As you well know, the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, has asked for personal identification data for decades now, such as your Social Security number, date of birth, and full name. We all pretty much understand that this information is crucial to make sure that the taxes we paid (or didn’t pay) are documented under our name and federal account, as opposed to someone else’s.
But even then, sometimes that data isn’t enough. For instance, when I go in to see my accountant on a yearly basis to file my taxes, he is required to also note my driver’s license number, as well as take a photocopy of the actual card.
Again, it’s all to make sure I get credit for filing my taxes and not someone else trying to make themselves look better in the government’s eyes.
However, it would seem that still none of that information, as personal as it may be, is enough.
Now, thanks to an increase in tax fraud in recent years and a green light from the federal government, the IRS will soon require that you also submit biometric data to a third-party company to access your accounts, at least when trying to attain information online.
So what does this biometric data entail exactly? Well, for starters, it means they will need a photo of your state-issued identification card, much like my accountant asks for every year. But in addition to this, the IRS will also ask for a video of your face to give to a third-party company so they can run it through facial recognition software.
Now, to be clear, not everything you do online through the IRS website will require such info. Making a payment or paying your taxes online, for instance, will not.
According to CNBC, “The IRS emphasizes taxpayers can pay or file their taxes without submitting a selfie or other information to a third-party identity verification company.”
However, that’s about all you can do without handing over for visage for inspection.
Should you want to access your tax transcripts, check on payment agreements, view the status of your stimulus check, or apply for a payment plan, your extra personal data will be required post haste.
And it appears that the need for this data won’t be going away anytime soon. In fact, as more and more people through the government contracted ID.me, create online accounts, the idea’s popularity seems to be growing as well. Soon it is expected to see similar requirements for other online applications and accounts.
But as you can imagine, given its novelty, as well as the overall gist, already a few problems have arisen.
Several individuals, for instance, have gone online to create such an account and submit the necessary requirements. But for whatever reason, the third-party ID verification company is having problems doing their job, namely verifying the person’s image. Some have even had to wait for months on end for their video selfie to be recognized and found acceptable.
So what happens in the meantime? Well, those people are denied access to services like unemployment, creating a PIN with the IRS, or even knowing how much more they owe on their taxes for the year.
The company, quite naturally, says that in those instances, workarounds are being created where such individuals can participate in video calls with “trusted referees” to get their identification verified. Needless to say, it’s been quite a mess for quite a few citizens.
It’s not lost on many Americans that while the IRS, under the guidance of the Biden administration, has increased its ID requirements, Democrats are saying that showing nearly any form of ID at voting polls is racist and a suppression of voices.
Basically, nothing is off the table when it comes to the IRS’s ability to get their money from us. But when lesser ID requirements are made for elections, it’s suddenly wrong… Tell me how that makes any sense, please.
Once again, the Democrats are proving their hypocrisy to the world.
