Selfies at ID.me for IRS logon and some states

[donheff]

This article points out that IRS will soon require account holders to use an outfit called ID.me to verify identity. The service requires multiple documents and a video selfie.

I don't currently have an IRS account but can imagine wanting one. Also, it looks like other organization are using or will be using this outfit. Has anyone registered with them. I am curious about how much of a PITA the process is. I am particularly concerned about whether they use credit checks as part of their ID process. I have been blocked from some sites because my credit is frozen. Even after unfreezing my credit I often can't answer the arcane questions they ask. I hope this outfit doesn't just compound the problem.

 

[MichaelB]

I wonder how they will deal with POAs.

 

[steelyman]

This is a big turnoff for me. I may have complained about it in the “pet peeve” thread. Online access is helpful and efficient in the usual case but it seemed to me this practice is intrusive. I think I can live without an IRS online account (I have one now but received the update about upcoming changes)

 

[braumeister]

I've had to use ID.me a few times, and it seems reasonable to me. A good way to prove you're who you say you are.

 

[donheff]

It looks like you can use them without credit check info. I wish the Dep of State Passport Office would use these guys. I couldn't get an online account set up because of the credit check issue.

Edit: Actually, now that I look again I can't even see a way to sign up for online passport info. Maybe it was IRS that I couldn't complete.

 

[grasshopper]

This is a big turnoff for me. I may have complained about it in the “pet peeve” thread. Online access is helpful and efficient in the usual case but it seemed to me this practice is intrusive. I think I can live without an IRS online account (I have one now but received the update about upcoming changes)

+1, same here where does this help me? I use login.gov for SSA and my info is protected with my Yubikeys. I don't see the same kind of protection at ID.me.

 

[braumeister]

When I've used ID.me it has been for verifying eligibility for military/veteran discounts, and there was nothing out of the ordinary like a video requirement. Just typical stuff like identifying questions, text/email receipt, etc., similar to what you would do to connect to a credit bureau.

 

[Dash man]

I've had to use ID.me a few times, and it seems reasonable to me. A good way to prove you're who you say you are.

+1
I’ve used it without any hassles.

 

[donheff]

I went ahead and did this. It was pretty easy although some of my uploads were initially rejected and I had to confirm with a video conference. I was finally able to register at IRS without going though the hated Experian process.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I've had to use ID.me a few times, and it seems reasonable to me. A good way to prove you're who you say you are.

+1 I have used it for some military/government sites (such as the VA) and on a legal project I w*rked on last year. I would guess the video/picture is a newer/updated verification method. I have seen similar verification services that will compare a government ID with your "current" self-taken photo.

Somewhat related...the last 3 times we have come back from out of the states, facial recognition was used at customs (Global Entry), no fingerprints at the kiosk. Also, on a couple of recent flights, they used facial recognition for boarding...no boarding passes were used.

Facial recognition is here whether we like it or not.

Here is the wiki on id.me for more information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ID.me

 

[cathy63]

I already had an id.me account that I'd forgotten about. They recognized it when I tried to set up a new one, but in order to use the old one at the IRS site, I had to upload photos of the front and back of my driver's license (there were other choices such as a passport) and then I had to take a video of my face so they could do biometric verification. The video took 3 tries because they said it was too dark, despite standing in front of a sunny window. It finally worked when I turned on the overhead LED lights in the kitchen and did it there. I did not have to go through the in-person video conference.

I was a bit worried they might have difficulty texting my phone because another article I'd read said you can't use a Google Voice number. My cell service is Google Fi and I'm never quite sure how much those two services overlap since it used to be that you couldn't use Voice and Fi on the same Google account, but it all worked fine.

If you start the process on your computer, you do need to have your phone handy. They will text verification codes and a link, and you will use the phone camera to photograph your docs and video yourself. The back-and-forth between the phone and computer were seamless.

 

[Lakedog]

This is a big turnoff for me. I may have complained about it in the “pet peeve” thread. Online access is helpful and efficient in the usual case but it seemed to me this practice is intrusive. I think I can live without an IRS online account (I have one now but received the update about upcoming changes)

+2, will likely pass on this option at least for a while. Heck, I still send snail mail tax returns but expect the IRS will not allow that at some point.

 

[steelyman]

+2, will likely pass on this option at least for a while. Heck, I still send snail mail tax returns but expect the IRS will not allow that at some point.

I hope not (I still send paper too). All the IRS account has told me lately is that they haven’t processed my returns.

If they want something from me they know how to find me.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

If you start the process on your computer, you do need to have your phone handy. They will text verification codes and a link, and you will use the phone camera to photograph your docs and video yourself. The back-and-forth between the phone and computer were seamless.

What if you don't own a cell phone?

 

[bizlady]

Love the IRS site currently for paying the estimates. Hate the idea of id.me- I have concerns about how secure they are.

Does anyone know that if you have access to the IRS site now to pay taxes for a married-joint filing- do both parties have to setup the ID.me?

 

[cathy63]

Love the IRS site currently for paying the estimates. Hate the idea of id.me- I have concerns about how secure they are.

Does anyone know that if you have access to the IRS site now to pay taxes for a married-joint filing- do both parties have to setup the ID.me?

You do not need a login to use IRS Direct Pay. You can schedule payments up to a year in advance using this service.

EFTPS uses a different login system that is not id.Me. You can also schedule payments using this service for at least a year out, maybe longer.

If you choose to schedule payments through your IRS Account using an id.Me login, then only one person in a married couple needs to have a login.

 

[bizlady]

You do not need a login to use IRS Direct Pay. You can schedule payments up to a year in advance using this service.

EFTPS uses a different login system that is not id.Me. You can also schedule payments using this service for at least a year out, maybe longer.

If you choose to schedule payments through your IRS Account using an id.Me login, then only one person in a married couple needs to have a login.

Ahhh this is super helpful-- had no idea there were so many ways to do this. We use ESTPS and I thought that was it- thanks for the clarifications!

 

[Gotadimple]

What if you don't own a cell phone?

According to the website id.me you can set up 2FA using your home phone instead of a text message.

When I went to the irs.gov site for this service this login is only required if you want to check on payments like Earned Income Credit or Child Tax Credits.
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deducti...verifying-your-identity-to-view-your-payments

 

[tothemoon]

did this last week. i was actually kind of impressed how high tech it was. you upload a picture, and then it does a video scan of you to prove it's you.

alas, it couldn't verify my identity because i actually use a google voice number as my main number, which is not supported. my real mobile number is prepaid, which doesn't work either.

sooo...waited in line for about an hour to have a video chat with a human who completed the verification.

 

[CaptTom]

I'm naturally averse to anything which starts to resemble a surveillance state. But I have to admit something needs to be done.

Fraud has been rampant with all the gov't pandemic hand-out programs. My wife was denied unemployment five times, even though she never applied. All scammers. Every tax season we hear of more people having fraudulent returns filed in their names.

I really wish we didn't need one central government ID repository, for many reasons. Potential for abuse, for sure. But also it's a huge target for hackers.

But I suppose I'll go along with it. No doubt some day our political leanings will be entered into it, so undesirables can be eliminated by whoever the current ruling party is at that time. I'm sure I'd be on the wrong side. Hopefully I'll be gone by then.

 

[Sunset]

I'm naturally averse to anything which starts to resemble a surveillance state. But I have to admit something needs to be done.

Fraud has been rampant with all the gov't pandemic hand-out programs. My wife was denied unemployment five times, even though she never applied. All scammers. Every tax season we hear of more people having fraudulent returns filed in their names.

I really wish we didn't need one central government ID repository, for many reasons. Potential for abuse, for sure. But also it's a huge target for hackers.

But I suppose I'll go along with it. No doubt some day our political leanings will be entered into it, so undesirables can be eliminated by whoever the current ruling party is at that time. I'm sure I'd be on the wrong side. Hopefully I'll be gone by then.

It's easy for various departments to go with some third party verification site, but of course once that is tricked everything is exposed. I bet it won't be too long for hackers to use photographs and faked videos of people to fool the system.

Part of the problem is for the IRS, they are really stupid at processing the tax returns in their quick desire to hand out the refunds.
I'd like it if they matched up information to the previous tax return, and looked over universal information, it would probably stop 90% of the identity theft.

• At age 60 I'm not suddenly going to have 5 children this year to claim.
• If I moved, they could perhaps confirm it's really me before sending my check.
• Make sure my address is not the same as 200 other people, as scammers do more than 1 identity theft.
• If my bank account number changes, confirm that the new account belongs to me.
• Makes sure my bank account number is unique to me, should not be shared by 5 tax returns.

 

[Alan]

I have just gone through the whole process including video referee to validate my id and create an IRS account. It was certainly a relief to get logged onto my IRS account and see that last year's return (2020) has been processed okay. I had to file by paper and forgot to include copies of my W2 and 1099-R so had to send them in by international post as well, but you never hear back. In the request for documents the IRS had also asked for forms applicable only to Foreign people so I included a copy of our US passports. I had a $2k refund due which I had marked as being applied to the 2021 estimated payments so it was good to see that had been done.

A tortuous process getting set up for an overseas person. Even though 2FA apparently accepts a UK number and the drop-down country to get the code worked, the site would not accept less than 10 digits, so even putting a zero in front of my mobile number did not work. (UK mobile phones are only 9 digits) Instead I opted for the ID.me authenticator app which I downloaded and set up easily enough from the App store. I still had to upload various documents to prove who I was and then establish a video referee call to physically show my passport and original SS card, front and back. I also had to upload documents such as a W2 showing my physical address.

One thing I have always liked about the equivalent HMRC site is the ability to view my return, see what is owed, and pay estimated taxes and taxes owed directly on the site.

 

[ownyourfuture]

If I understand this correctly, if one has no plans/need to create an online account to manage your tax records with the U.S. (IRS), it won't affect you ?

 

[sengsational]

If I understand this correctly, if one has no plans/need to create an online account to manage your tax records with the U.S. (IRS), it won't affect you ?

I'm sure the IRS make it very painful to not register with this 3rd party. But probably not impossible. At least for a while. I'll make my decision to join when the pain of not joining is higher than the pain of doing it the old/alternative way.

I wonder how many people actually read the terms. According to Brian Krebs, the privacy policy says you can delete your biometric data, but when he tried, he was led to a process to delete his account. So certainly if you have an active account, your biometric data is in the juicy hacker target at id.me. Even if you delete your account, in the fine print, they say they company can keep your biometric data for seven and a half years. I'm not sure if that's a correct interpretation or not, and I don't want to be one of those people who spend 10 minutes reading the first 3 links on Google results, then proclaim to know "the truth" All I can say is I won't be part of the massive id.me breach unless they make it too painful to not join, which hasn't happened yet. After all, if the IRS can mail me a letter, I can also mail them a letter, right? That's what I've been doing 'forever'.

 

[walkinwood]

According to the website id.me you can set up 2FA using your home phone instead of a text message.

When I went to the irs.gov site for this service this login is only required if you want to check on payments like Earned Income Credit or Child Tax Credits.
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deducti...verifying-your-identity-to-view-your-payments

You can also use the google authenticator app - you don't need the id.me authenticator.


After reading this thread, I wish I hadn't signed up for id.me. There was really no "need" for me to log on to the IRS.