Jaclyn Anku, ProAdvisor Training & Certification Leader: On today’s episode of In the Know, we’ll be exploring updates to the new Payments Agent. Hey ProAdvisors, it’s Jaclyn, and you’re watching In the Know, where you get exclusive access to demos of Intuit product enhancements by the leaders who built them.
Let’s jump right in with Grace for a look at the new agent. Grace, welcome.
Grace Caicedo: Hey Jaclyn, I’m so happy to be here and talk about the Payments Agent.
Getting paid on time is one of the biggest challenges for small businesses, and that can have meaningful consequences on cash flow. Today, there are lots of different invoice and payment settings that can help businesses get paid more quickly, but discovering them, and setting them up effectively, can be manual and complex.
For example, small businesses need to know that features exist, such as automated invoice reminders. They then have to figure out how to set them up, and sometimes also need to communicate those policies with their customers. That’s a lot of time and effort; time that could be spent running their business.
With the Payments Agent, we’ve taken on that complexity for our customers. The agent proactively identifies when a setting such as recurring payments could be right for a small business based on what we know about them and their customers. It helps them enable new payment methods with a single click and, when needed, even helps communicate those policies to customers.
All in all, the Payments Agent is designed to help small businesses get paid more quickly with less work.
Fast Facts:
- Payments Agent is available for small businesses using QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus, and Advanced. Accountants can also view it.
- It’s primarily available in the invoice sales form as well as the business feed.
- It has been live in the US since July 2025.
- Looking ahead, the Payments Agent team is exploring even more ways to help businesses get paid faster.
In this video, we’re going to see how the the Payments Agent works together with the Customer Agent to turn early leads from Gmail conversations into estimates and get them ready to send in a single click.
Now let’s take a look at the Payments Agent in action.
When I’m a small business owner invoicing in QuickBooks, the main place I can access the Payments Agent is on the invoice sales form. If it’s not already open, I can click the Intuit Assist icon on the left.
When the Payments Agent first opens, it shows highlights across all invoices, along with helpful suggestions, including jump-starting an invoice by uploading a file. The real power comes when I select a customer. Instantly, the insights update, showing details such as how long I’ve worked with them and their payment history. The suggestions also update, focusing on ways to help me get paid more quickly.
For example, the Payments Agent may recommend adding new payment options. With one click, I can launch a step-by-step flow that explains why this is recommended. QuickBooks enables those options right away.
Right now, I already accept ACH payments, which typically get me paid in about 14 days. But the Payments Agent suggests adding PayPal and Venmo, which could help me get paid even faster. These recommendations are based on my payment history with this customer—or, if not available, across all my customers or typical industry trends.
I can enable one, two, or all of these options, or keep things as they are. When I apply changes, the agent shows me a pre-drafted message I can add to the payment instructions on my invoice to communicate these options to customers.
The Payments Agent also scans for other ways to improve cash flow. For example, it may identify that I could set up automated invoice reminders. This feature exists in QuickBooks, but not everyone uses it. The agent recommends the best days to send reminders based on QuickBooks data, and drafts the reminder messages. I can customize the content, adjust the tone, or fall back to defaults I’ve saved. Once I’m satisfied, I can save and apply the reminders across all my customers.
At any time, I can change those messages or turn off reminders in Sales Settings. Back on the overview page, I can still see all of my insights and the suggestions I’ve already applied.
Now let’s finish filling out an invoice and sending it. On the review and send screen, the Payments Agent provides suggested subject lines and email body text, designed to encourage customers to open and pay the invoice quickly. I can choose one of the suggestions, edit the message, or use my default.
Looking ahead, the Payments Agent will integrate with the Customer Agent to help convert Gmail leads into estimates. For example, when I’m in a negotiation with a lead, Customer Agent summarizes the conversation and suggests the next best action, such as auto-filling an estimate.
The Payments Agent then opens the estimate sales form, pre-populates details such as customer name, products, and services, and gets the estimate ready to send in one click. What would normally take hours is done in seconds.
This is currently in beta for Gmail, with Outlook integration and mobile support coming soon.
That covers everything I wanted to share for the Payments Agent. I’m really excited to have it available today, and I hope it’s helpful for accountants and their clients.
Jaclyn Anku: Grace, thank you for being on the show and for that great demo. And thank you for watching. If you found this update helpful, please like, comment, and subscribe. For more product updates and demos, check out our In the Know Hub. We’ll catch you next time.
