Zoho Payroll is a feature-rich, cloud-based payroll management solution designed for businesses of all sizes. As part of Zoho‘s extensive suite of business apps, it aims to simplify and automate payroll and comply with complex tax laws.
In this in-depth guide, we‘ll explore Zoho Payroll‘s main capabilities, benefits for different users, pricing, competitors, and more to help you determine if it‘s the right fit for your business.
A Brief Background on Zoho Payroll
Zoho is a leading provider of cloud software for businesses, covering everything from CRM to analytics to IT management. The company was founded in 1996 and now serves over 75 million users worldwide.
Zoho Payroll itself launched in 2009. It‘s natively integrated with Zoho‘s accounting platform, Zoho Books, allowing for unified financial operations. The payroll tool is designed to handle complex pay structures, taxes, deductions, reporting and more.
Key capabilities include:
- Employees management
- Payroll processing
- Payroll accounting
- Tax management
- Payroll reporting
- Administration controls
These comprehensive features aim to save finance teams time while ensuring accuracy and compliance. Next let‘s explore some of Zoho Payroll‘s modules in more detail.
Key Features and Modules
Employees Management
Zoho Payroll makes it simple to onboard new employees and offboard exiting ones. HR data can be imported from services like Zoho Recruit and Zoho People. Helpful employee management features include:
- Paperless onboarding
- Ability to import employee payroll history
- Offboarding and exit workflows
- Organization into locations/departments
- Customizable roles and permissions
Payroll Processing
At its core, Zoho Payroll handles everything you need for payroll calculations, payments, filings and documentation. Capabilities here include:
- Payroll calculation engine
- Scheduled pay runs
- Range of pay types and rates
- Payroll preview/review
- Direct deposit payments
- Auto tax payments
- Payslip generation
It‘s designed to save finance teams hours typically spent on manual payroll tasks month-to-month.
Payroll Benefits & Accounting
You can define and manage employee benefits packages directly in Zoho Payroll. It connects with Zoho Books for automated general ledger entries as well. Benefits include:
- Custom packages with health insurance, retirement plans, etc
- Taxable benefits configurations
- Encahsing leave balances
- Connectivity to Zoho Books
- General ledger mappings
Taxes and Forms
Zoho Payroll helps businesses stay compliant with changing tax laws and forms. It currently supports federal tax and local regulations across 9+ US states.
- Automated federal/state tax calculations
- Access required payroll forms
- Tax liability reporting
- Scheduled liabilities payment
- W2 generation
Payroll Reporting & Analytics
In-depth payroll analytics help provide business insights and optimize costs. Zoho Payroll reporting allows finance teams to:
- Track expense categories like salaries, taxes, benefits
- Segment data by department, location, pay period
- Export to business intelligence tools
- Monitor compliance metrics
- Analyze overtime, leave balances and more
Administration & Security
Finally, Zoho Payroll provides capabilities to control access and permissions around payroll data. As a business scales, it makes it easy to manage what users can view/edit.
- Role-based access control
- Management of locations
- Audit logging
- Data access rules
- Range of permissions options
Next let‘s explore the specific benefits Zoho Payroll can offer for employees, startups and small businesses.
Benefits for Employees, Startups and Small Businesses
For Employees
Zoho Payroll aims to create a positive and hassle-free payroll experience for employees. Benefits include:
- Accurate and timely payments
- Direct deposits
- Access to pay slips/tax documents
- Tax compliance assistance
- Pay details self-service portal
- Mobile app for on-the-go access
By automating payroll processes, it ensures employees get paid reliably and have transparency into earnings/deductions.
For Startups
For fast-growing startups, Zoho Payroll can eliminate time spent on manual payroll tasks. Benefits tailored to startups include:
- Handles payroll as you scale your team
- Automates compliance as you expand to new states
- Roles-based access control
- Employee self-service portal
- Time savings that allow focus on core business
- Pay-as-you-go pricing model
Startups can leverage Zoho Payroll to support growth without needlessly increasing accounting headcount.
For Small Businesses
Zoho Payroll is built to serve the needs of small businessfinance teams with features like:
- Integration with Zoho Books
- In-depth payroll reporting
- Support for hourly/contract workers
- Tax penalty protection
- Mobile app for SMB owners
- Intuitive workflows and UIs
Inexpensive plans and small business features make Zoho Payroll accessible for SMBs looking to manage payroll in-house.
Zoho Payroll Mobile Apps
Zoho Payroll offers mobile apps for both iOS and Android to complement its web interface.
Key highlights of the mobile apps include:
- Employee app for accessing payslips, tax forms etc
- Manager app for approving leaves, time sheets
- Push notifications for pay run alerts
- Support for reporting and analytics
- Punch in/out for hourly attendance
- Accessible payroll data on-the-go
Mobile functionality allows employees and managers alike to handle tasks via smartphone as needed.
How Zoho Payroll Compares to Alternatives
Zoho Payroll competes most closely with other cloud payroll solutions like OnPay, Rippling, Patriot Software and Gusto. Here‘s a brief overview of how some competitors compare:
OnPay – Geared for small business payrolls. Slightly cheaper but less feature-rich than Zoho Payroll.
Rippling – Modern payroll and HR suite. More expensive but great for unified HR/payroll.
Patriot Software – Accounting and payroll software. Affordable but mostly targets small businesses.
Gusto – Focused specifically on payroll, benefits and compliance. Easy to use but more limited functionality.
Zoho Payroll strikes a nice balance between affordable pricing and extensive capabilities for mid-sized companies. It brings together payroll processing, accounting, analytics and compliance in a singular integrated suite.
For large enterprises, Zoho may not provide the scale or customization needed. But for small to medium businesses it hits a sweet spot of being full-featured yet easy-to-use.
Pricing and Plans
Zoho Payroll offers flexible, subscription-based pricing tiers suitable for teams of all sizes:
Basic
- $25/month base
- $4 per employee
Standard
- $40/month base
- $4 per employee
- Multi-state support
- Advanced reporting
Professional
- $60/month base
- $4 per employee
- API access
- Customization
Custom quotes are also available for larger or complex organizational needs.
When compared to other leading payroll softwares, Zoho Payroll lands at a relatively affordable mid-tier price point while still offering advanced capabilities.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Zoho Payroll stands out as a comprehensive yet affordable payroll and HR management platform suitable for many growing businesses.
Some key advantages to highlight:
- Robust feature set for the price
- Tight integration between modules
- Scales to support company growth
- Helps minimize compliance risks
- Flexible plans to suit different needs
Of course, explore if competitor products like Gusto or Rippling better fit your budget or needs. But for most small to medium sized companies, Zoho Payroll is definitely worth considering to automate and simplify payroll and HR workflows.
Their free trial lets you test it hands-on. Overall Zoho Payroll earns strong marks for its combination of usability, sophistication and value across integrated payroll and workforce management tools.
