Paying-with-your-face.jpg by Eliza Galstyan is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

The new IRS face-scanning system will require taxpayers to use their phones or computers to submit biometric data. And according to the IRS, “Mobile phones are used as a piece of identity evidence themselves” noting that “Geolocation can be gleaned from the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the event of an investigation into a user.”

See the relevant excerpt from this IRS document, below:

The use of mobile phones is required in order for the applicant to complete the IAL2 identity proofing process. Mobile phones are used as a piece of identity evidence themselves and to capture additional identity evidence (e.g., photo of government issued identification document). Geolocation can be gleaned from the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in the event of an investigation into a user. Biometrics are used in our LOA3, IAL2, and IAL2+ Liveness policies, leveraging best-of-breed facial matching technologies for comparing still (IAL2/LOA3) or video (IAL2 + Liveness) selfies against the photo evidence uploaded by the user.

As noted by the Washington Post, “by this summer, anyone wanting to access their records — including details about child tax credits, payment plans or tax transcripts — on the IRS website will be required to record a video of their face with their computer or smartphone and send it to the private contractor ID.me to confirm their identity.”

As part of their “Build Back Better” plan, President Biden and congressional Democrats have proposed the addition of 87,000 new IRS agents and auditors. They are still trying to give the IRS new powers to automatically access and store personal bank account inflow and outflow data, and Venmo, Paypal, CashApp data for what the Biden Treasury Department officially describes as a “Comprehensive Financial Account Information Reporting Regime.”

The House-passed “BBB” plan would generate 1.2 million additional IRS audits per year, about half hitting households making less than $75k.

Combined with the new IRS biometric tools, taxpayers are right to be concerned.