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How does Zoho Books Integration Work?

Learn how your payroll is synced to Zoho Books

O
Written by Oguzhan Yay
Updated today

Overview

This article explains how RemotePass automatically syncs payroll data into Zoho Books, grouped by operation type and worker classification.

How RemotePass Syncs Payroll to Zoho Books

RemotePass automates the flow of payroll data to your accounting tool through two primary channels:

1. Worker Sync (Vendor Creation)

  • When a new worker is added on RemotePass, a corresponding vendor is created in Zoho Books. If a matching vendor exists, you may map it instead.

  • Auto-sync option: If enabled, vendor creation/mapping occurs automatically upon worker creation.

2. Invoice Sync (Bills)

  • Applicable for all contractor payments and EOR payroll.

  • Each payment generates invoices, and a matching bills are posted in Zoho Books under each vendor, line-by-line mapped to your selected GL accounts.

Sync Type

Applies To (Worker Type)

Accounting Output

Vendor Sync

Contractors, EOR

New or mapped vendor created in Zoho Books

Invoice Sync

Contractors, EOR

Payroll invoices inserted as bills

RemotePass supports granular auto-sync options. You may enable or disable each sync type individually, any time.

Summary: Worker Types & Their Accounting Representation

Worker Type

Vendor

Invoices (under Bills)

Contractors (Fixed, Milestone, PAYG)

Per Worker

Employer of Record (EOR)

RemotePassEOR*

RemotePass Platform and Transaction Fees

RemotePass

* All EOR workers are mapped to RemotePassEOR vendor and per completed payment a single invoice is generated including all EOR worker line items.

How GL Account Mapping works?

Each line item in an invoice is tagged with a default RemotePass payment category, and each category must be mapped to a GL account in your accounting system. RemotePass payment categories are as follows:

  • Salary Payments

  • Adjustments (Bonus, Commission, VAT, Other)

  • Expenses (Airfare, Car rental, Event, Entertainment, Fuel, Transport, Internet, Lodging, Meals, Parking, Phone, Services, Supplies, Taxi, Other)

  • Other Fees (Transaction Fee, Service Fee, Withdrawal Fee)

1. Global GL Mapping

During setup, you must complete the global category-to-GL account mapping. This global configuration is:

  • Mandatory to enable invoice sync

  • Applied by default to all workers by default

  • Editable at any time (affects only future invoices)

2. Per-Worker Custom Mapping

Optionally, RemotePass allows you to override global mappings for specific workers to customize the mapping in a granular way.

  • Navigate to the worker mapping screen and click Customize

  • Assign unique GL accounts of your choice to any or all of the expense categories for that worker and save.

  • If custom mapping is enabled for a worker, global mappings will not apply to that worker’s invoices.

  • As all EOR workers are grouped under a single vendor (RemotePassEOR), GL account customization will be applied uniformly to all of them.

How RemotePass syncs invoices?

RemotePass generates invoices for Contractors (Fixed, Milestone, PAYG) and EOR workers after each payroll event.

  • Once the payment status transforms to PAID

  • These invoices are automatically inserted into your Zoho Books account as bills,

  • Under Awaiting Payment status,

  • With each line item mapped to a specific GL account based on you configuration.

Example: Synced Invoices

For the transaction statement shared below, following invoices are created.
(Click to expand)

BT123456 - Sample Transaction Statement

Line Item Description

Amount

Contractor A - Salary June

€5,000

Contractor A - Salary July

€5,000

Contractor A - Withdrawal Fee

€18

Contractor A - Expense

€43

Contractor A - Addition

€250

Contractor B Salary

$12,000

Contractor B Expense

$123.00

EOR Employee X Salary

£15,000

EOR Employee X Bonus

£1,000

EOR Employee Y Salary

£16,000

EOR Employee Z Salary

£14,000

EOR Employee Z Expense

£118

Contractor A Subscription Fee

$100

Contractor B Subscription Fee

$50

EOR Employee X Subscription Fee

$200

EOR Employee Y Subscription Fee

$200

EOR Employee Z Subscription Fee

$200

Direct Employee K - Subscription Fee

$200

Direct Employee L - Subscription Fee

$100

Transaction Fee

$5

Invoice 1

Billed to Contractor A Vendor

Contractor A - Salary June

€5,000

Contractor A - Salary July

€5,000

Contractor A - Withdrawal Fee

€18.00

Contractor A - Expense

€43.00

Contractor A - Addition

€250.00

Total

€10,311

Invoice 2

Billed to Contractor B Vendor

Contractor B Salary

$12,000

Contractor B Expense

$123

Total

$12,123

Invoice 3

Billed to RemotePassEOR Vendor

EOR Employee X Salary

£15,000

EOR Employee X Bonus

£1,000

EOR Employee Y Salary

£16,000

EOR Employee Z Salary

£14,000

EOR Employee Z Expense

£118

Total

£46,118

Invoice 4

Billed to RemotePass Vendor

Contractor A Subscription Fee

$100

Contractor B Subscription Fee

$50

EOR Employee X Subscription Fee

$200

EOR Employee Y Subscription Fee

$200

EOR Employee Z Subscription Fee

$200

Total

$750

Invoice 5

Billed to RemotePass Vendor

Transaction Fee

$5

Total

$5

Changes to Mapping

  • Updating GL mappings (global or per worker) only affects future invoices

  • Past invoices are not retroactively updated

  • If a required GL account is missing during sync, the invoice will fail with an error

Common Errors

Invoice sync errors are displayed at the invoice level as "Failed" status with a description. Most common reasons and explanations are listed below:

Cause

Message Behavior

Missing GL account

GL account is not set for one of the line item categories inside the invoice

Vendor not found

Vendor mapping must be fixed to proceed

Currency error

When there is a bill different than a currency exists in Zoho Books account or multi-currency is not enabled

Zoho Books specific errors

Shown as received from Zoho Books directly

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