The Internal Revenue Service has announced its plan to introduce face scans for anyone who wants to access their tax information.
This summer, in order to view your records via the IRS' website, you will be asked to record a video of your face.
The recording will then be sent to a third party such as ID.me, which will verify your identity by scanning your face in the video and comparing it to other identifying paperwork such as a driver's license.
If there are any problems with the verification process then one of the company's representatives will then conduct a live video call with you instead to check your identity, comparing you to a physical copy of a document, News Center Maine reports.
This new expansion of facial recognition technology is anticipated as being the largest in the US according to experts.
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It is hoped that taxpayers will have a better user experience as a result, however the move has been flagged by privacy experts.
Experts pointed out the service terms of ID.me, which state that by using the service, select partners, the police and government will have access to users' data.
Last year, a leak appeared to suggest that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, two of the world's richest men, paid zero income tax.
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The IRS subsequently launched an investigation into how the documents got out and as to why the billionaires had seemingly got away with paying so little.
'The unauthorised disclosure of confidential government information is illegal. The matter is being referred to the Office of the Inspector General, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, all of whom have independent authority to investigate,' treasury spokesperson Lily Adams noted on June 8, 2021.
Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig confirmed to senators that an investigation was underway. He said: ‘I can confirm that there is an investigation with respect to the allegations that the source of the information in that article came from the Internal Revenue Service. Upon reviewing the article, the appropriate contacts were made, as you would expect.’
In the next year, at least ten federal agencies, including the US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Veterans Affairs, have announced their plans to utilise facial recognition technology more widely.
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Although, fear not if technology really isn't your thing, as for now, IRS has reassured that you can still file you tax return via paper documents.
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Poppy Bilderbeck