any images provided by the people will be deleted after the account is created.
Any data of people, including biometrics, that was previously collected during the IRS online account creation process will also be permanently deleted over the course of the next few weeks.
IRS is currently working with the General Services Administration to “achieve the security standards and scale required of Login.Gov”. They plan to introduce the new authentication option after the 2022 filing deadline.
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