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IRS successfully launches their own free Direct File - some of my fellow 'murcans are eligible
(sh.itjust.works)
For your simple[r] tax needs: https://directfile.irs.gov
It's the same as going to a bank and letting the teller look at your face. It's to prevent someone from stealing your identity using a picture of your ID.
How can they verify the ID is real without physically seeing it? They look up the info but still need to verify that you are the person on the ID.
How have they been verifying mailed in tax forms with no pictures for decades?
Seems like it unnecessarily disenfranchises the poor and the elderly. You have to have access to equipment that can record you and the tech savvy to be able to use it.
They haven't. Of course, the IRS deals with upwards 1 million potentially fraudulent claims per year. So, at some level, they're trying to avoid exacerbating the problem.