Heads Up Intuit Quickbooks Online Payroll Users – Act Now to Stop Data Share With Equifax

As reported by Krebs on Security, starting later this year, Intuit will be sharing payroll data from 1.4 million small businesses with Equifax. Any small business currently using QuickBooks Online Payroll and Intuit Online Payroll products will be opted-in by default to share their payroll information with Equifax unless they choose to opt-out by the end of July. Your data will be used on a spin-off product coined “The Work Number from Equifax.”

What is this “The Work Number” from Intuit and when does it start?

Beginning fall of 2021, your current QuickBooks Online Payroll subscription will include an automated employment verification and income service that The Work Number from Equifax will power. Before this service, employees often had to manually provide information for their loan or line of credit verification. With this new service, employees will have the power to automatically share this information with creditors, lenders, or government agencies when applying for a loan or line of credit. In effect, the new service from Intuit will improve processes for both employees and employers.

Read more on Intuit’s FAQ.

Why Equifax?

Essentially, Equifax will be proactively collecting all payroll data in the event they need to share it later, which is very similar to how they manage credit reporting.

Intuit joins many of the world’s largest payroll providers (example: ADP, largest payroll provider in the U.S.) in sharing their payroll data with Equifax. They are not alone, nor the first to share such data with Equifax.

Is my businesses’ payroll data safe with Equifax?

The company that was breached in 2017 and leaked over 140 million records? We’ll let you be the judge of that. 

How do you opt out?

1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online Payroll.
2. Go to Payroll Settings.
3. In the Shared data section, select the pencil and uncheck the box.
4. Select Save.

If you plan to opt out, make sure to do so prior to July 31, 2021.
We hope this helps. Contact us here.