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 Sheet for Desktop

          Does Zoho plans to develop a Desktop version of Sheet that installs on the computer like was done with Writer?

        • WhatsApp phone number migration

          Hi @Gowri V and @Pheranda Nongpiur, Thanks for implementing the promised enhancements to the integration between Zoho CRM and WhatsApp. The previous discussion has been locked, so I'm opening this new one. I am copying below a specific

        • WebDAV support

          I need WebDAV support so that I can upload/download (and modify) documents from my local file system. Is anything planned in his direction?

        • Suggestions for Improved Table Management and Dashboard Filter Controls in Zoho Analytics

          Dear Zoho Analytics Community, I hope you are doing well. I would like to share a few suggestions based on issues I am currently experiencing while working with visualizations and dashboards. Firstly, when I create a new visualization using the Sales-Order

        • SPF: HELO does not publish an SPF Record

          I am using Zoho mail. Completed all of the required prerequisites from the dashboard to avoid any issues with mail delivery. But when checking on mail-tester.com getting the following error. Can anyone help me solve this?

        • How do I create an update to the Cost Price from landed costs?

          Hi fellow Zoho Inventory battlers, I am new to Zoho inventory and was completely baffled to find that the cost price of products does not update when a new purchase order is received. The cost price is just made up numbers I start with when the product

        • Price Managment

          I have been in discussions with Zoho for some time and not getting what I need. Maybe someone can help explain the logic behind this for me as I fail to understand. When creating an item, you input a sales rate and purchase rate. These rates are just

        • Actual vs Minimum

          Hi all, I am sure I am not the only one having this need. We are implementing billing on a 30-minute increment, with a minimum of 30 minutes per ticket. My question is, is there a way to create a formula or function to track both the minimum bill vs the

        • Generate leads from instagram

          hello i have question. If connect instagram using zoho social, it is possible to get lead from instagram? example if someone send me direct message or comment on my post and then they generate to lead

        • Kaizen #234 - Automating Deal Handoff with Zia Assistant API, Workflow, Deluge, and Widget in Zoho CRM

          Hello all! Welcome back to a fresh Kaizen week. In this post, we will explore how to automate the deal handoff process in Zoho CRM using Zia Assistant API + Workflow + Deluge + Widgets. Here’s how the final output looks when a deal is reassigned 1. Deal

        • How do you print a refund check to customer?

          Maybe this is a dumb question, but how does anyone print a refund check to a customer? We cant find anywhere to either just print a check and pick a customer, or where to do so from a credit note.

        • Ability to assign Invoice Ownership through Deluge in FSM

          Hi, As part of our process, when a service appointment is completed, we automated the creation of the invoice based on a specific business logic using Deluge. When we do that, the "Owner" of the invoice in Zoho FSM is defaulted to the SuperAdmin. This

        • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

          Availability Update: 29 September 2025: It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition exclusively for IN DC users. 2 March 2026: Available to users in all DCs except US and EU DC. Latest

        • Enhancement to ICR’s field prompting: Preferred data extraction using advanced field prompting

          Dear Customers, We hope you’re well A quick background Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) comes as part of Zia’s optical recognition capability called Zia Vision. When we introduced it last April, the data extraction was training-based and was applicable

        • See a list of all records enrolled in a cadence?

          I am looking for a way to see a list of all leads or contact currently enrolled in a cadence. I do not see any way to do this through the cadence UI.

        • Limitation in chart of accounts

          There is a limitation of 4000 accounts in chart of accounts  Zoho needs to remove this limit

        • How do I change the account bank charges are charged to?

          I want bank charges charged to my Credit Card Fees account. Is there a way to do this?

        • Real signature in Zoho Expense PDF report ?

          Hello ! Is there a way to put a real signature on the signature line when a PDF report is generated in Zoho Expense? Through Zoho Sign or another way? Can't seem to make it work.

        • Copy paste settings

          Hello all i have 2 organizations running in ZOHO books in one organization i have customised Tax rates, codes and customized templates instead of manually doing again in org 2 can i have some shortcut to copy paste or export and import??

        • Custom TDS on Vendor Credits via API

          Hi, We are using Zoho Books APIs for posting Bills and vendor credits. We are unable to post custom TDS amount posting vendor credits. Can you please share the API spec and Payload that need to be sent for Custom TDS for Vendor Credits.

        • "Unlink" Advance from Bill without Deleting the Payment Record

          I am writing to highlight a significant workflow issue in Zoho Books (India Edition) regarding Vendor Advances and Bills. The Scenario: I recorded an Advance Payment to a vendor. I matched/reconciled this payment in the Banking module. I received a Bill

        • Advance Payment Record Removed When Deleting Applied Credit from Bill

          Hello, So while working with vendor advance payments, I noticed that removing the applied credit from a bill also removes the corresponding entry from the Payments Made section. What I did : Recorded an advance payment to a vendor through Payments Made.

        • What is the best way to convert MSG file to Word format?

          The best way to convert MSG files to Word format is by using a reliable and professional tool Aryson MSG file Converter. Manual methods are often time-consuming and may not preserve email formatting, attachments, or metadata accurately. In contrast, Aryson

        • Address Typeahead Extension for Zoho Books

          I installed the Address Typeahead extension for zoho books but when I went to configure it, it said that that version was deprecated. Is there a newer version somewhere?

        • Zoho Projects : Task should auto-update to 'In Progress' if timer started

          Namaskaram. Right now, if a Task's timer is started, the Task stays in 'Not Started' status. One has to manually update it to 'In Progress'. From a #uxdesign standpoint, it is an unnecessarily two step process to start working on a task. It would be better that, if I start the timer on a task, it should automatically change to 'In Progress' status. Crafted with ❤️ Zoho Gurus | Zoho One Practice Team @ CubeYogi Zoho Authorised Partner | 7+ Yrs | 200+ Projects | 100+ Customers

        • Invoice template with sales tax totals

          Hi everyone,  I am trying to edit my invoice template so that only the total sales tax collected for my tax group shows up. Right now, under by sub total, each individual tax shows up and that takes up a lot of unnessary space, so I just want the one

        • Zoho Delayed Posting & Loss of Article Thumbnails on BlueSky

          Hello! I am wondering if anyone else has had the either of the following issues when posting to socials via Zoho and if there is a fix? 1. Post says it is scheduled or it is live when sent off via Zoho but it doesn't show up on socials till some time

        • Connection Not Secure (Certificate Mismatch) Error

          Hi, Just a fyi, when you go to https://bigin.zohocloud.ca/bigin/Home you get a "Your Connection Is Not private" error. (Certificate mismatch to domain.) I get to that page after I have signed up and signed in as a customer and select the Access Bigin

        • Recording the Investment

          Hello, - One Investor Invested to our company, So how do we record investment which we received in our bank in the Zoho books ? - How do we record if we provide shares to the investor in the Zoho books? Thanks

        • Export Invoices to XML file

          Namaste! ZOHO suite of Apps is awesome and we as Partner, would like to use and implement the app´s from the Financial suite like ZOHO Invoice, but, in Portugal, we can only use certified Invoice Software and for this reason, we need to develop/customize on top of ZOHO Invoice to create an XML file with specific information and after this, go to the government and certified the software. As soon as we have for example, ZOHO CRM integrated with ZOHO Invoice up and running, our business opportunities

        • Client and Vendor portal at the same time

          We have companies that serve both as clients and vendors and they are linked. However, we have a problem giving them access to the vendor/client portal. If they accept the invitation from the client portal, when we try to invite them to the vendor portal

        • Integrate Multiple ZohoBooks organization with zoho projects

          We have successfully connected our Zoho Books with Zoho Projects for synronizing timesheet data. Our Business specialty is, that the staff of the Main company (A) is working on several projects, but the Clients are sometimes contracted and paying to a

        • Ways to calculate the difference form two years or months

          Hi to everyone I have this request: I need to show the difference or variation from two periods (years or months) whether using a Pivot View or a graph, in this is case is better in a Pivot view. In the pivot view I will have the amount or results from

        • Career site URL - Suggestion to modify URL of non-english job posting

          Hi, I would like to suggest making a few modification to career sites that are not in english. Currently, the URL are a mix of different languages and are very long. It makes for very unprofessional looking URLs... Here is an example of one of our URL

        • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

          Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

        • Introducing Contract Settings & Backdated Contracts in Zoho Contracts

          We are rolling out updates that give you more control over how contracts are created and managed in Zoho Contracts. From defining default workflows with Contract Settings to aligning agreements with real timelines using Backdated Contracts, these enhancements

        • Celebrating our customers on International Client's Day

          Hi everyone, Every customer is part of our Zoho Desk family, and we wouldn’t want to miss celebrating you on this special day. This International Client's Day, we’d like to take a moment to appreciate every customer who has helped us grow and build meaningful

        • Zoho Books | Product updates | February 2026

          Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From Advanced Reporting Tags to the ability to mark projects as completed, explore the latest updates designed to improve your bookkeeping experience. Introducing Advanced Reporting

        • Faster Ticket Response with use of Snippets in comments

          Hello everyone, Responding to tickets often involves repeating the same messages, whether it is sharing updates with customers or leaving notes for internal collaboration. To make this easier and more consistent, we are allowing agents to use snippets

        • Improving Zoho Creator's email deliverability

          Hi all, We're pleased to announce updates to email handling in Zoho Creator to improve the deliverability of the emails sent from the Creator platform. These updates have been designed keeping in mind the fact that emails from domains with strong sender

        • Next Page