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What India-first means for payroll and GST

· 3 min read
The Thoshika team
The Thoshika team
ZPOA

"Built for India" can mean anything from a rupee symbol to a full statutory engine. This post sets out what it means in Thoshika, for payroll in People and for GST and TDS in Books.

Rules as dated data​

Statutory rates change often: a budget changes the tax slabs, a state revises professional tax, a notification changes the labour welfare fund. In Thoshika, rates and slabs are rows in tables with an effective date. When a rate changes, a payroll administrator adds a new version from the date it applies. The previous version closes the day before.

Payslips that were already finalised keep the rates they were calculated with, so earlier months still reconcile with what was paid and filed.

Payroll​

The India country pack covers the financial year 2026-27:

  • Provident fund: employee and employer EPF, EPS and EDLI on PF wages, with the wage ceiling or full wages where opted, and VPF.
  • ESI: coverage by the monthly wage rate, which continues for the rest of the contribution period once it applies.
  • Professional tax and LWF: slabs for each state, decided by where the employee works, including February amounts and half-yearly deductions where a state uses them.
  • Income tax: old and new regimes. Tax is projected for the whole year and re-projected every month, so a bonus, an arrear or a change in declarations is spread over the remaining months rather than landing in one.
  • Wage rules: salary structures warn when basic and DA fall below half of pay, under the Code on Wages, or below the state minimum wage.

The outputs are what payroll teams file and upload: the ECR file, the ESIC contribution file, professional tax and LWF registers, Form 24Q data and Form 16 Part B, and bank transfer files.

One caution we give every customer: always check statutory figures with your tax adviser before filing, especially after a budget or state notification.

GST and TDS in Books​

Books is built around GST registrations. A company can hold one GSTIN per state, each with its own branch and invoice series, and every return is prepared per GSTIN.

  • GST is calculated per line and rounded as the rules require.
  • GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B are prepared from posted documents, with the JSON for upload.
  • GSTR-2B is imported and matched against purchase bills, so you can decide which input credit to claim and which vendors to follow up.
  • E-invoice and e-way bill data are exported for the government portals. The IRN, signed QR code and e-way bill number are imported back and printed on the invoice.
  • TDS is applied by section and threshold on bills and payments, with Form 26Q and 27Q data and Form 16A certificates. TCS is supported where it applies.

Why it matters​

Because payroll and accounts run on the same platform, the payroll journal posts to Books by cost centre, and the PF, ESI, PT and TDS liabilities land in the right ledger accounts. There is no export, import or re-keying between the two.

Read more on our Why Thoshika page, or in the People and Books guides.