Editor's Note: Intuit recently released its QuickBooks Desktop 2023 line-up. Murph has been evaluating various pre-release versions of these products for almost a year, spending hours communicating with Intuit personnel so we can help you learn about the new products. This is the eighth in our series of individual product articles intended to provide additional content to what can be found in our QuickBooks Desktop 2023 Product Summary.
About Equifax Employment/Income Verification
Personal information security has become an increasing concern for everyone. And employers have a fiduciary responsibility to safeguard the personal information of their employees. But employers also are frequently requested to provide employee information to lenders, creditors and governmental agencies for authorized inquiries.
In fact, employees often may request the employer verify their employment and income information to these agencies for public assistance, loan approvals or other purposes.
New for 2023, QuickBooks Desktop has partnered with Equifax Inc.1 to automate the verification of employment and income information requests for active Desktop Payroll subscribers2. It is included with your payroll subscription, which means there are no additional charges from Intuit or Equifax for this benefit.
With this new feature, providing information requests of this nature now is quicker and more accessible due to automation of the verification process. In addition, the process is much safer since it takes place through the secure channels of Equifax.
This also means employees typically can get assessed for a loan/credit or aid decision much more quickly.
Other aspects of this new feature include:
- No data is shared unless the employee specifically requests it to be shared, usually as part of an application process for loans, credit or public aid or in response to a permissible purpose under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"), such as a court order.
- An employee's information can only be accessed by credentialed and approved parties, typically lenders, creditors and government agencies ("Verifiers") governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) under federal law.
- The feature helps keep each employee's transactions private. Since the verification is automated, it reduces the potential of employers being caught in the middle between an employee and the "verifier."
Related QuickBooks Preferences
A new Benefits and HR tab has been added to the Preferences of QuickBooks Desktop. Within those preferences is an 'Income & Employment Verification' section of the Company Preferences.
By default, this new feature is "turned-on." If a company wishes not to participate in the new verification offering, it must turn the feature off.
Source: Image captured from a pre-release version of QuickBooks 2023.
To Turn Off (Opt Out of) the New Feature
- Log in to QuickBooks as the Company Administrator in Single-user Mode
- From the Edit menu, select Preferences
- Choose the Benefits & HR preference
- Select Company Preferences (shown above)
- In the Income & Employment Verification section, uncheck the check-box (highlighted in red above); "include automated income and employment verification services powered by The Work Number® with my existing QuickBooks Payroll software"
Footnotes, Disclosures & Disclaimers
1 - Equifax, Inc, is a data, analytics, and technology company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The Equifax Income & Employment Verification powered by The Work Number® from Equifax is a specialty consumer reporting service governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
2 - QuickBooks Desktop Payroll subscriptions are in addition to any standard QuickBooks subscription unless they are part of a combination package. As of a recent change, the Software License Agreements for QuickBooks Software and Intuit Payroll Services reflect the addition of this new benefit. Additionally, the Equifax Employment/Income Verification feature may require the most current maintenance (R) update; contact your QuickBooks Desktop Payroll support specialist for more information or assistance.
Materials within this feature, including graphic illustrations, were developed from various pre-release versions of QuickBooks Desktop 2023. Therefore, the final product version you may acquire may appear, act, or be functionally different from that illustrated or described herein.
Portions of this feature were adapted from Intuit QuickBooks Desktop 2023-related content. All such source materials were adapted by Insightful Accountant solely for educational purposes.
As used herein, QuickBooks, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, QuickBooks Payroll, and other QuickBooks Desktop products refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit Inc.; a NASDAQ publicly traded "INTU" corporation, headquartered in Mountain View, California (USA).
Any or all other trade names used herein, including any other vendor (app/software) products discussed within this article, may be registered, trademarked, or otherwise held by their respective owners and are so acknowledged. They have been referenced for informational and educational purposes only.
This is an editorial feature, not sponsored content. None of the vendors within this article have paid Insightful Accountant or the Author any form of remuneration to be included within this feature. This article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes.
The publication of this article does not represent any form of endorsement by either the Author or Insightful Accountant.
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