The Internal Revenue Service has dismissed its plans to require taxpayers to use a third-party facial recognition service to register for online accounts.
Taxpayers can now create online accounts without the use of facial recognition and any biometric data and instead verify their identity through a live virtual interview with agents, the agency said Monday.
The IRS noted that taxpayers will still be able to select the option to use ID.me’s self-assistance tool for automatic biometric data verification. Taxpayers’ images and biometric data will be deleted for the account being created.
The alternative sign-up verification process comes less than a month after the IRS announced its decision to transition away from using facial recognition software following concerns from taxpayers regarding their privacy and security.
The IRS said it working with the General Services Administration to finalize the rollout of Login.Gov as an authentication tool.