The agency backed off the use of facial recognition to verify the identifies who those seeking to open IRS accounts, following opposition from Congressional members from both political parties.

Taxpayers can still choose to utilize facial recognition based on photos they have taken of themselves via the use of ID.me’s self-assistance tool.  However, new requirements are being established to ensure taxpayer-provided images are deleted for the account being created. All previously collected biometric data for previously created accounts will be permanently delete over the next few weeks.

These methods are considered short-term for this year’s filing system as the IRS rolls out Login.Gov as its authentication tool.. The General Services Administration is working with the IRS to set security standards and scale required for use of Login.Gov, with plans to introduce that tool after this season’s filing deadline.