Technology
Alabama Department of Revenue Partners with IDEMIA Advance Identity Protection Program to Fight State Income Tax Theft
The state of Alabama's taxation agency and a maker of identity theft prevention technology have partnered to help prevent fraud.
Feb. 15, 2019
The state of Alabama’s taxation agency and a maker of identity theft prevention technology have partnered to help prevent fraud.
IDEMIA, which makes Augmented Identity technology, and the Alabama Department of Revenue (ADOR), announced enhancements to the newly renamed IDEMIA eID app, which provides all Alabama taxpayers the ability to protect their identity and combat state income tax fraud.
The IDEMIA eID app enables users to securely protect their identity, verify their tax return and, on average, obtain their refund 60 percent faster* than taxpayers who do not use the eID app. The latest enhancements of the eID application are optimized for iOS and Android devices, including compatibility with iOS 12, the new iPhone X lineups, and the new Android 9.0 Pie release.
“Our highly secure IDEMIA eID app empowers Alabama taxpayers to take control of their identity to protect themselves and their state tax refund,” said Matt Thompson, Senior Vice President, Civil Identity for North America, IDEMIA. “The latest update enhances the security while making it easier to use, which will delight everyone who uses the app.”
IDEMIA and ADOR broke new ground last year to combat tax theft. Alabama became the first state in the nation to have a full-scale deployment of the electronic ID app for identity protection and to combat state income tax refund theft by using IDEMIA’s cutting-edge technology. With the free IDEMIA eID app, Alabama taxpayers use a selfie and their driver’s license or state ID card to be digitally authenticated by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. After using their eID to opt-in, ADOR notifies taxpayers when a return is filed by sending a notification through the eID app. The app will allow the taxpayers to securely verify if they filed the return or decline the transaction because it is fraudulent.
“IDEMIA has been an outstanding partner in our efforts to continuously improve our service to Alabama taxpayers through the IDEMIA eID app, which prevents a fraudulent state tax return from being processed in a taxpayer’s name,” said Vernon Barnett, Alabama Revenue Commissioner. “We’re thrilled to deliver an enhanced IDEMIA eID app for our taxpayers, providing them identity protection and priority processing to get refunds faster.”
“Our clients depend on our professional knowledge to ensure their tax filing needs are met,” said Jeannine P. Birmingham, President & CEO, Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants. “The eID app offered by ADOR and IDEMIA provides us a valuable solution to help protect our clients’ identities and their tax returns.”
The app is available for download in Apple’s App Store and in the Google Play Store for Android users. For more information on the IDEMIA eID app, go to www.alabamaeid.com.