Provider directory · Verification databases
The Work Number
The Work Number is Equifax's centralized automated income and employment verification service, built from payroll data contributed by employers and queried by credentialed verifiers.
Equifax's own documentation covers income and employment verification, tax forms, 401(k) and retirement. 1 of 7 scored cells are unverified.
Contributed database · field-level docs NOT publicly readable · last verified 2026-09-26 · The Work Number: Income & Employment Verification
| Field | Value | Conf | Note — and what a correct answer needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income and employment verification | Yes — VOE / VOIE | D | The product page lists Basic Employment ('Company Name, Job Title, Hire Date'), Income Details ('Base Pay, YTD Earnings, Overtime, Bonus') and 'Up to 36 months of pay history', delivered via REST API, batch SFTP or web portal. Source |
| Pay statements | Unverified | U | Up to 36 months of pay history is described, but whether individual paystub records or documents are returned is not stated publicly. A correct answer needed a public report or field specification. |
| Tax forms | IRS transcripts (separate product) | D | A separate IRS Tax Transcripts Fulfillment product retrieves 'tax transcript forms directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) using taxpayer consent forms'; which transcript types are included is not listed. Source |
| Direct deposit switching | Not offered | — | A read-only verification database; no deposit-switching product. |
| Deduction and benefit write | Not offered | — | A read-only verification database; no write into payroll. |
| 401(k) and retirement | Pension income when available | D | The product page states verifications of income 'include pension data when available'. No 401(k) contribution fields or deferral write are described. Source |
| Earned wage access | Not offered | — | The listed products and industries (mortgage, auto, consumer finance, credit cards, government) do not include earned wage access. |
| Data freshness | Updated every pay cycle | D | Employers 'automatically transmit ... payroll data to Equifax every single pay cycle'; data updates 'every payroll cycle (typically 1-2 weeks)'. Source |
| Permission and auth model | Contributed database; FCRA | D | Described as 'FCRA compliant'; verifiers need 'a valid, legal reason, called a permissible purpose'. Employees can request an Employment Data Report of who requested their data in the past 24 months, and can freeze their data. Source |
| Coverage claim (as stated) | 839M+ records; 5M+ employers | D | Homepage: 'Over 5 million employers contribute employment and income data' and 'more than 839 million employee records'. The How It Works page states '4.88M+ employers contributing directly' — Equifax's own pages disagree on the employer count. Source |