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

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • 【Zoholics Japan 2026】ITreview 口コミ投稿キャンペーンを実施します！

        ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは！ 2026年9月25日（金）開催の「Zoholics Japan 2026」会場にて、 Zoho CRM・Zoho Workplace・Zoho Mail を対象とした「ITreview 口コミ投稿キャンペーン」を実施します！ Zoholics にご来場いただく皆さま、ぜひこの機会に普段お使いの Zoho 製品について、率直なご感想をお聞かせください。 【キャンペーン内容】 対象製品： ・Zoho CRM ・Zoho Workplace ・Zoho Mail キャンペーン実施時間：

      • Contact removed when picking ticket template.

        hi new to Desk rolling out to company, replacing Freshdesk. Is there way to keep the in context contact when selecting a template? When you choose a template you lose the contact!

      • Using IMAP configuration for shared email inboxes

        Our customer service team utilizes shared email boxes to allow multiple people to view and handle incoming customer requests. For example, the customer sends an email to info@xxxx.com and multiple people can view it and handle the request. How can I configure

      • Global Sets for Multi-Select pick lists

        When is this feature coming to Zoho CRM? It would be very useful now we have got used to having it for the normal pick lists.

      • Bank Transaction Rules Link Under Each Bank Account

        Hello, can you'll move the "transaction rules" button or link back under each bank account? It is now on Bank Overview, if I am working on a specific bank account, I don't want to go out to overview to check the rules. That button displays rules for all

      • Nested notebooks

        Dear Sir/Madam, I would like to know if it is possible to nest notebooks. It would be very helpful when there are too many, as it would improve organization. Thank you for your response. Best regards.

      • Zia Agents looks promising, but I still cannot deploy my first agent or connect WhatsApp after weeks of support tickets

        Hi Everyone, I am posting here because I am stuck and need practical help from someone who has successfully deployed a Zia Agent with WhatsApp. Zia Agents looks like a very promising product. I have watched the platform expand quickly, and I have noticed

      • Zoho CRM

        Cuándo voy a adjuntar un archivo .pdf en un registro en el campo Archivo obtengo el siguiente error:

      • Implement Meeting Polls in Zoho Bookings

        Dear Zoho Bookings Support Team, We'd like to propose a feature enhancement related to appointment scheduling within Zoho Bookings. Current Functionality: Zoho Bookings excels at streamlining individual appointment scheduling. Users can set availability

      • Recording Salaries and wages in zoho books with bank fees

        Hello Community, I am posting this questions to understand the best way to record the salary and payroll expenses in zoho books. The way it works here, For example if I have 3 employees and each employee salary is lets say $1000. I usually use the bank

      • API - Available Stock Definitions

        Okay, Zoho team... your copywriters fell down on the job for this one :) I think these warrant a bit more explanation as to what they include and what they don't.

      • [BUG] WebTabs in ZohoCRM now have a spurious "\" displayed along with some additional HTML Head code included

        An example of the issue can be seen below:

      • CNIL - Suivi de Pixel

        Bonjour à tous, À la suite de la nouvelle recommandation de la CNIL sur les pixels de suivi dans les e-mails, savez-vous si Zoho Campaigns permet : de conditionner le suivi des ouvertures au consentement de chaque contact ; de proposer un lien permettant

      • Scheduled import

        The tutorial shows a scheduled import option but this option doesn't appear to be available when using Zoho DB.

      • #4 Choosing How My Invoice Should Look

        Day 4: Meera had the basics sorted. Her business name was there, the address looked right, and her logo finally appeared where it should. But the invoice still did not quite look like hers. Her old studio used invoices that were clean, tightly laid out,

      • Transaction rules for "Owner's Contribution" ?

        I have a bank account where a lot of the deposits are "Owner's Contributions" (i.e., the business owner investing money in the company). Is it possible to create a Transaction Rule to automatically recognize these? They all have the same verbiage from

      • DYK 12: Turn Email into Work Items

        Did you know you can add work items to your Zoho Projects portal directly from your inbox? The initial step of important collaborations start over an email, and most of these require an immediate follow-up by creating a task, or reporting an issue. During

      • Custom Function not getting package details when triggered from Workflow Rules.

        I have a custom function for Packages that submits a form in our Creator app that we use to generate custom shipping labels (internal staff complete deliveries so we cannot generate shipping labels straight from Inventory). When the function is executed

      • how to Solve Conflict Invoices in Zoho POS

        Hello Team, I am facing a repeated issue in Zoho POS while saving a sale that contains service-based items. My products are intentionally created as Service (Non-Inventory) items because I do not want to track stock for them. However, every time I try

      • ¿Cuándo estará disponible la edición de Zoho POS para México?

        He estado revisando las capacidades de Zoho POS y su evolución dentro de la estrategia de Zoho for Retail, y me parece que existe una oportunidad muy interesante para el mercado mexicano. Zoho POS ya ofrece funcionalidades para gestionar ventas, inventario,

      • Important update for Zoho RPA Windows Agent users

        Hi everyone, We would like to share an important update for Zoho RPA Windows Agent users running Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019. The new Zoho RPA Windows Agent 6.0.0 and later versions are not supported on Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server

      • Multi-Option Estimates: One Estimate, Multiple Choices

        Every service request can have multiple solutions. Multi-Option Estimates help you present these different solutions in a single estimate with its own name, parts, price, and total. Each option can differ in scope, approach, or price — whatever choices

      • Marketing Tip #32: Improve SEO and customer confidence with an FAQ section

        Before making a purchase, customers often have simple questions about delivery times, returns, product usage, or sizing. If they can’t quickly find answers, they may leave your store without buying. Adding a clear FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section

      • ZOHO Campaigns in ZOHO Analytics - Campaigns vs Contacts Table

        There seems to be information in the Zoho Campaigns table such as Unique Opens and Unique Clicks that can't be found in the Campaigns vs Contacts table where only Opens and Clicks are shown on a per contact level. Is there a way to bring Unique Opens

      • How to change an employee mail id

        Hi, Does the administrator have the rights to edit an  employees mail id. 

      • Cousin Domain Verification in Zoho Mail: Identify and block look-alike domains

        Phishing attacks often rely on domain names that closely resemble legitimate ones. This makes it difficult for users to identify fraudulent emails at first glance. Zoho Mail's Cousin Domain Verification feature allows administrators to define trusted

      • How do I add 2 agents under the same email?

        I have 2 agents who use the same email address. I added one, but when adding the second agent, it says that the email is already registered. How do I configure this properly?

      • Zoho Desk API modifiedTimeRange returns HTTP 500 around 2026-03-08T02:00:00.000Z

        Hello Zoho Support Team, We are experiencing a reproducible HTTP 500 Internal Server Error when querying the Zoho Desk API search endpoint with a specific modifiedTimeRange boundary. ### API Endpoint GET /api/v1/tickets/search ### Reproduction Steps &

      • Updating an Invoice Line Item's Discount Account via API Call / Deluge Custom Function

        I need help updating an invoice line item's discount account via API. Below is a screenshot of the line item field I am referring to. Now the field to the left of the highlighted field (discount account) is the sales income account. I am able to modify

      • Associate project with timer on iPhone

        When I start the timer without first associating a project (on my iPhone), its starts fine but now when I need to associate a project, and click on the link, I get a list of EVERY project I've ever put into Zoho Books. It used to just show active projects.

      • Sales Tax Refund on Commerce Order

        I've looked high and low. Relatively new to ZOHO but not to systems in general. How do we produce a refund for sales tax charged and paid for by a customer in error? This does not impact inventory stock. Simply for accounting and getting the $ back to

      • Importing Chart of Accounts from Quickbooks -- "Debit or Credit"?

        I'm trying to switch from QB to Zoho Books. I've prepped my chart of accounts and put it into the format following the structure of the sample CSV file. But one thing that does not exist at all on the Quickbooks side is the Zoho column for "Debit or Credit".

      • Long term pricing for customers managing multiple organizations

        I've been using Zoho extensively for quite some time and genuinely think it's one of the most powerful and customizable business platforms available. Between Zoho Books and Zoho Analytics, I've invested a significant amount of time building automations,

      • Default Status for Appointments to Completed

        We use Zoho Bookings integrated with Zoho Desk to book time for tech support sessions, we've configured it to only allow for a contact to book a single session to avoid customers overbooking time that may not be needed. The trouble is, once a session

      • Customer User Fields for use in Rules

        Hi, I would like to be able to add custom fields to the users, such as Department or Role, which can then be used in Rules, Reports, etc. as a condition. A use case is limiting Global lists or Choices based on the users Custom Field, so one form can be

      • Add ZeptoMail to Zoho One

        Hi Zoho Team, I would like to request that ZeptoMail be added as a fully included application within Zoho One. Why this is important Zoho One is positioned as a unified business operating system that brings the applications an organization needs under

      • Item image on document

        I know what I am asking may not be possible, but I will ask anyway, maybe I will get lucky, and someone else is doing it. My business is based on special orders only from various online stores. When I send a quote to a client, I generate a separate quote

      • Dashboard Metric Drill-Down Shows Stale Data

        Summary: When clicking between different metric components on a custom dashboard, the drill-down list shows data from the previously opened metric instead of the one just clicked. Steps to Reproduce: Create a custom dashboard with multiple pre-defined/templatized

      • Allow Reauthorizing CRM Connections Without Revoking First

        Currently, when a Zoho CRM connection needs to be reauthorized or authorized with another account, we first have to revoke the existing authorization and then authorize it again. This creates a gap where the connection is unavailable, and any functions,

      • Programmatic Itemized Expenses?

        It does not appear that it is possible to create itemized expenses programmatically (via the API)? Is this correct, or am I misunderstanding the situation?

      • Next Page