Unlocking New Levels: Zoho Payroll's Journey in 2025

Unlocking New Levels: Zoho Payroll's Journey in 2025

Every year brings its own set of challenges and opportunities to rethink how payroll works across regulations and teams.

In 2025, Zoho Payroll continued to evolve with one clear focus: giving businesses more flexibility, clarity, and control as they grow.

From expanding into new geographies to introducing powerful payroll capabilities and simplifying everyday workflows, this year was about making meaningful progress, one move at a time.

Zoho Payroll's Journey in 2025: A Year of Moves and Milestones

Here’s a look back at the key highlights from Zoho Payroll in 2025.


New Editions



This year marked an important step forward in Zoho Payroll’s journey. We introduced new editions to support businesses operating in different countries, each designed to meet compliance and statutory requirements.

In 2025, we launched Zoho Payroll in the following countries:
  1. Saudi Arabia
  2. Oman
  3. Bahrain
  4. Kuwait
  5. Qatar
  6. Canada


New Features



This year, we introduced several features designed to help you handle complex scenarios with greater ease.

Payroll Processing

1. Multi-State Payrolls (US)

With the multi-state payroll feature, you can onboard employees from different states, pay them all in a single run, and automatically stay compliant with each state’s tax laws. Zoho Payroll supports work locations and employee addresses in all states, automatically applying state-specific tax rules, including reciprocity agreements where applicable.


2. Multiple Pay Rates for Multiple Roles (US)

For employees who perform more than one role (such as working as a customer support representative on weekdays and as a shift supervisor on weekends), you can assign different pay rates for each role. Payroll is calculated based on the hours worked under each role, ensuring accurate and fair compensation.

3. Off-Cycle Payroll (US)

Handle corrections or time-sensitive payouts outside the regular payroll schedule. Off-cycle payroll lets you disburse payments based on a specified pay period without impacting your regular payroll run.

4. Bonus Payroll (US)

Issue bonus payments such as year-end or performance-based payouts outside the regular pay schedule. Bonus payroll does not require a defined pay period, making one-time bonus payments simpler to process.

5. Process Payroll Using Only Time-Off Hours (US)

Process regular payrolls by entering only time-off hours of employees, such as sick leave or vacation, without adding earnings. 

6. Yearly Pay Schedule (US)

You can now configure an annual pay schedule for employees who are paid once a year.

7. Formula-Based Earnings for One-Time and Off Cycle Payrolls (IN & GCC)

Use formula-based earning components like Overtime Allowance for one-time payments and off-cycle payrolls when the Pay Type is set to Variable Earning and the Calculation Type is Custom Formula. After creating the payroll, you can manually add employees and enter input values, such as days, hours, or minutes, based on the formula.

Earnings, Benefits & Contributions

1. Variable Earnings Based on % of CTC (India - Early Access)

Calculate variable earnings, such as bonuses, as a percentage of an employee’s CTC. Once created, these earnings can be associated with employees and configured using eligibility-based percentages.

2. Earnings Based on % of CTC Including One-Time Earnings (India - Early Access)

Earnings calculated as a percentage of CTC are now based on the entire Annual CTC, including one-time earnings such as bonuses and one-time payments.

3. Carry Forward & Quarterly Encashment of Reimbursements (India - Early Access)

Carry forward unclaimed reimbursements of your employees and encash them on a quarterly basis. To configure this, go to Settings > Setup & Configurations > Salary Components, select a reimbursement component, and set how unclaimed amounts should be handled.

4. Superannuation Benefits (India)

Superannuation is a retirement fund contributed by employers for their employees. You can now include superannuation as part of employee benefits. To configure this, go to Settings > Setup & Configurations > Salary Components, create or edit a benefit, and enable Consider this a superannuation fund. Once configured, superannuation contributions are included in monthly payroll.

5. Gross Based Salary Support (India and GCC)

Zoho Payroll now allows you to calculate salary starting from the gross amount. You can enter the gross amount first and then distribute it across salary components or add benefits as required. This simplifies salary configurations for gross-based salary structures.

6. Set Up Recurring Scheduled Earnings (India and GCC)

You can now schedule earnings to be paid at regular intervals such as quarterly, half-yearly, annually, or at custom intervals. These recurring earnings can be configured at the organization or employee level and are automatically included in the applicable payroll.

7. Pro-rate Employer & Employee Contributions (GCC)

Calculate employer and employee social security contributions based on the actual number of days employees have worked, allowing for more precise contribution calculations.

Compliance: Taxes and Forms

1. Full Tax Exemptions for Certain Regions (India)

Employees eligible for full income tax exemption under Section 10(26) of the Income Tax Act can now be marked as exempt while creating or editing employee details.

Access Control & Customization

1. Custom Roles (US)

Some users may need full access to Zoho Payroll, while others need limited access based on their role. You can now create custom roles beyond the default options and define exactly what each user can view, create, edit, or delete. For example, a view-only role for financial reporting.

2. Approvals for Pay Runs (US)

Pay run approvals are automatically configured based on user roles and permissions. This ensures every pay run is reviewed before processing.

3. Reporting Tags (US)

Use reporting tags to categorize payroll data with custom labels such as cost centers or work shifts, and filter payroll reports to gain clearer visibility into payroll costs.

4. Audit Trail (India)

The Audit Trail report helps you track all the changes made across your Zoho Payroll organization with timestamps and user details. This is available under Reports > Audit Trail.


New Modules



Along with feature enhancements, we also introduced a new module in 2025 to help businesses manage payroll-related information more efficiently.

Documents Module (US)

The Documents module allows employers to securely store, manage, and organize payroll-related documents in one place.

You can upload employee-specific documents such as ID proofs or offer letters, as well as organization-level files like company policies or compliance records. 



New Integrations



WhatsApp Business Integration (India and GCC)

With the WhatsApp Business integration, you can send payroll-related updates and notifications directly to employees through WhatsApp. This helps improve message reach, reduce delays, and keep payroll communication timely and accessible.

Zoho Payouts Integration (India - Early Access)

Zoho Payouts by Zoho Payments lets you deposit salaries directly from Zoho Payroll without logging in to your bank portal. After setting up and verifying your Zoho Payments account, you’ll receive a dedicated payout account to securely fund and process salary payments.
Once enabled, you can initiate payroll payments to multiple employee accounts at once, track transactions, and view payout summaries, all from within Zoho Payroll.


Additional Language Support



As Zoho Payroll expanded into new regions, language accessibility remained a key focus.

In 2025, we introduced:
  1. Arabic language support for all GCC editions
  2. French language support for Canada

To switch languages, click your profile icon and select your preferred language from the My Preferences dropdown.

Zoho Payroll also supports bilingual templates for payslips and letter templates, allowing you to present information in more than one language when required.

Beyond the product interface, we’ve also published help documents in these languages.


Other Updates



Alongside major launches and feature updates, we rolled out several smaller yet impactful enhancements throughout 2025 to improve usability, administration, and compliance alignment.

Reminders for Expiring Documents (GCC)

Previously, document expiry reminders could only be triggered for all employee documents, without the ability to narrow them down. You can now choose to trigger document expiry reminders only for specific documents that require tracking, giving you better control over compliance-critical records.

Send Document Expiry Reminders to Payroll Users (GCC)

Document expiry reminders can now be sent not only to employees, but also to Zoho Payroll users, ensuring the right stakeholders are notified on time.

Departments Management (US)

Departments can now be managed from a dedicated settings page. You can create, edit, or delete departments centrally instead of relying only on the employee creation flow.

Mark Organization Tax Details as Applied For (US)

If you’ve applied for your organization’s tax identification details but haven’t received them yet, you can mark the tax fields as Applied For and continue processing pay runs.

Share Screen Recordings with our Support Team (All Editions)

When contacting support, you can now screen-record your issues directly from within Zoho Payroll and share the recording to help our team understand and resolve it faster.

While subtle, these updates play an important role in making everyday payroll tasks smoother.


What's New

While this post highlights the major milestones from 2025, the What’s New page brings all product updates together in one place.

Visit the What’s New pages for:
  1. India
  2. UAE
  3. US

Looking Ahead

As we move into 2026, our focus remains on expanding coverage, simplifying compliance, and building features that adapt to the real-world needs of growing businesses.

Thank you for being part of Zoho Payroll’s journey. We’re excited about what’s ahead, and the next set of moves still to come.

With a shared purpose,
The Zoho Payroll Team

    • Sticky Posts

    • Zoho Payroll | Quarterly Product Updates For 2024

      As we navigate through the ever-changing payroll landscape, we bring you the latest updates that span the first quarter of 2024, tailored to meet the diverse needs of employers and employees in India, the UAE, and the US. From useful integrations to refined

    • Introducing Academy 🎉: your go-to hub for all things payroll

      Hello! We're thrilled to launch our newest payroll resource hub - Academy by Zoho Payroll [for India] - the information repository where you can go to learn everything about payroll. Introducing Academy by Zoho Payroll Why did we build Academy? Payroll

    • Recent Topics

    • Zoho CRM for Everyone's NextGen UI Gets an Upgrade

      Hello Everyone We've made improvements to Zoho CRM for Everyone's Nextgen UI. These changes are the result of valuable feedback from you where we’ve focused on improving usability, providing wider screen space, and making navigation smoother so everything

    • [Free Webinar] Zoho RPA - OCR, PDF Automation, & More

      Hello Everyone! Greetings from the Zoho RPA Training Team! We’re excited to invite you to our upcoming webinar on the latest release updates for Zoho RPA, where we’ll unveil powerful new capabilities designed to make your automation journey smarter, faster,

    • WhatsApp IM in Zoho Desk always routes to Admin instead of assigned agent

      Hello Zoho Experts, I connected WhatsApp IM to my Zoho Desk account. I only assigned my Customer Service (CS) agent to the WhatsApp channel, and I did NOT include Admin in this channel. However, every new WhatsApp conversation automatically gets assigned

    • hide resolution from help centre

      to my surprise, i just found out that the resolution text is public in the helpcenter, even if 'notify customer' is off. is there a workaround to that? how do others deal with this? How zoho support does this and I don't think its used by Zoho in the first place. the resolution is meant to be private, not public

    • Multiple Cover Letters

      We are using the staffing firm edition of Recruit and we have noticed that candidates cannot add more than one cover letter. This is a problem as they might be applying for multiple jobs on our career site and when we submit their application to a client,

    • Zoho Analytics + Facebook Ads: Performance Alerts for Active Campaigns

      Is it possible with integration of Zoho Analytics with Facebook Ads and set up alerts or notifications for active campaigns when performance drops? For example, triggering a notification if CTR goes below a defined threshold or if other key metrics (like

    • Multiple upload field CRM

      I desperately need the functionality to add more than one upload field to web to contacts form. How can I do this?

    • Workdrive Oauth2 Token Isn't Refreshing

      I have set up oauth for a bunch of zoho apis and have never had a problem with oauth. With workdrive i am using the exact same template i usually use for the other zoho apps and it is not working. All requests will work for the first hour then stops so

    • Sort by age

      It would be very helpful if there was a way to sort by age in the Age column. Please add this function if possible. Thanks!

    • Lookup Field Option Not Available in Customization

      Hello, I am trying to customize different modules (e.g., Work Orders, Systems, and others), but I am unable to find the Lookup field option in the layout customization. When I go to: Setup → Customization → Modules and Fields → Add Field The Lookup field

    • Stage History previous stage to new stage

      We are looking for a way to display deals that have changed stages the previous week. We want to see what stage it was previously and what it was changed to, as well as salespersons names if possible. I've tried to create a report as well as looked into

    • Snapchat

      Are there any plans to add Snapchat to Zoho Social or is there any API that we can use to integrate into Zoho.

    • Scheduled sending of a poll and its results

      Is there a way to schedule sending a poll to all my users and have the results sent separately to the team?

    • Canvas View bug

      I would like to report a bug. When clone a canvas view from an existing canvas view, if the original canvas view have canvas button with client script. Then the new create canvas view will have canvas button, it is make sense. But when I try to delete

    • How can I import OLM to Yandex Mail easily?

      For migrating Mac Outlook OLM data to Yandex Mail efficiently, the Aryson OLM Converter is a reliable professional tool that ensures complete data integrity throughout the process. Unlike manual methods, which can risk inconsistent formatting or missing

    • Zoho recruit's blueprint configuration is not functioning as mapped

      Current Status: Zoho Blueprint is not functioning as configured. Issue: We are moving a Candidate status in Zoho Recruit "for active file" but we encountered: "Status cannot be changed for records involved in Blueprint." This happens to various client

    • validation rules doesn't work in Blueprint when it is validated using function?

      I have tried to create a validation rule in the deal module. it works if I try to create a deal manually or if I try to update the empty field inside a deal. but when I try to update the field via the blueprint mandatory field, it seems the validation

    • Integrating Zoho Suite and apps more with Linux

      I just got introduced with Zoho just couple of months ago, and I've already planned to contribute to it, even though it's not an open-source software. Still I have found it's potential to beat the tech giants and still being respective towards data privacy

    • Global Search Settings

      I'd love a way to remove some modules from being included in the global search. This would allow use to provide a better user experience, limiting the global search to only those modules that are regularly used removing any models used for background

    • How do I edit the Calendar Invite notifications for Interviews in Recruit?

      I'm setting up the Zoho Recruit Interview Calendar system but there's some notifications I don't have any control over. I've turned off all Workflows and Automations related to the Calendar Scheduling and it seems that it's the notification that is sent

    • Store Submitted Forms as PDF

      Hi there, Is there a method to store Form submissions as a PDF in workdrive for archival? I set the form to email the submission to the user and an internal inbox but I'd really love to store the final form as PDF in workdrive automatically. I can't seem

    • Zoho CRM || Unable to Bulk Assignment of Territories for Contacts

      Dear Zoho CRM Support Team, I hope this email finds you well. We recently performed a bulk upload of Contacts into Zoho CRM using the official sample Excel template downloaded from the CRM. The upload itself was completed successfully; however, we encountered

    • Important Update: Google Ads & YouTube Ads API Migration

      To maintain platform performance and align with Google's newest requirements, we are updating the Google Ads and YouTube Ads integrations by migrating from API v19 to the newer v22, before the official deprecation of v19 on February 11, 2026. Reference:

    • Separate Items & Services

      Hi, please separate items and services into different categories. Thank you

    • How to list services on quote instead of products

      I need to create a customer facing estimate that displays our services. The default quote layout only allows products to be listed. Is there a way to correct this?

    • Customize Calendar view in Teamspaces Settings

      Right now every customization that happens inside of the calendar view inside of CRM is only visible for the specific user. We want to be able to set up calendar views as an admin for specific roles. I would suggest to do that inside of the settings of

    • CRM->INVENTORY, sync products as composite items

      We have a product team working in the CRM, as it’s more convenient than using Books or Inventory—especially with features like Blueprints being available. Once a product reaches a certain stage, it needs to become visible in Inventory. To achieve this,

    • Add an option to disable ZIA suggestions

      Currently, ZIA in Zoho Inventory automatically provides suggestions, such as sending order confirmation emails. However, there is no way to disable this feature. In our case, orders are automatically created by customers, and we’ve built a custom workflow

    • What's new in Zoho Sheet: Simplify data entry and collaboration

      Hello, Zoho Sheet community! Last year, our team was focused on research and development so we could deliver updates that enhance your spreadsheet experience. This year, we’re excited to deliver those enhancements—but we'll be rolling them out incrementally

    • Zoho Desk API - Send Reply to CUSTOMERPORTAL

      Hello! I'll try to send a reply to Customer Portal, But the response is 500 (INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR in service response). {"Error":"{\"errorCode\":\"INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR\",\"message\":\"An internal server error occurred while performing this operation.\"}"}

    • Zoho Creator Developer Console | Improved Distribution and Lifecycle Management for apps

      Hello everyone, We're excited to introduce new enhancements now in the Zoho Creator Developer Console. These updates strengthen private app distribution through licensing controls and extend environment support across all installed apps, helping teams

    • CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

      Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),

    • [Webinar] Solving business challenges- Handling the challenge of transitioning to Zoho Writer from legacy tools

      Moving to Zoho Writer is a great way to consolidate your business tools and become more agile. With multiple accessibility modes, no-code automation, and extensive integration with business apps and content platforms, Zoho Writer helps solve your organization's

    • Feature Request - Gift Cards or Gift Voucher Capability in Zoho Commerce

      Hi Zoho Commerce team, I'm comming accross more and more retail businesses who sell gift cards. As there is currently no way to manage this in Zoho Commerce, it is a blocker to addoption. This is particularly popular in Europe and North America. I recently

    • Highlight a candidate who is "off limits"

      Hello: Is there a way to highlight a candidate who is "off limits"?  I would like to have the ability to make certain candidate and / or Client records highlighted in RED or something like that.   This would be used for example when we may have placed a candidate somewhere and we want everyone in our company to quickly and easily see that they are off limits.  The same would apply when we want to put a client or former client off limits so no one recruits out of there. How can this be done? Cheers,

    • Closing off tasks automatically based on project status

      Is there a way to close off all open tasks when a project is set as Cancelled?

    • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

      Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files

    • [Free webinar] Understanding connections and datasources in Zoho Creator - Creator Tech Connect

      Hello everyone, We’re excited to invite you to another edition of the Creator Tech Connect webinar. About Creator Tech Connect The Creator Tech Connect series is a free monthly webinar featuring in-depth technical sessions designed for developers, administrators,

    • Bridge the Gap Between your Service and Finance Teams

      In field service, the most expensive distance isn’t the drive to a customer’s home—it’s the gap between a finished job and a paid invoice. Zoho FSM leverages the power of Zoho Invoice to handle and manage billing operations. It enables you to: Instantly

    • Direct URL to "View Record"

      I would like to create a button (Deluge Script) to jump to the "view record" without passing by the record menu, but I can not aford to find the right url. I don't want the "view record" as a single page. I want the "view record" in the application like the picture below: Thanks in advance for your help

    • Next Page