Managing Transactions under the Paycheck Protection Program in Zoho Books

Managing Transactions under the Paycheck Protection Program in Zoho Books

As you might know, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is an incentive provided by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for businesses affected by COVID-19 in the US. The PPP aims to provide funds for at least eight weeks in order to help businesses pay off all basic operating charges such as employee wages, rent, interest or other utilities and retain their workforce. Read more about the Paycheck Protection Program from our blog.


In case you have applied and qualified for this program, you will have to account for all the cash flowing in and out of your business. If you're using Zoho Books, the best way to manage it would be to record the fund received as a liability account, track transactions with reporting tags and generate reports. Here's a step by step account on how to do this:

1. Create a reporting tag


To start off, you will have to create a reporting tag with which you can associate all transactions concerning PPP. To create a new tag:
  • Go to Settings > Reporting Tags and create a new tag.
  • Enter a Name for the tag (say, PPP) and the Option Name (say, PPP Funds).
  • Save and proceed.



2. Record the fund received


As the fund received from the government is a liability unless it's forgiven, you will have to record the amount deposited under a liability account. You can create a new liability account from Chart of Accounts to keep a track of the amount received or spent. Let's call it the Paycheck Protection Program Loan account.



Once that's done, you can record the fund received:
  • Go to the Banking module and select the account in which you receive the fund.
  • Click the +Add Transaction drop-down and under Money In and select Deposit from Other Accounts.
  • Enter the details of the deposit and, in the From Account, choose the liability account (Paycheck Protection Program Loan) you had created.
  • Associate the tag PPP Funds and Save.


3. Manage operating expenses


Because it's necessary to submit detailed reports at the end of the eight weeks on what the fund was spent on, you will have to keep a track of all incurred expenses (particularly, if they are covered under the PPP). Remember, it is important to account for your expenses in order to qualify for forgiveness. To record them:

  • Go to Purchases > Expenses and create a new expense.
  • Enter the details of the expense and in the Paid Through account choose the bank account through which you received the fund.
  • Associate the tag PPP Funds and Save.


4. Generate reports


To get an overview of all the funds spent on expenses, you can run the Account Transactions report that's filtered by the PPP Funds tag. Here's how:

  • Go to Reports > Account Transactions report.
  • Select Customize Report and click + Add Filter under Advanced Filters.
  • Select Reporting Tags as the field, select a comparator and choose PPP Funds.


  • Add another filter by clicking +Add More. Then, select Account as the field, select a comparator and choose your bank account.
  • Click Run Report to view them.

Repayments and forgiveness


In case your business qualifies for forgiveness (completely or partially), you can transfer the fund amount from the Liability account to an Income account using a manual journal to reduce the liability.

If you have to repay the loan amount, the payments can be recorded as Expenses. Enter the details of the expense, choose the Expense Account as the liability account you created (Paycheck Protection Program Loan) and your Paid Through account will be your bank account.


Note: The Paycheck Protection Program is currently closed. However, the government is considering adding more funds to the program and might reopen the program if the bill is passed.

We understand that this is a stressful period for everyone and we are committed to serving you in these times. Should you have any questions, please reach out to us at support@zohobooks.com for any further assistance.

    Access your files securely from anywhere







                            Zoho Developer Community




                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Digest


                                                  • Functions


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner


                                                  • Word of the Day


                                                  • Ask the Experts





                                                            Manage your brands on social media



                                                                  Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                      Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                        Zoho Books Resources


                                                                          Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                            Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                              Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                                Qntrl Resources


                                                                                  Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                      Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                      • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                        CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                      • Kaizen

                                                                                        Kaizen

                                                                                      • Functions

                                                                                        Functions

                                                                                      • Meetups

                                                                                        Meetups

                                                                                      • Kbase

                                                                                        Kbase

                                                                                      • Resources

                                                                                        Resources

                                                                                      • Digest

                                                                                        Digest

                                                                                      • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        CRM Marketplace

                                                                                      • MVP Corner

                                                                                        MVP Corner







                                                                                          Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                          Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                          Get Started Now


                                                                                            Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                              Zoho Writer

                                                                                              Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                              Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                Zoho CRM コンテンツ



                                                                                                  Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                      ご検討中の方




                                                                                                              • Recent Topics

                                                                                                              • filter broke my data

                                                                                                                I uploaded a file recently from Sheets and it has top 2 rows frozen, with table headers in second row and each one is filterable. somehow my first 2 columns became unfiltered and no matter what I do I cannot reapply the filter?? also didn't realize they
                                                                                                              • Request to remove domain "greentechcoatings.vn" from previous Zoho account

                                                                                                                Hello Zoho Support, I would like to register the domain "greentechcoatings.vn" in my new Zoho Mail account, but I receive the message "This domain is already associated with another account". Please remove the domain from any previous/unknown account
                                                                                                              • Trigger actions in third-party apps using Zoho Flow

                                                                                                                Greetings, I hope you're all doing well. We're excited to share an enhancement to Bigin's workflow capabilities. Zoho Flow Actions are now available in Bigin, enabling you to automate tasks across third-party applications directly from your workflow and
                                                                                                              • Enroll, Script, Win: Hackathon 2025!

                                                                                                                Hello CRM Developers! Are you ready to create some magic with Client Script, Widgets and Functions in Zoho CRM? Let’s make Hackathon 2025 an unforgettable adventure! The Zoho Developer Community Hackathon 2025 is here, and it’s your time to shine! REGISTER
                                                                                                              • Zoho Help Desk - Not receiving emails

                                                                                                                Hello… I am on your trial version of help desk… and I am having trouble getting emails from Zoho Help Desk to my MS Outlook Exchange Server… So when a customer sends ticket request I am not getting an email with a notification? I have read your articles
                                                                                                              • Almost all Flows are being queued

                                                                                                                A few days ago I saw one of my Flows status was Queued. This was the first time this had ever happened. Now, almost every Flow that triggers is Queued for at least a few minutes. If I re-trigger the Flow (which causes separate problems) they sometimes
                                                                                                              • Employment Contract / HRMS Documents - Zoho People

                                                                                                                How do I create customized HR documents for disbursal from Zoho People ? Example, say offer letters ? appointment letters ? Memos ? We want to be able to preset these in one or ther other form and issue them to employees who are in Zoho People.
                                                                                                              • Live webinar: Craft and deliver impactful slides with Show’s desktop apps

                                                                                                                If you love the comfort of working on your desktop and want a setup that keeps you focused and uninterrupted, this session is made for you. We’re excited to invite you to our upcoming live webinar: "Craft and deliver impactful slides with Show's desktop
                                                                                                              • Enhancements to Bigin's forms

                                                                                                                Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce a few recent enhancements we've made to Bigin's forms. We'll go over each one in detail. Merge field support in auto-filled forms The auto-fill option in Bigin's forms lets you predefine
                                                                                                              • Table dimensions

                                                                                                                I try changing the dimensions of the table on my computer but it doesn't change. Do I have to be a premium member or does it only work on the app?
                                                                                                              • Direct link to Record Summary

                                                                                                                Hi everyone, In one of my reports, I have built a Record Summary template to display the details of one record. I would like to be able to link directly to this Record Summary once I submit a new record, without having to go to the list of records first and click on View. Is there a possibility to do so ?  Should I use the URL by passing some parameters ? Thank you very much for your help ! Guillaume
                                                                                                              • Verifying Zoho Mail Functionality After Switching DNS from Cloudflare to Hosting Provider

                                                                                                                I initially configured my domain's (https://roblaxmod.com/) email with Zoho Mail while using Cloudflare to manage my DNS records (MX, SPF, etc.). All services were working correctly. Recently, I have removed my site from Cloudflare and switched my domain's
                                                                                                              • API Support for Creating Invoices with Batch-Tracked Items

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho Community, I am working on an integration where we create invoices in ERPNext and push them to Zoho Books. I need to send batch-tracked items (batch numbers) when creating invoices. I could not find any reference in the Zoho Books API documentation.
                                                                                                              • Amendment effective date

                                                                                                                Hi everyone, I noticed that the amendment effective date mentionned in my amendment is not right. Indeed, when a contract is amended several times, it states the previous amendment and their effective date. However, the effective date stated is always
                                                                                                              • STOCK history in zohosheets

                                                                                                                is it possible to get historical stock value using stock function in zoho sheets? i could not see from and to period in the helper document.
                                                                                                              • Auto sync Photo storage

                                                                                                                Hello I am new to Zoho Workdrive and was wondering if the is a way of automatically syncing photos on my Android phone to my workdrive as want to move away from Google? Thanks
                                                                                                              • Agent password reset

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho support, I would like to ask if there is a way the admin can reset a password of an agent? Regards
                                                                                                              • Can receive but not send messages in Zoho Mail

                                                                                                                Hello! I was able to configure my email client successfully in that I can receive messages just fine. However, when I send messages out, they seem to go out fine (I don't receive any errors or anything), but the recipient does NOT receive those messages.
                                                                                                              • Mail is sent twice!

                                                                                                                Been using Zoho for a while now. Installed Zoho for someone else and some weird things are happening. Mails are being sent twice. He is using Thunderbird as an email client. I already read about email being duplicated in the sent folder. But in my case
                                                                                                              • Can't login IMAP suddenly

                                                                                                                Since this evening I'm getting the error: You are yet to enable IMAP for your account. Please contact your administrator... IMAP always been enabled in my account and was workign fine for the past 7 years. Already tried turning IMAP off and on again.
                                                                                                              • Sending of username did not succeed: Mail server pop.zoho.com responded: User already specified

                                                                                                                I am having issues receiving emails from Zoho in Thunderbird. I am getting the above error. The first error tells me Authentication failed, and prompts me to enter in my password. Then I get the above error. I can receive emails when I log in online to
                                                                                                              • Bug tracking

                                                                                                                Hi, does anyone know how to track errors during picking or packing? This way I can keep track and see how to improve and prevent errors in this area.
                                                                                                              • Migration of corporate mail environment from Yandex 360 to Zoho mail

                                                                                                                I have to migrate a corporate mail environment with an existing domain from Yandex 360 to Zoho mail. It is vital to migrate all users with all the data. I have read the article on this topic using MacMister Email Backup Software just now and have some
                                                                                                              • I'm unable to send mail pthrough Zoho SMTP programmatically

                                                                                                                This has been working for years, but today it's been offline all day long. I see nothing anywhere on your site about this. I'm not the only one experiencing this. Downdetector has a spike of reports today
                                                                                                              • Can no longer send email via Django site

                                                                                                                This was working fine as of 11/7/25. Now I am unable to send user verification emails from a Django site on a AWS lightsail sever. When a user attempts to register the following error occurs. I have also attempted to send a test email via the shell and
                                                                                                              • unable to send email but able to receive email

                                                                                                                my email address is info@securityforceservices.ca
                                                                                                              • Login to server failing

                                                                                                                When trying to retrieve my mail, I am getting this error message -- Login to server pop.zoho.com with username (my email address) failed. It gives me the option to retry, enter password, or cancel. Then I get this message -- Sending of username did not
                                                                                                              • Configuration failed: 200 response not received for POST request.

                                                                                                                Hello, I am trying to set up a webhook to connect with an Salesforce but I receive the following error from Zoho: Configuration failed: 200 response not received for POST request I have tried testing it on webhook.site as well and receive the same error
                                                                                                              • Zoho Migration Assistant not working

                                                                                                                Hello, I am trying to use you Migration assistant to migrate emails from Rediff to Zoho. I am stuck in the first step. After downloading the migration tool, I copied the link to verify user credentials, however, after pasting the link in the browser,
                                                                                                              • Paid Support Plans with Automated Billing

                                                                                                                We (like many others, I'm sure) are designing or have paid support plans. Our design involves a given number of support hours in each plan. Here are my questions: 1) Are there any plans to add time-based plans in the Zoho Desk Support Plans feature? The
                                                                                                              • Scheduled Reports - Do not send empty report

                                                                                                                Hello, We are intensively using reports in the CRM, especially for sales managers.  When data is empty, they still receive an email. Can you add an option to avoid sending the report when data is empty?
                                                                                                              • Contacts Missing — PeopleSync/Zoho Mail

                                                                                                                English: In our company we use ManageEngine Mobile Device Manager (MDM), Free edition, to manage corporate mobile devices. Our usage policy does not allow personal Google accounts on these devices; therefore, Google account sync is blocked through MDM.
                                                                                                              • Best way to integrate Zoho with mobile app for managing customer requests with real-time notifications?

                                                                                                                Hello, I'm building a solution for a travel company where customers submit requests through a website, and the sales team manages these requests through a mobile app. The Requirement: Customers fill a form on the website (name, email, number of children,
                                                                                                              • Kaizen #57 - Mass Update API in Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                Hello everyone! Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen series. This week, we will discuss the Mass Update API in Zoho CRM. In this post, we will cover the following: 1. Introduction 2. Mass Update Records API  3. Schedule Update and Get Status
                                                                                                              • Getting Attachments in Zoho Desk via API

                                                                                                                Is there a way to get attachments into Zoho Desk via an API?      We have a process by which a zoho survey gets sent to the user as a link in a notification.    The survey has several upload fields where they can upload pdf documents.    I've created
                                                                                                              • Multiple currencies - doesn’t seem to work for site visitors / customers

                                                                                                                I am trying to understand how the multiple currency feature works from the perspective of the website visitor who is shopping on my Zoho Commerce site. My site’s base currency is US Dollars (USD) but my store is for customers in Costa Rica and I would
                                                                                                              • Pincode based Product Restriction

                                                                                                                we have different types of products. 1) Very bulky items like plywood. 2) Too delicate items like glass These type of products we want to sell to local customers. Other products we want to supply all over India. There should be an option to restrict products
                                                                                                              • Can multiple agents be assigned to one ticket on purpose?

                                                                                                                Is it possible to assign one ticket to two or more agents at a time? I would like the option to have multiple people working on one ticket so that the same ticket is viewable for those agents on their list of pending tickets. Is something like this currently
                                                                                                              • Related Lists filter

                                                                                                                I have Contacts showing in our Accounts module. I customized the Contacts module with an Employment Status field, with the following picklist options: "Primary Contact", "Secondary Contact", "Active Staff(not a main contact)", and "No longer employed".
                                                                                                              • Standalone custom function not generating logs

                                                                                                                Why dont't standalone custom functions generate logs when the're called from another function? I have some functions (workflow, buttons and blueprint) that have common parts, so I put that part in a standalone function which is called from the others.
                                                                                                              • Next Page