How to create your IRS online account with ID.me
The documents to have ready, the sign-in steps, what to do when identity verification fails, and what the account actually shows you once you are in.
Quick answers
- Do I have to use ID.me to get an IRS account?
- Not quite. The IRS verifies identity through ID.me or Login.gov before it opens an individual online account, and this article follows the ID.me route. Either way verification happens once, not every time you log in.
- What if the identity check keeps rejecting me?
- Switch to the video route. You upload alternative documents and speak to a person, which handles the cases automated document checks cannot, such as a recent name change or a phone in someone else's name.
- Can I create an account without a smartphone?
- Yes. You need a camera for the photo and selfie, so a computer with a webcam works, and multifactor authentication can use an authentication app rather than text messages.
An IRS online account shows your balance, your payments, your transcripts and your notices in one place. Setting it up needs a photo ID and a phone, and the identity check is run on the IRS's behalf by ID.me or Login.gov.
What the account gives you
The account is the quickest way to see the IRS's own view of your record. Transcripts can also be ordered by mail, and an authorized preparer can look at parts of it on your behalf, but both of those mean asking and waiting. Signed in, you get the balance owed for each tax year, five years of payment history, and the ability to make a same-day or scheduled payment or to create or revise a payment plan. If a balance is the reason you are here, You owe more than you can pay right now covers the arrangements those screens set up.
It also holds the documents. Transcripts for the current year and several prior years are there to view, print or download. Digital versions of IRS notices appear in it, as do the information return documents the IRS has received about you, which is how you find out what a payer reported before a matching notice arrives. The status of a refund or an amended return is on the same screen.
Three further things are worth the trouble on their own. The identity protection PIN section is where you opt in to the six-digit number that stops someone else filing under your Social Security number, covered in Refund delayed. The account lists the authorizations you have given tax professionals, so you can see who currently has access to your record. And it is where a Trump account election is submitted, on Form 4547.
Create the account and verify your identity
- Go to irs.gov and select Sign in at the top of the page, or open Your Online Account from the homepage.
- On that page, select Sign in or create account.
- Follow the steps to create an ID.me account. You need a personal email address, a password of at least eight characters, and multifactor authentication such as an authentication app, face or touch unlock, or a cell phone that can receive texts.
- Follow the steps to verify your identity with ID.me. Have your Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number and a valid government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license or state ID, or a passport or passport card.
- Take the automated route, which asks for a photo of the ID and a selfie taken with a smartphone or a computer with a webcam, or take the route where you upload documents and speak to a person by video call instead.
- When verification finishes, you land on your IRS individual online account.
The sign-in page offers Login.gov as the alternative provider, and the IRS account either one opens is the same account. Verification is a one-time step. Once it is done you sign in with the email address, password and second factor you set up, and the document check does not repeat.
If it doesn't work
Most failures come from a handful of mismatches, and each has a plain fix.
- The name on the photo ID is not the name the IRS has. A marriage, a divorce or a legal name change that reached one record and not the other will stop the check. Use the ID that matches the name on your most recent return, or take the video route and explain the change.
- The phone number is not in your own name. A number on a family or employer account often fails the check that ties a phone to a person. Use a number billed to you, or verify with an authentication app instead.
- The photograph of the ID is unusable. Glare from overhead light, a blurred edge or a corner cropped out of frame are the usual causes. Lay the ID flat on a dark surface, turn off the flash, and get the whole card inside the frame.
- The selfie will not match. Poor light, a hat, heavy glasses or a backlit window all reduce the match. Face a window in daylight with nothing shading your face.
- The account is for a business. An individual account and a business account are different things, and starting in the wrong one produces failures that look like identity problems.
If the automated check keeps rejecting you, switch to the route where you upload alternative documents and speak to a person by video call. It exists precisely for cases the automated check cannot settle, and repeated automated failures generally route you there anyway. Expect a wait, and have the documents open before you join.
What you'll need
- A personal email address you can reach while you set the account up.
- A phone that can receive text messages, or an authentication app on a device you have with you.
- Your Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number.
- One valid government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license, a state ID, a passport or a passport card.
- A device with a camera, either a smartphone or a computer with a webcam.
Keeping the login safe
This account shows your balance, your payment history and your notices, so treat the credentials the way you treat a bank login. Keep the second factor on a device only you hold, and do not let anyone set the account up on your behalf using their own phone number or email address.