If you can’t or don’t want to take a video of your face, you can have a video call with an ID.me agent who will confirm that your face matches your identification.
It’s the same as going to a bank and letting the teller look at your face. It’s to prevent someone from stealing your identity using a picture of your ID.
How can they verify the ID is real without physically seeing it? They look up the info but still need to verify that you are the person on the ID.
Ok but how come H&R Block doesn’t need to do this? I just give them my IRS PIN and the AGI from last year’s return. The picture shit feels like a poison pill
How have they been verifying mailed in tax forms with no pictures for decades?
Seems like it unnecessarily disenfranchises the poor and the elderly. You have to have access to equipment that can record you and the tech savvy to be able to use it.
countries with no national ID cards and no plans for one: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK. 1
And they do taxes just fine without a Harry Potter like gif of every tax payer.
Privacy reasons aside, TurboTax doesn’t require a video clip to file your taxes so this is only raising the technical barrier against the widespread adoption of a simple tax system.
I’m 100% for a simple IRS tax return but what the heck is with this?
Is that really necessary???
It’s the same as going to a bank and letting the teller look at your face. It’s to prevent someone from stealing your identity using a picture of your ID.
How can they verify the ID is real without physically seeing it? They look up the info but still need to verify that you are the person on the ID.
Ok but how come H&R Block doesn’t need to do this? I just give them my IRS PIN and the AGI from last year’s return. The picture shit feels like a poison pill
How have they been verifying mailed in tax forms with no pictures for decades?
Seems like it unnecessarily disenfranchises the poor and the elderly. You have to have access to equipment that can record you and the tech savvy to be able to use it.
They haven’t. Of course, the IRS deals with upwards 1 million potentially fraudulent claims per year. So, at some level, they’re trying to avoid exacerbating the problem.
You’d think a social insurance number would be enough…
Social Security number WAS NOT made to be an ID. It’s not a secure unique number, it’s just serial.
Oh I didn’t know that. It kinda works like that in my country
Stupid fraud prevention ugh!
Listen folks, if you have a driver license, they already have your face, so settle down.
And they do taxes just fine without a Harry Potter like gif of every tax payer.
Privacy reasons aside, TurboTax doesn’t require a video clip to file your taxes so this is only raising the technical barrier against the widespread adoption of a simple tax system.