Why are my QuickBooks invoices going to junk?

QuickBooks invoices often go to junk because they don't come from your email address: QuickBooks Online sends them from Intuit's shared address, quickbooks@notification.intuit.com, with your business details on the invoice and your own address only for replies. Some spam filters are wary of an invoice sent by one company on behalf of another, and Intuit's own help asks customers to add that address to their safe senders.

How QuickBooks Online sends your invoices

When you select Save and send on an invoice, Intuit's mail servers send it. Intuit's help says the default invoicing address is quickbooks@notification.intuit.com. Your customer sees an Intuit address in the From line, not accounts@yourbusiness.com.au.

You control two things:

• Your company and customer-facing email. Intuit's support team says replies to your invoices go to the customer-facing email in your company settings.
• A connected Gmail address, on accounts that have the option. QuickBooks can then send invoices from that Gmail address instead. Intuit's FAQ says only some companies have this, and it covers invoices only, not estimates or sales receipts.

There's no setting to send from your own domain through Intuit's servers, and Intuit's community team has confirmed Outlook and Microsoft 365 addresses can't be connected like Gmail.

What this means for SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Receivers run SPF, DKIM and DMARC against the domain in the From address. For a QuickBooks invoice, that's notification.intuit.com, not yourbusiness.com.au. So:

• Intuit is responsible for SPF and DKIM on its own domain. There's nothing to add to your SPF record for QuickBooks.
• Your DMARC policy doesn't apply to these invoices, because your domain isn't in the From address.
• Alignment (the From domain matching the domain that passed SPF or DKIM) is between Intuit's domains, not yours.

That's why a QuickBooks invoice in junk is rarely caused by your DNS.

Why QuickBooks invoices land in junk anyway

• Every QuickBooks Online company sends from the same address by default. Filters judge quickbooks@notification.intuit.com on everything sent from it, not just your invoices.
• The sender doesn't look like you. Your customer sees an Intuit address, not yours. Fake invoices often look like this, so some filters and some people are cautious.
• Strict filters at your customer's end. Businesses with tight spam settings, or their own spam filter in front of Microsoft 365, are where invoices most often get junked or held. Intuit's help says the customer may need to unblock the address or add it as a safe sender.

How to fix it

1. See what your customers' mail systems see

Create a test customer with your private test address as its email, and send it a small invoice. Then delete or void the invoice. The report shows which domain the invoice really comes from, whether it passes SPF, DKIM and DMARC for that domain, and a verdict for Outlook.com, Microsoft 365, Gmail, Google Workspace and Yahoo. If Intuit's own checks fail, contact QuickBooks support and tell them which check failed.

2. Ask customers to add Intuit's address to their safe senders

Ask anyone who finds your invoice in junk to mark it as not junk, and to add quickbooks@notification.intuit.com to their safe senders or contacts. On a business Microsoft 365 account, their IT administrator may need to allow it for the whole organisation. Intuit's troubleshooting article lists its mail servers for exactly that.

3. Check your company and customer-facing email

Use an address on your own domain that someone reads, like accounts@yourbusiness.com.au. Intuit's help also suggests clearing and re-entering the address if invoices stop arriving, in case it has a hidden space or extra character.

1. Select Settings (the gear icon), then Account and settings.
2. On the Company tab, select Contact info to edit it.
3. Tick Same as company email, or untick it and enter a different customer-facing email address.
4. Select Save, then Done.

4. Send from Gmail, if your account offers it

When you open an invoice and select Save and send, look for a From drop-down. If yours has + Add Gmail address, select it, then Connect Google account, sign in and select Allow. Intuit says to tick the option that lets QuickBooks send email on your behalf. Without it, invoices may not send. Then choose that address in the From list.

The invoice then comes from Google with your Gmail address on it. Intuit's help doesn't say whether a Google Workspace address on yourbusiness.com.au can be connected. If yours connects, Google is sending as your domain, so your Google Workspace SPF and DKIM must be set up. Test again to check.

5. Make sure your own email is set up properly

You still chase overdue invoices, send statements and answer questions from your own mailbox. That email uses your domain, so your SPF, DKIM and DMARC decide whether it reaches the inbox. If you use Microsoft 365, check you have:

Keep only one SPF record, and change the rua address to a mailbox you read. Then switch on DKIM for your domain in the Microsoft Defender portal.

6. For important customers, send from your own mailbox

If one customer's system keeps junking QuickBooks email, download the invoice as a PDF and send it from your Microsoft 365 mailbox, as Intuit's community team suggests. Some add-on apps send QuickBooks invoices from your own domain. If you use one, it will give you its own SPF and DKIM records to add. Test it the same way.

Checked against: QuickBooks Help (AU), 3 solutions for when customers aren't receiving your emails · QuickBooks Help (AU), Send an invoice to a customer in QuickBooks · QuickBooks Help, Frequently asked questions about sending invoices from your Gmail account · QuickBooks Help (AU), Change your customer-facing email address · QuickBooks Community (AU), How can I change my email so the customer will receive from a different email · QuickBooks Community, If a customer replies to an invoice email, where does their reply go?.