How to migrate from Zoho Payroll to VetanBandhu

Zoho Payroll is a popular starting point for Indian small businesses. If you have outgrown the free tier, need tighter statutory control or want flat monthly pricing, you can move to VetanBandhu. This guide explains the exact export path, the column names you will see, what carries across, what does not, and how to handle the switch month.

Export path in Zoho Payroll

1. Go to Reports > Employee Reports > Employee Directory.
2. Click Export as CSV and choose the columns listed below.
3. Go to Payroll > Salary Details and export the salary template for each employee.
4. Go to Payroll > Reports > Pay Register, select the current financial year, and export month by month as CSV.
5. Download IT Declarations, Reimbursement Claims and statutory challans for cross-checking.
6. Keep PDFs of payslips for the current financial year as a backup.

Typical Zoho Payroll export columns

| Group | Common column names | |---|---| | Employee code | Employee ID, Employee Number | | Name | Employee Name, Full Name | | Email | Email Address, Work Email | | Date of joining | Date of Joining, DOJ | | Date of birth | Date of Birth, DOB | | Gender | Gender | | PAN | PAN | | UAN | UAN | | ESI number | ESI Number, ESIC IP Number | | Bank account | Bank Account Number, Account Number | | Bank IFSC | IFSC Code, Bank IFSC | | Bank name | Bank Name | | Work location / state | Work Location, State, Location | | Department | Department | | Designation | Designation, Job Title | | Earnings | Basic, HRA, Special Allowance, Conveyance, LTA | | Deductions | Employee PF, Employee ESI, Professional Tax, TDS, Loan | | Employer contributions | Employer PF, Employer ESI, LWF | | Net pay | Net Pay, Take Home |

What carries across to VetanBandhu

• Employee master — name, joining date, date of birth, gender, PAN, UAN, ESI number, bank account, IFSC, bank name, work state, department and designation.
• Salary structure — fixed earnings such as Basic, HRA, Special Allowance, Conveyance and LTA become the components in VetanBandhu.
• Deductions and employer contributions — employee PF, employee ESI, professional tax, TDS and employer PF/ESI/LWF are imported as YTD rows or set on the structure.
• IT declarations — section 80C, 80D, 80CCD(1B), HRA rent and other exemptions can be re-entered or imported.
• Leave balances — opening leave balances for the current year can be imported so leave-based salary adjustments work.

What does not carry across

• Historical payslip PDFs — these stay in Zoho Payroll. You can store them as backup but they are not imported as documents.
• Approval workflows and leave policies — custom Zoho approval chains are not migrated. Set VetanBandhu leave types and balances instead.
• Reimbursement claims — one-off claims are not part of the payroll import. Add them as ad-hoc earnings or deductions in the first run.
• Zoho user roles and permissions — admin and viewer access must be re-created through VetanBandhu memberships.
• Recruitment and performance data — Zoho People or other modules are outside scope.
• Custom Zoho formulas — VetanBandhu applies its own statutory formulas, so manual overrides must be reviewed.

YTD implications of the switch month

VetanBandhu needs year-to-date totals from the start of the financial year, usually April, up to the month before the switch. If you move in January 2027, import the April 2026 to December 2026 pay register.

• Backfill every month. One row per employee per month with gross, Basic, HRA, Special Allowance, each deduction, employer contributions and net pay.
• TDS continuity. The TDS already deducted in Zoho Payroll is used to compute the remaining tax for the year. If an employee joined after April, only the months from the date of joining count.
• Partial-year TDS. Ask employees for Form 12B from their previous employer if they joined mid-year. This prevents double tax or short deduction.
• PF and ESI. Import cumulative PF wages and ESI wages so ECR and ESI returns from the switch month onwards tie up with the year-to-date.
• PT and LWF. State-wise PT and LWF already deducted are imported per month so the next return is correct.

Cutover and go-live steps

1. Run the final payroll in Zoho Payroll and lock the period.
2. Download all reports and payslip PDFs.
3. Create your organisation in VetanBandhu and configure PF, ESI, PT and TDS rules.
4. Import the employee master and salary structures.
5. Upload the YTD worksheet and leave balances.
6. Run a parallel payroll, compare payslips and statutory numbers, then go live.
7. Keep Zoho Payroll in read-only mode for the rest of the financial year.

Ready to move?

If you are comparing the two products first, read VetanBandhu vs Zoho Payroll. If you already have your CSVs ready, start the import from Dashboard > Employees > Import.