Using Zoho in Canada

Where your data is hosted

Zoho operates data centres in Toronto and Montréal, and accounts created for Canada are served from a Canadian domain. For companies that deal with the public sector, health or finance, this often answers the first question a client or an auditor asks.

The region is chosen when the account is created and is hard to change afterwards. If your company opened its account years ago, it may sit in the United States. Check the address you sign in to. Moving an existing account to the Canadian region is possible but it is a project that Zoho must carry out with you.

Privacy law: PIPEDA, Law 25 and CASL

Canadian companies answer to PIPEDA at the federal level and, in Québec, to Law 25. Hosting in Canada helps but it is not compliance by itself. You still need a privacy officer, a record of what personal information you hold and why, consent where required and a process for access and deletion requests.

Zoho gives you the tools: field-level permissions, audit logs, encryption of sensitive fields, consent tracking in Zoho CRM and data export and deletion. Someone has to configure them.

For email marketing, CASL requires consent, identification of the sender and a working unsubscribe link. Zoho Campaigns handles the unsubscribe and keeps consent records. Importing a purchased list remains against the law, whatever the tool.

Sales tax, invoicing and payroll

The Canadian edition of Zoho Books handles GST, HST, provincial sales taxes and QST, with tax rates by province and the reports your accountant needs for returns. Set the edition to Canada when you create the organization, because it cannot be changed later.

Payments from customers can go through gateways that operate in Canada. Check which gateways are offered in your edition and whether they pay out to your bank.

Zoho Payroll has a Canadian edition, in English and in French, that posts its entries to Zoho Books. Confirm that it covers your province and the filings you need. If it does not, run payroll in another Canadian tool and post the entries to Zoho Books.

Rather have a specialist do it? Talk to TECHMA

French and Québec requirements

Zoho's main apps are available in French, and each user chooses their own language. That matters in Québec, where employees have the right to work in French. Test the apps you plan to use, since translation quality varies from one app to another and some newer features appear in English first.

What your customers see must be in French too: email templates, quotes, invoices, the customer portal, forms and chat messages. These are your own content, so they are translated by you, once, during setup.

What to check before you sign

• The data region shown at sign-up, and the domain you will sign in to.
• The edition of Zoho Books, set to Canada.
• Telephony: which phone providers that integrate with Zoho serve Canadian numbers.
• Payroll coverage for your province.
• The French version of each app your team will use every day.

Getting help in Canada

Zoho has an office and support for Canada, and a network of partners across the country. A partner sets up the apps around your process, moves your data, trains your team and stays available afterwards.

TECHMA, which publishes this site, is based in Québec and works with companies across Canada in French and in English.

Questions people ask

Guides for the apps on this page

• Zoho CRMSales CRMRead the guide
• Zoho BooksAccountingRead the guide
• Zoho CampaignsEmail marketingRead the guide
• Zoho OneBusiness suiteRead the guide

Keep reading

• Zoho in the United StatesZoho by countryRead
• Zoho in FranceZoho by countryRead
• Zoho in BeninZoho by countryRead