What's New - September 2025 | Zoho Backstage

September has been a different month for Zoho Backstage. Instead of rolling out a long list of new features, we focused on something just as important:

Performance, reliability, and stability

The event season is in full swing, and organizers are running larger and more complex events. Our goal this month was simple: make your experience faster, smoother, and more intuitive. 

That said, we do have a few updates to share with you.

---

Tax Rules – South Africa

Accurate tax calculation is vital for ensuring compliance and transparency in event management. With the new Tax Rules feature for South Africa, you can now automatically apply the correct VAT rates to your events, making tax management simpler and more efficient. Zoho Backstage automatically configures tax rules based on your organization and event location, ensuring compliance with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) regulations.

This feature supports in-person, hybrid, and virtual events, helping organizers stay compliant while reducing manual tax management.

How do taxes work on South African events?

VAT registration thresholds

1. Businesses must register for VAT if their annual taxable sales exceed ZAR 1 million.
2. Businesses may choose to register voluntarily if their taxable sales are above ZAR 50,000.
   

VAT rates

1. Standard rate: 15%
2. Zero rate: 0%
   

VAT terms

1. VAT: Value-Added Tax
2. VAT Registration Number Label: TIN (Tax Identification Number)
3. VAT Registration Number Format: 10-digit number

In-person and hybrid events

​

​

If an event is held in South Africa, the place of supply is considered within South Africa, and 15% VAT must be charged on ticket sales (unless exempt or zero-rated).

Virtual events

​

​

For virtual events, the attendee’s location determines the place of supply. For foreign attendees, the transaction is treated as an export of service and is zero-rated.

How to use

To enable South Africa tax rules, configure your organization’s location:

1. Navigate to Portal Settings > Payments and Tax.
2. Select South Africa as the organization location.
3. The system automatically populates:
   
1. 2 default tax rates (15% and 0%).
2. 4 tax rules (in-person/hybrid, virtual, and two non-taxable rules).

Unlike other countries, South Africa Tax Rules are predefined. You can't edit existing rules or add new ones.

Applying Tax Rules to in-person and hybrid events

When South Africa is selected as the organization location, Zoho Backstage automatically applies the correct VAT (15%) to in-person and hybrid events. This ensures compliance with SARS requirements. A preview of the tax to be applied is shown during event publishing, so organizers know exactly what their attendees will be charged.

Applying Tax Rules to virtual events

For virtual events, Zoho Backstage automatically applies the zero-rated VAT rule for foreign attendees. South African attendees are charged the standard 15% VAT. This setup ensures accurate handling of local and international transactions without manual intervention.

1. Tax rules in Zoho Backstage are fixed for South Africa. They can't be edited or expanded.
2. Organizers can change the applied rule during event setup, but updates only affect new transactions. Existing transactions retain their original tax rule.
3. If the event location is set to any country other than South Africa, South African VAT won't be applied.
   

Plan availability: Included in the Essentials, Prem​ium, and Ultimate plans

---

Full page floor plan  

We’ve taken the exhibitor experience to a whole new level with the introduction of the full page floor plan. This enhanced layout gives everyone including organizers, exhibitors, and attendees a more immersive and detailed view of the event venue.

For organizers, the full-page view provides better visibility and control when managing booth layouts and exhibitor placements. Whether you’re reviewing space allocation or showcasing your setup, the new Fit to Screen option lets you adjust the view instantly, making it ideal for large displays and on-site monitors.

Visitors can explore the floor plan in full-screen mode, view the exhibitor list, and discover details about each exhibitor. Signed-in attendees can further filter exhibitors by category and mark their favorites to plan their visit efficiently. Exhibitors can browse the directory or register directly from the same page, making navigation and engagement effortless.

​

Plan Availability: All plans that include the Exhibitor management module

---

Date & Time form field 

We’ve enhanced the existing Date field to support time preferences, giving you more flexibility when collecting scheduling details. By enabling the Include Time toggle, you can now capture both date and time within a single field.

Similar to the standalone Time field, organizers can configure properties to accept entries in either 12-hour or 24-hour format and even set restrictions within a specific time range. A default date and time value can also be defined to simplify form submissions.

The default time format for this field automatically aligns with your event’s configuration under Manage > Event Info, ensuring consistent formatting across your forms.

Plan availability: Included in the Ultimate plans

---

With the event season in full swing, we’re focused on making your experience with Zoho Backstage faster, more reliable, and ready for every challenge. We look forward to bringing you more updates next month.

All the features and enhancements mentioned in this article are available across all Zoho Backstage-supported data centers.

If you need further assistance with our features, please contact support@zohobackstage.com. 

• Topic Participants

• Jithan Raghuraj

  

• Recent Topics

• First Day of Work Week selection - Add every day of the week

  It would be very helpful to have every day of the week available as a choice for the start of a work week.  In fact, it would be even MORE helpful if we could select a different work week per Customer. For instance, for one client, I invoice weekly: Friday through Thursday (so the first day of that work week, as far as Zoho is concerned, is Friday).  For another client, I invoice monthly, and would keep the traditional M-F work week.

• The 3.1 biggest problems with Kiosk right now

  I can see a lot of promise in Kiosk, but it currently has limited functionality that makes it a bit of an ugly duckling. It's great at some things, but woeful at others, meaning people must rely on multiple tools within CRM for their business processes.

• multiple Brands separate topic landing pages

  hii, i cant seem to figure out how to separate brands from the select topics marketing landingpage. i can only add topics for other brands, but i want to keep them complete separate

• Is there a way to sync Tags between CRM and Campaigns/Marketing Hub?

  I wonder if there is a way to synch the tags between CRM and Marketing-Hub / Campaigns?

• Does anyone else wish you could download Mail Merge quotations from the Zoho CRM mobile app?

  Is it just me, or has anyone else run into this? I’m in sales, so I’m rarely at my desk. I’m usually in meetings, visiting clients, or travelling. One thing that genuinely frustrates me is that if a client asks me for a quotation, I can’t generate or

• Assign account to a ticket created with WebToCase

  We use Zoho Desk. Our large client uses WebToCase form to submit tickets. I have two workflow rules: When a contact is created and its email ends with example.com, it runs a custom function, which assigns the new contact the right account Example with

• How to track the source of form submissions using referrer names in Zoho Forms?

  Ever wondered where your users are accessing your form links from? By tracking the origin of your form entries—whether it's from social media, email campaigns, direct links, or embedded on your website—you can identify which channels are driving the most

• Zoho One Backup of entire account

  Hello, When using Zoho one is there a way to backup your entire account of all apps that you are using \ activively using in a single step or do you have to backup each applications data individually? Thanks,

• Custom invoice template issue

  Hi. I created a custom invoice template, but it isn't working properly. Even though I select my custom template, Zoho still opens the standard one while showing that the custom one is selected. Please advise on how to fix this

• Can't view nor download attachments

  Me and a number of people I know suddenly stopped being able to either view nor download attachments that arrive in new emails we receive since this morning. Older emails work just fine and we can download/view them. Zoho Mail states the it wasn't able

• Zoho CRM APIs

  Hello, I think as a developer, it is very important to have the ability to manage, develop, and execute functions directly from my local development environment (for example, VS Code). Zoho CRM should have a way to create, deploy, and manage functions

• Record Payment - Auto Populate Amount as payments are selected

  When recording payments you have the option of clicking on "Pay in Full" next to the bill which automatically adds the total at the bottom of the page next to "Amount used for payments" but this should also auto populate / update the total at the top

• Zoho Projects - Add Event Change as Trigger

  I am currently trying to create an automation in Zoho Flow that sends a notification when an Event is updated in Zoho Projects. At present, Zoho Projects only provides a trigger for Event creation. There is no trigger available when an existing Event

• Tips & Tricks #4: Zoho People - Mejoras y Novedades durante el Q2 de 2026

  ¡Hola, Comunidad de Zoho en Español! Os traemos una selección de las novedades y mejoras más interesantes que llegaron a Zoho People durante el segundo trimestre de 2026. En este artículo te hablamos de: Zia, el asistente de IA para RR. HH. OKR llega

• You do not have sufficient permissions to perform this operation. Contact your administrator.

  When I attempt to log a call I initiate the +New Call and Start Calling and I click Answered Call in the popup dialog box that follows. Any attempt to save or close this dialog box results in "You do not have sufficient permissions to perform this operation. Contact your administrator." The only way I can get the popup to disappear is to refresh the page and it will go away. I have found others reporting this issue when they attempt to run reports.  Any suggestions? Thank you in advance for taking

• More flexibility on Hosted Pages ?

  I like more flexibility on Hosted Pages, this is due to the fact I am not a programmer I wold like to have more customization on Hosted Pages like: - add Addons and coupon to a plan already suscribed in the past - cutomize the look an feel (as a form

• Marketer's Space: Write CTAs your audience can't ignore

  Hello Marketers! Welcome back to Marketer's Space! Today we're zeroing in on a small concept that decides whether your whole campaign was worth sending: the call-to-action (CTA). You could write the sharpest subject line and design the most polished template

• Button to renew offline subscription.

  If i have a customer who pays offline, and wants to renew the subscription, you have to wait till the end of the subscription and reactivate it. or else it affects metrics. There is a way to upgrade or downgrade a subscription, immedeatly or at the end

• Public Forms for an all-inclusive feedback system

  The more we seek information from the customers, the more we solve their needs and gain their trust. However, reaching out to every customer to seek requirements, solve their issues, and gather feedback can be tasking. Circulating a public form helps

• How to embed event list page from Backstage onto my site

  I'd like to embed the events list page from Zoho Backstage ( https://biz2bizlinksevents.zohobackstage.com/events) into my site, but when I use an iframe it says the page refused to connect. My other iframes with microsites from Zoho recruit and forms

• Function #40: Notify users when invoices exceed the credit limit

  Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! Businesses tend to offer goods or services on credit to customers, which can, in overtime, lead to the accumulation of significant overdue balances. To address this, Zoho Books allows you to define a Credit

• Zoho CRM - Kiosk Studio: Build Once, Execute Multiple Times with Loops

  Hello Everyone, Introducing Loop Functionality in Kiosk Studio. If you've ever built a Kiosk that needed to perform the same action multiple times like updating a list of contacts, scheduling calls for a batch of leads, or processing multiple products

• Manual Journal not affecting the YE Trial Balance

  I have done a manual journal moving an expense from prior year to current year. However, it is not affecting the prior year figures at all, when I go to the expense the journal isn't even reflecting at all. I have made sure dates are correct and both

• Tip #82 – Let Zia Answer Bot Handle the Questions So You Can Focus on the Fix – 'Insider Insights'

  Tip #82 – Let Zia Answer Bot Handle the Questions So You Can Focus on the Fix – 'Insider Insights' Hello Zoho Assist Community! Imagine you're in the middle of a critical remote session. The customer, a project manager at a mid-sized firm, has been locked

• Caso de Éxito: Namencis Education crece un 117% con Zoho One

  "Hemos estado creciendo en torno a un 117% al año, que es una barbaridad. Tuvimos una rentabilidad del 33%, que antes no teníamos ni por asomo. Escalamos en tres años lo que no habíamos escalado en los anteriores siete." Borja Domínguez, CTO de Namencis

• Introducing Workqueue: your all-in-one view to manage daily work

  Hello all, We’re excited to introduce a major productivity boost to your CRM experience: Workqueue, a dynamic, all-in-one workspace that brings every important sales activity, approval, and follow-up right to your fingertips. What is Workqueue? Sales

• [IDEA] Bring Layout - Conditional Rules and Client Scripts to Zoho Books

  The problem We run Zoho Books with two e-invoicing integrations: myData (Greek tax authority, AADE) and PEPPOL (EU e-invoicing). Between the two, our Invoice form carries a large number of custom fields — document type codes, VAT exemption categories,

• Introducing the Revamped Zoho Projects Chrome Extension

  Zoho Projects Chrome Extension brings your project management capabilities directly to your browser. Users can access all their portals, create tasks, file issues, log time, and stay updated on project activities without navigating to the main application.

• Bigin Android app update: Alerts while creating tasks outside of working days, conflicting events and calls.

  Hello everyone! In the most recent version of the Bigin Android app, we have brought in support to display an alert if task is being scheduled outside of the working days. Also, when scheduling an event or call in the Activities module, a conflict alert

• Create modules using natural language prompts

  Hello all, We’ve introduced a new enhancement to Zia that allows you to create custom and team modules in Zoho CRM using plain language prompts. Why this enhancement? Creating a custom module traditionally involves multiple steps—choosing field types,

• Collapsible Sections & Section Navigation Needed

  The flexibility of Zoho CRM has expanded greatly in the last few years, to the point that a leads module is now permissible to contain up to 350 fields. We don't use that many, but we are using 168 fields which are broken apart into 18 different sections.

• Can the SEO Keyword field be increased from 100 characters to the industry standard 160 characters

  Hello, Currently Commerce restricts the SEO meta-keywords to 100 characters, which I'd always found to be a bit constraining, often times not enough space to suit my needs. I recently discovered however that search engines will accept up to 160 characters

• Cookies Consent Management in Webforms

  Hello Everyone! We are excited to introduce Cookie Consent Management for webforms. Read on to learn more. Webforms are online forms embedded on websites that allow users to submit data and create records in Zoho CRM. These forms utilize cookies to track

• Trigger workflows from SLA escalations in Zoho Desk?

  Hey everyone, I’m currently working with SLA escalation rules in Zoho Desk and ran into a limitation that I’m hoping someone here has solved more elegantly. As far as I can tell, SLA escalations only support fairly limited actions (like changing the ticket

• Como exportar la base a excel sin perder datos

  Estimados quisiera saber como exportar o descargar la base de tickets para hacer estadisticas sin perder datos al copiar

• Show my cost or profit while creating estimate

  Hi, While creating estimate it becomes very important to know exact profit or purchased price of the products at one side just for our reference so we can decide whether we can offer better disc or not .

• Mise à jour de Zoho Books – France

  Chers clients, Merci pour votre patience et votre soutien continu. Avec les évolutions réglementaires à venir en France nous introduisons de nouvelles fonctionnalités dans Zoho Books pour les clients français. Ces mises à jour ont été conçues pour répondre

• Is there any way to have Dataprep ingest RSS?

  As stated by the title. Does the Zoho environment offer tools that I can use to, directly or using workarounds, have Dataprep ingest an RSS feed? Thanks

• Connect ZOHO social with Google Data Studio and download data from ZOHO social

  Dear ZOHO team, I am writing this message to enquire about how to connect ZOHO social with Google data studio since our company would like to use Google data studio to generate reports. Is it a way to download data from ZOHO social? Best regards, Chris

• Zoho People Whats New - Q2 2026

  Hello Users! We're excited to share the latest updates introduced in Zoho People during Q2 2026. This release brings a range of new features and enhancements designed to simplify HR operations, automate routine processes, and deliver a smarter, more connected

• Next Page