ID.me

[dualstow]

Americans on the forum-

do you use ID.me for IRS tax payments? Do you feel it’s safe? From at least one article I’ve seen, I can imagine a lot of sarcastic “What could possibly go wrong” questions. i’m just kind of tired of paper checks, and tax payments are almost the last outpost for checkwriting.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-t ... 022-01-29/

[murphy_p_t]

I'm not familiar with the service you refer to.

However, for both federal and state taxes, including estimated taxes, I have done direct withdrawal from my checking account. No check writing, no going to the post office with return.

[dualstow]

Thanks, that's what I want to do- direct withdrawal.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like they're moving us in the direction of ID.me.
On the bright(?) side, the government is shopping for an alternative to that service. They don't have the funds to create their own.

[yankees60]

Americans on the forum-

do you use ID.me for IRS tax payments? Do you feel it’s safe? From at least one article I’ve seen, I can imagine a lot of sarcastic “What could possibly go wrong” questions. i’m just kind of tired of paper checks, and tax payments are almost the last outpost for checkwriting.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-t ... 022-01-29/

Never heard of it.

For decades business / organizations have been required to use this to pay required tax payments:

https://www.eftps.gov/eftps/

You can also set it up for yourself as an individual, as I have done and have also been using for decades.

I am also similarly set up with the state of Massachusetts so as to make any necessary state income tax payments to it.

[dualstow]

Thank you, Vinny, but that does not appear to be an option anymore for federal (for new accounts). Maybe for state stuff.

[flyingpylon]

ID.me is used to verify one's identity for a variety of purposes. I have an ID.me account that verifies that I'm a veteran. But it was the facial recognition piece that so many were concerned about the IRS using. I've never had to upload a photo to ID.me and don't see why it should be required for the IRS. But then I'm generally a law-abiding citizen. I know the government has access to things like driver's license photos, etc. if they really want them, not to mention photos stored on online services as well.

[dualstow]

ID.me is used to verify one's identity for a variety of purposes. I have an ID.me account that verifies that I'm a veteran.

Yeah, that’s how they started out. In fact, they used to be called TroopID. Now they handle many clients.

I know the government has access to things like driver's license photos, etc. if they really want them, not to mention photos stored on online services as well.

That’s right, so I hope they give up on the current scan stuff. I don’t need my id & photo leaked from one more place.

[dualstow]

I’m out of date. The WSJ has an article from Feb 8 entitled, The IRS Does a Face Plant on Face Scans |
The tax agency scraps its biometric ID plan requirement to see personal records.

[yankees60]

Thank you, Vinny, but that does not appear to be an option anymore for federal (for new accounts). Maybe for state stuff.

What caused you to say that? I started the process and see this:

Capture.JPG (114.65 KiB) Viewed 2520 times

[dualstow]

never mind, Vin. See my post above yours.
But I had already seen the enrollment link already. Just don’t think I’ll pursue it until I see what they go with this summer.

[ppnewbie]

Hey thanks for bringing this topic up. I had a notice that I needed to put child tax credits on my current tax return. I did not recall receiving the tax payments. I called the IRS and they said in order to get information I needed to login. In order to login I needed to set up an ID.me account. In order to sign up for ID.me. I needed to have my face scanned by ID.me, a private company. Then I found out some credits were deposited to my account, despite the fact that I never have the IRS direct deposit into my accounts. I do however, pay my taxes due via an ACH transfer to the IRS. They just reversed that.

The frog (me) feels like it's on a path to boiling.

[flyingpylon]

Then there's this...

Facial recognition firm Clearview AI says it will soon have 100 BILLION photos in its database to ensure 'almost everyone in the world will be identifiable' and wants to expand beyond law enforcement

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... abase.html

[ppnewbie]

Then there's this...

Facial recognition firm Clearview AI says it will soon have 100 BILLION photos in its database to ensure 'almost everyone in the world will be identifiable' and wants to expand beyond law enforcement

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... abase.html

Its true, the game may already be lost.

[yankees60]

https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/ir ... 5614125123


TAX
IRS lets taxpayers opt out of facial recognition
By Michael Cohn
February 22, 2022, 10:09 a.m. EST

[dualstow]

Thank you @vinny
I think I got the gist of it (and it's good news) but because I don't have an "Accounting Today" account, I can't read very far into the article.
I feel like I'm not living life in the fast lane.

Anyway, here's the IRS page that the article links to ⇢ https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statem ... d-security

[yankees60]

Thank you @vinny
I think I got the gist of it (and it's good news) but because I don't have an "Accounting Today" account, I can't read very far into the article.
I feel like I'm not living life in the fast lane.

Anyway, here's the IRS page that the article links to ⇢ https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-statem ... d-security

From this:

Capture.JPG (27.31 KiB) Viewed 2344 times

It seems that you'd be able to create a Guest account and then access that article, since it is Tax News.

[dualstow]

I think the original IRS page covers it. Thank you anyway.