Under Governor Kay Ivey’s administration, the Alabama Department of Revenue (ADOR) and IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity technology, on Monday announced enhancements to the IDEMIA eID app, which provides all Yellowhammer State taxpayers the ability to protect their identity and combat state income tax fraud.

“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,” Alabama Revenue Commissioner Vernon Barnett said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to deliver an enhanced IDEMIA eID app for our taxpayers, providing them identity protection and priority processing to get refunds faster.”

The state-of-the-art app enables users to securely protect their identity from theft, verify their tax return and, on average, obtain their refund 60 percent faster than taxpayers who do not use the app. Now, the latest enhancements of the technology 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,” Matt Thompson, IDEMIA senior vice president, civil identity for North America, stated. “The latest update enhances the security while making it easier to use, which will delight everyone who uses the app.”

IDEMIA and ADOR entered uncharted waters 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 (ALEA). 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 allows taxpayers to securely verify if they filed the return or decline the transaction because it is fraudulent.

“Our clients depend on our professional knowledge to ensure their tax filing needs are met,” Jeannine P. Birmingham, president and CEO of the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants, advised. “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, click here.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn