The IRS will use Login.gov in the future, but for this tax season, video interviews are here to stay

Two weeks after dropping a controversial facial recognition plan, the IRS has given new details about how it plans to replace the system. In a statement on Monday, the agency confirmed that all users of the IRS.gov website will be able to opt out of the data collection system, as well as offering video interviews as an alternative for this year's filers.

Taxpayers can now sign up for IRS online accounts without using facial recognition or any other type of data, according to a statement.

The implementation of the opt-out feature follows weeks of intense criticism from both legislators and the general public, spurred by the IRS's January announcement that facial recognition scans would be a pre-requisite for accessing tax information through the IRS.gov website.

The tax agency abandoned its initial plans to use facial recognition services because of the backlash.

In the future, the IRS will be using Login.gov for the creation of online taxpayer accounts. Although it does not perform the same kind of identity verification techniques as ID.me, Login.gov is a secure sign-in service for accessing government services.

With tax filing deadlines approaching, the Login.gov system can't be rolled out fast enough or securely enough.

The IRS will use a short-term solution that will allow taxpayers who don't want to submit to a data collection to verify their identity through a live virtual interview.

In practice, taxpayers will still be interacting with ID.me, but through a human video reviewer instead of a facial recognition system. It's not clear how long online account users should wait to access the human review process. ID.me's own video review staff have high performance targets and have to work hard in order to meet demand, which has led to long wait times for benefits claimants.

The IRS didn't respond to the request for comment.