The IRS is Profiling People of Color Using Identity Verification

The IRS is Profiling Using Identity Verification

This article is about how the IRS identity verification process unfairly targets people of color. For instructions on responding to a request by the IRS to verify your identity, you can skip to the end of this.

The IRS has adopted some policies such as the PATH (Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes or, as it should be called, Pestering Americans with Tricks and Heists) Act and identity verification requirements for certain filers. These two policies are crippling lower income taxpayers the most and unfairly profiling people of color, primarily African Americans.

Why Verify

The IRS claims it asks some people randomly to verify their identity to protect the taxpayer from identity fraud. However, when digging a little deeper, it’s easy to find out who the IRS targets for identity verification. People who recently moved might be asked to verify their identity. Primarily, it seems the IRS is going after people who have been recently released from incarceration, and a great number of those people targeted happen to be African Americans.

The Ole IRS Runaround

Verifying your identity seems like it would be an easy thing to do, but it’s just a roadblock the IRS is using to withhold a taxpayer’s earned income. The IRS is asking taxpayers to verify their identity through ID.me, but ID.me is a useless, poorly functioning site. When a person goes to verify their physical identity, the program used by ID.me repeatedly instructs the user to find better lighting. However, in most cases, the picture won’t take, and the user has to do a live verification with ID.me, and the video call fails so much so as to prevent the user from ever completing the process.

The next available meeting with the IRS is over a month and a half away.

Even once a taxpayer verifies their identity, they have to verify it again through IRS.gov/verifyreturn. Well, technically, it’s “verifying the return”, but identifying information is still asked. The issue is, one or two mistakes and the site blocks the user from going any further. The site instructs the taxpayer to call the IRS or to schedule a visit. Most times, when the taxpayer calls the line concerning refunds related to identity verification, the automated service makes note of the high call volume before noting the IRS can’t handle the call and then abruptly ending the call.

When the taxpayer calls to schedule an appointment, they experience another high call volume and long hold. If the caller is lucky to make it pass the automated voice, they ended up with a representative who tells them the next available meeting with the IRS is over a month and a half away and miles away from home.

The PATH Act and all rules regarding identity verification must be repealed.

In 2022, the IRS gave this similar runaround to over 4 million taxpayers, and half of those taxpayers did complete the process. The ones who did not complete the process are the ones who couldn’t meet the demands of the IRS or just couldn’t understand the instructions.

A person recently released from incarceration might not have a fixed address, legal identification documents, a steady phone number or reliable transportation. People in these circumstances are waiting on their tax money to change their living situation, afford transportation to work or to buy the necessities of life. Calling the IRS repeatedly and searching for letters is not something they are able to do. On top of being in an uncomfortable living situation, they have to do the IRS runaround. This has to be stopped.

IRS by the Numbers

For fiscal year 2022, the IRS collected over $4.9 trillion dollars in taxes. The IRS for that same year issued out over $641.7 billion in tax refunds. Of the over four million taxpayers asked to verify their identity, over 2 million did not finish the process. Conservatively, if those taxpayers were supposed to collect just $2,000 each, that’s a total of $4 billion the IRS is withholding under the guise of “identity verification”. That’s a large number. But it’s a number easy to overlook, since it’s small in comparison to the over-$600 billion the IRS paid out in tax returns. However, those two million people are taxpayers nonetheless, and the identity verification acted only as a roadblock to prevent these taxpayers from collecting what’s owed to them. The question really becomes what the IRS is doing with these funds they are refusing to turnover to taxpayers. The answer is vague at best.

The Fix

The PATH Act and all rules regarding identity verification must be repealed. The government is unfairly profiling certain demographics of taxpayers. This profiling is harming taxpayers who happen to be people of color, primarily African American people. Someone once called for defunding the IRS. If the IRS can’t return money as easily as it takes it, then maybe as a country it’s time to consider doing something that makes more sense than supporting an organization that is doing more harm than good to some people.

These are the steps to respond to an IRS request for identity verification. Note that I am not a tax expert, and this is general information. For more information on this, visit IRS.gov.

1. If you get a letter from the IRS to verify your identity, you will have to do it twice. The first verification will be through ID.me
2. The second is going to be through IRS.gov/verifyreturn
   • If the IRS portal does not work, you will need to call (800) 830-5084
   • You’re going to be asked about your tax returns:
     • A. The bank account and routing number your taxes are going to (found on line 35 of the 1040)
     • B. They want to know how much the Federal Government took out for taxes
3. The line is always busy. For more information, you might have to call back over four times. The wait times are over 30 minutes.
   • You’re going to be asked about your tax returns:
   • The bank account and routing number your taxes are going to (found on line 35 of the 1040)
   • They want to know how much the Federal Government took out for taxes

This article was written by Jermaine Reed, MFA, the Editor-in-Chief of The Reeders Block, who also works an Adjunct College Professor and director. Join the email list to get notifications on new articles and books. This article is 100% human-written. And remember, if you see an error, that’s what makes us human. Subscribe and share.