QuickBooks Online Payroll Customers: Act Now to Opt Out of Payroll Data Share

QuickBooks Online Payroll Customers: Act Now to Opt Out of Payroll Data Share

Earlier this month, Intuit announced its plans to share payroll data with Equifax, one of the three largest consumer credit reporting agencies in the U.S.

The decision will affect over 1.4 million small business users of QuickBooks Online Payroll and Intuit Online Payroll services.

By sharing the payroll data, Intuit will provide an automated income and employment verification service at no additional charge to its existing and future payroll customers. The service is intended to streamline the process of verifying income and employment of employees seeking loans, credit, or public assistance and will be provided through The Work Number from Equifax.

Though Intuit is not the only payroll provider selling data to consumer credit bureaus, this may be alarming to those who recall the 2017 Equifax data breach which exposed the personal data of roughly 147 million people. This breach included users of The Work Number program. Since the breach, Equifax has beefed up the authentication requirements of the program to better protect its customers’ personal information.  

Existing QuickBooks Online Payroll and Intuit Online Payroll customers who do not wish to participate in the program must opt-out by July 31, 2021. Failure to opt-out will result in automatic enrollment in The Work Number program.

To opt-out:

• Sign in to QuickBooks Online Payroll
• Go to Payroll Settings
• In the Shared Data section, select the pencil and uncheck the box.
• Select Save

Please contact your Herbein small business consultant if you have questions regarding this article or QuickBooks at info@herbein.com. Article prepared by Brianna Howells.