Zoho Payroll Tailored for Saudi Compliance, Supports Vision 2030

Zoho has launched a localized version of its Payroll solution specifically designed to meet the intricate labor law requirements of Saudi Arabia, including full compliance with WPS and GOSI regulations. Prashant Ganti, VP – Global Product Strategy, Finance and Operations BU at Zoho, details how this new offering streamlines payroll processes, ensures adherence to local laws, and aligns with the Kingdom’s digital transformation objectives

How does Zoho Payroll ensure compliance with Saudi labor laws, including WPS and GOSI regulations?
Zoho Payroll ensures full compliance with Saudi labour laws by helping businesses calculate manage GOSI contributions accurately, and automating wage file generation as per WPS regulations to submit to Mudad. Moreover, businesses that employ other GCC nationals, can easily manage monthly contributions to social security schemes including GPSSA (UAE), SPF (Oman), PIFSS (Kuwait), GRSIA (Qatar). The end of service benefits or gratuity can also be calculated automatically based on the type of contract, years of service, and the reason for termination. Overall, the system is built to reduce any risk of non -compliance drastically, removing a major administrative burden for HR and finance teams.

What measures are in place to adapt to future changes in Saudi labor and data protection laws (PDPL)?
We at Zoho, always take a proactive approach to compliance whether it is with labour laws like WPS or data protection laws such as PDPL. We closely monitor all regulations to ensure that updates made to laws are automatically included in our solutions without causing any disruptions to our users.

We also maintain strong data privacy and governance practices with end-to-end encryption, role-based access, and regular audits. Since with our own data centres in Saudi Arabia, we can rapidly implement changes to meet regulatory requirements without relying on third parties.

How does storing data locally in Saudi Arabia align with Vision 2030’s digital transformation goals?
By storing data locally in Saudi Arabia, we are supporting Vision 2030’s digital transformation goals by ensuring data sovereignty and offering regulatory compliance, which ultimately builds trust among local businesses. Our solutions align with PDPL requirements which strengthens Kingodm’s digital infrastructure, contributing to Vision 2030’s aim of creating a tech-driven and thriving economy.

How is this version different from the one launched for the UAE market?
Each edition of our product is built to comply with regulations and follow statutory processes to provide a solution that is tailored to meet the exact requirements of local businesses. The Saudi edition is specifically built to meet the local labor law requirements like GOSI contributions, WPS wage file generation, and monthly contributions to social security schemes for other GCC nationals. Since the WPS regulations also applies to the UAE market, businesses can automatically generate wage files in the required format.

In the UAE edition, businesses can handle contributions to General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) and the Abu Dhabi Retirement Pensions and Benefits Fund (ADRPBF), DIFC Employee Workplace Savings and DEWS scheme. These are mandatory for UAE nationals and apply differently depending on the emirate. With both editions, businesses can customise key components like salary structure, pay schedule, payslips, email notifications, and alerts.

Can you explain how the automatic wage file generation for WPS works and its benefits for businesses?
Once the salary disbursements is done, the system automatically generates the wage file in the exact format mandated by Mudad, which includes all the necessary details like employee IDs, salaries, and bank account numbers. This removes the risk of errors and non-compliance, which can be costly for businesses causing significant financial strain.

How does Zoho Payroll simplify GOSI and SANED contributions for both Saudi and non-Saudi workers?
With Zoho Payroll, businesses can automatically calculate GOSI and SANED contributions based on the employee’s nationality and salary levels. The system ensures monthly deductions for both employers and employees; 9% for GOSI (both), 2% for occupational hazards (employers only), and 0.75% for SANED (both).

Additionally, the GOSI contribution rates for Saudi nationals hired on or after July 3, 2024 will increase every year by 0.5% starting from July, 2025 reaching 11% by 2028. These complexities are automatically handled in Zoho Payroll, removing the challenges in compliance for businesses.

Businesses can also configure settings to calculate contributions on a pro-rata basis and choose to postpone the contributions due to salary revisions to the next year. It also offers visibility into salary components used for GOSI calculations.

What customization options are available for businesses in salary structures and pay schedules?
Zoho Payroll offers businesses the ability to fully customise salary structures with flexible components like fixed or variable pay, bonuses, deductions, and benefits that can be completely tailored to their policies. Employers can also fix pay schedules by selecting the frequency, pay dates, and if the salaries are calculated on actual or fixed monthly days. Based on these configurations, the system will automatically process payroll, which ensures timeliness and accuracy.

How does Zoho Payroll integrate with other Zoho products like Zoho Books, Expense, and People?
For processing every payrun, businesses must fetch relevant employee data like leave, attendance, loss of pay, and reimbursements. Typically, with other systems, businesses end up with data mismatch while syncing employee information from other systems, which leads to processing errors and inaccuracies. Zoho Payroll is built to address these exact challenges, offering a modern, tightly integrated, and automated approach to payroll processing.

Zoho Payroll offers pre-built integration with Zoho Books (ZATCA-approved accounting software) for automating accounting entries, Zoho Expense (travel and expense management software) for employee expense reimbursements, and Zoho People (HR management software) for employee details and leave data. The application is also integrated with Zoho Practice, practice management software for accountants, where the accountants can view their client’s pending payruns, unapproved revisions, and payments. These seamless integrations offer contextual and automatic data transfer between systems, improving payroll accuracy.

How does Zoho’s “transnational localism” strategy apply to this payroll solution?
Zoho Payroll’s Saudi edition was developed to align with GOSI, SANED and WPS regulations with Arabic language support, and data storage in Saudi-based data centres. Moreover, we offer local product support and have an extensive partner ecosystem to help businesses with the implementation and customisations. This offers businesses in the country a native solution that has the reliability and scalability of a global platform.

What’s next for Zoho’s financial and HR solutions in the MENA region?
Zoho’s finance and operations platform offers solutions such as Zoho Books, Zoho Billing, Zoho Expense, Zoho Inventory, Zoho Commerce, and Zoho Practice with localised editions for key markets in the MENA region such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, South Africa, and Kenya. As part of the platform, Zoho Payroll currently provides Saudi and UAE editions tailored to meet local labour laws. We are planning to expand further in the MENA region by launching more country-specific editions that offer end-to-end tax, e-invoicing, and payroll compliance.