Zoho Payroll: Product Updates - H1, 2026

Zoho Payroll: Product Updates - H1, 2026

Over the last few months, Zoho Payroll has added updates that make payroll easier to process, review, explain, and manage for businesses. The most important improvements focus on payroll flexibility, gratuity tracking, employee self-service, reporting, regional language support, and payment workflows.

Here's a look at everything that's new:
  1. More precise payroll reporting with Advanced Reporting Tags
  2. Manage payroll by Pay Groups (India, GCC)
  3. Manage contractors in payroll (India)
  4. Support leave salary requests in advance (GCC)
  5. Connect Zoho Payroll with Zoho Analytics (GCC)
  6. Record gratuity accruals in Zoho Books (GCC)
  7. Approve loans with gratuity-based eligibility (GCC)
  8. View a clearer audit trail (GCC)
  9. Use Arabic across payroll and employee documents (GCC)
  10. Import unpaid leaves for gratuity calculation (GCC)
  11. Calculate one-time deductions based on custom formula (India, GCC)
  12. Import previous salary revision history (India, GCC)
  13. Give employees quicker payroll answers with Ask Zia (India, US)
  14. Review negative net pay before approving payroll (India)
  15. Approve eligible direct deposit pay runs closer to payday (US)
  16. Customize semi-monthly pay periods (US)
  17. Edit overtime and double time hours during pay runs (US)
  18. View detailed employee pay summaries (US)
  19. Download pay stubs in bulk (US)
  20. Other enhancements

More precise payroll reporting with Advanced Reporting Tags  

Reporting tags let you classify payroll costs by categories like region, department, or business unit. With standard reporting tags, all options are presented as a flat list, and any option can be selected regardless of other choices made.

Advanced Reporting Tags take this further by letting you structure options in a hierarchy. You can set up tags so that each selection filters what appears next. For example, selecting India as a region can limit the next field to only Indian cities, and selecting a city can then show only the departments within it.

This keeps tagging consistent across your team and ensures payroll costs are always classified in a way that reflects how your organization is actually structured. Reports become easier to filter, segment, and analyse as a result.



Manage payroll by Pay Groups (India, GCC)

Payroll inputs are not always ready for the entire organization at the same time. Attendance may be complete for one location, loss of pay may still be under review for another department, and a specific employee group may have pending inputs while the rest of the organization is ready for payroll.

Pay Groups help payroll teams process payroll separately for specific employees within the same pay schedule. Employees can be grouped by work location, department, employee type, or reporting tag. Once a group’s inputs are ready, payroll can be processed for that group without waiting for every other group to be finalized.

This is useful for organizations where payroll readiness varies across work locations, or departments. It helps payroll teams avoid delaying everyone because one group’s inputs are still pending.



Manage contractors in payroll  (India)

Organizations that work with contractors often need to manage details such as contract terms, pay rate, TDS, payment method, and portal access. Zoho Payroll now lets organizations add and manage contractors along with employees. Contractor profiles can also be synced from Zoho People.

This helps payroll teams maintain contractor details in one place and process payments with the information needed for accurate deductions and records.





Support leave salary requests in advance  (GCC)

Leave salary is the salary paid to an employee during their approved leave period, typically for annual leave. Employees in GCC organizations receive their leave salary before the leave begins so they have access to their salary while on vacation. Zoho Payroll now lets employees request leave salary in advance through the Employee Portal.

Admins can review and approve the request in Zoho Payroll. Once approved, the leave salary can be processed through a regular or off-cycle pay run. Zoho Payroll also adjusts the employee’s salary in the actual leave month so the same leave days are not paid twice. This helps employees receive leave salary when they need it while keeping the later payroll calculation accurate.





Connect Zoho Payroll with Zoho Analytics  (GCC)

Payroll data becomes more useful when teams can analyze it beyond standard reports. You can now connect Zoho Payroll with Zoho Analytics to create custom reports and dashboards. Teams can use this to review payroll trends, study patterns, and bring payroll insights using advanced analytical tools. This is useful for payroll, finance, and leadership teams that need advanced visibility into payroll costs and workforce-related changes.






Record gratuity accruals in Zoho Books  (GCC)

Gratuity is usually paid when an employee exits, but the obligation accrues throughout the employee’s service. When that liability is not tracked in a dedicated account, finance teams may have less visibility into future end-of-service costs.

Zoho Payroll can now calculate the gratuity accrued during each pay run and records it as journal entries in Zoho Books. Organizations can select the gratuity expense and liability accounts to be used, and Zoho Payroll posts the accrual after every approved pay run. This helps organizations stay better prepared for end-of-service settlements instead of treating gratuity only as an exit-time calculation.




Approve loans with gratuity-based eligibility  (GCC)

Zoho Payroll now shows an employee’s eligible loan amount while creating a loan. The amount is calculated based on the employee’s accrued gratuity, after considering any outstanding or already approved loans. This gives admins better context before approving a loan request and helps them understand how much the employee is eligible to borrow.



View a clearer audit trail  (GCC)

Payroll and employee records can change over time. When they do, teams need a clear way to understand what changed. Zoho Payroll now lets admins view different versions of an activity log and compare them. Admins can select two versions and see what was added, modified, or removed. This gives payroll teams better visibility into important updates and makes change review easier.




Use Arabic across payroll and employee documents  (GCC)

Zoho Payroll and the Employee Portal are now available in Arabic. Admins can use Zoho Payroll in Arabic or English, and they can set a preferred language for each employee. Payslips and salary letters can also be generated and sent in both English and Arabic. This helps employees receive important payroll documents in a language format that is easier to read and understand. For GCC organizations with Arabic-speaking admins and employees, this makes the payroll experience more accessible and better suited to daily use.

Import unpaid leaves for gratuity calculation (GCC)

Zoho Payroll now lets admins import unpaid leave details for gratuity-eligible employees while processing a bulk final settlement pay run. During import, admins can map the unpaid leave field, and Zoho Payroll uses those details for gratuity calculation. This helps teams process final settlements in bulk with the leave data needed for gratuity calculations.

Calculate One-Time Deductions based on Custom Formula (IN, GCC)

Custom formulas for salary components already let you calculate earnings using variables. You can build formulas that reference specific components and functions to arrive at the right payout. This is now available for one-time deductions as well, giving you the same flexibility on the deductions side as you have for earnings.
 
To set this up, go to Settings > Salary Components, add a new deduction, set the deduction frequency to One-time, and select Custom Formula as the calculation type.

Info
If you want to try this feature, write to us at support@zohopayroll.com and we'll enable it for you right away.





Import previous salary revision history (India, GCC)

Zoho Payroll now lets admins import previous salary revision history in early access. Admins can choose the year from which they want to import salary history, upload revision details, and maintain a more complete salary record in each employee’s profile. This is useful for organizations that are moving historical payroll data into Zoho Payroll and want employee salary records to include past changes.




Give employees quicker payroll answers with Ask Zia, your AI assistant  (India, US)

Employees often contact HR or payroll teams for routine questions about payslips, leave balances, or other information already available in the Employee Portal.
Ask Zia is Zoho's AI assistant, now available in the Employee Portal. Employees can ask payroll-related questions in plain language and get quick answers based on the information available to them, without having to wait for a response from HR or payroll teams.


Review negative net pay before approving payroll  (India)

Negative net pay needs careful review because it may involve deductions, adjustments, or other pay run changes that exceed an employee’s earnings for the period. Zoho Payroll now gives admins a consent step before approving regular pay runs that include employees with negative net pay. Zoho Payroll lists the affected employees and lets admins review and acknowledge their pay details before approval. This helps admins proceed with pay runs only after reviewing cases that need extra attention.

Approve eligible direct deposit pay runs closer to payday  (US)

If you miss the original approval deadline for an eligible direct deposit pay run, Zoho Payroll will show the available options in the Pending Tasks banner. You can purchase the Next Day Processing Addon to approve the pay run just one business day before the pay date, or switch employees to check payments based on the processing window.  This helps you process payroll at the last minute and pay employees on time without changing the pay date.


Customize semi-monthly pay periods (US)

Not every organization that pays twice a month follows the standard 1–15 and 16–end-of-month cycle. Zoho Payroll now lets US organizations customize semi-monthly pay periods. Admins can choose the start date of the first pay period, and Zoho Payroll automatically calculates the remaining pay period dates. This helps pay schedules match the organization’s actual payroll cycle instead of forcing teams into a standard date structure.



Edit overtime and double time hours during pay runs (US)

Payroll teams sometimes need to correct overtime or double time hours before finalizing payroll. Zoho Payroll now lets admins edit an employee’s overtime and double time hours while processing a pay run. Admins can open the employee’s payroll details in the pay run and override the hours when needed. This helps teams make corrections inside the pay run flow before payroll is finalized.


View detailed employee pay summaries (US)

The detailed Employee Pay Summary report gives admins a pay-period-wise breakdown of each employee’s payroll data. It includes earnings, benefits, time off, taxes, deductions, and net pay.
This makes employee pay details easier to review, explain, and verify across payroll cycles.


Download pay stubs in bulk  (US, CA)

Zoho Payroll now lets admins download pay stubs for multiple employees at once from the Pay Run page. Admins can choose employees based on their portal status, generate the pay stubs, and download them once they are ready. This makes payroll document handling faster for teams that need to access many pay stub records after a pay run.

Other Enhancements

  1. Employees can now download recent payslips through the WhatsApp Payroll Bot. Payslips are shared as password-protected PDF files with a password hint. (India, GCC)
  2. Organizations can now create scheduled earnings with a biennial frequency. This helps automate earnings that are paid once every two years. (India, GCC)
  3. Organizations can now connect Zoho Payroll with Zoho Practice to collaborate with your accountant or practice team directly from Zoho Payroll. Once connected, a dedicated My Accountant tab will be available to manage client requests and continue payroll-related discussions in one place. (India, GCC)
  4. Organizations can now process off-cycle payroll for employees with an annual pay period. (US)
  5. Admins can now select applicable tax exemptions for employees directly in Zoho Payroll. If employees claim exemptions while completing authorization in the Employee Portal, their selections are synced automatically. (US)

That's a wrap for now! We are always eager to hear your suggestions so we can help you do payroll better. Feel free to share them in the comments below. If you need any assistance, please write to us at support@zohopayroll.com, and we'll help you. Stay tuned for more updates from Zoho Payroll.

With a shared purpose,
The Zoho Payroll Team

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