Release Notes
Learn what's new in the latest release of HR Blizz
Learn what's new in the latest release of HR Blizz
5. May, 2026
Compliance Country-Specific Employee self service HR Blizz Payroll admin console
The problem it solves: Every year, India payroll teams run the same exhausting cycle. Employees declare investments through emails, spreadsheets, or offline forms. Proofs arrive as scanned attachments or physical documents. Payroll admins reconcile the two manually before TDS finalisation – chasing missing data, decoding inconsistent formats, and answering the same employee queries again and again.
The result is predictable: errors in TDS calculation, audit trails that are hard to defend, and avoidable workload across HR, payroll, and finance.
What we built: A complete, end-to-end India Tax Declaration and Proof Submission Module – built directly into HR Blizz Employee Self-Service and the Payroll Admin Console. Employees declare, upload, and track their tax submissions in one place. Admins configure, audit, and approve from a single dashboard. Every action is logged, transparent, and tied to TDS calculations automatically.
What this means for your team:
How it works – a clear two-phase process: The module replaces the legacy declaration-and-collection cycle with a structured, time-bound workflow that admins control.
Phase 1 – Declaration (typically April): At the start of the financial year, employees declare their planned investments through the ESS portal. No documents are required at this stage – this phase is for planning. Submissions are auto-approved and feed directly into monthly TDS calculations.
Phase 2 – Proof Submission (typically Q4): Later in the year, employees upload supporting documents against each declared investment. Admins review every proof, validate amounts, and approve, reject, or partially approve. The approved figures replace the planned figures and become the basis for final TDS adjustment.
What employees can do
| Capability | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tax Regime Selection | Choose Old or New Regime once per financial year. The system displays a confirmation warning before locking the choice. |
| Structured Declaration Form | Tab-organised form covering HRA, 80C/80CCC/80CCD, 80D, Chapter VI-A, House Property, and Other Income & TDS |
| HRA Copy Data | Enter rent and landlord details forApril and auto-populate all 12 months in one click – no repetitive entry. |
| Document Upload | Upload proofs (PDF, JPG, PNG, up to 50 MB) against individual line itemsduring the proof submission phase. |
| Real-Time Status Tracking | Track every submitted item live – Under Review, Approved, Rejected – with admin remarks visible inside the portal. |
| Save as Draft | Save progress at any point and resume later before final submission |
| Resubmit on Rejection | View the admin’s reason for rejection, correct the document or amount, and resubmit – all without leaving the portal. |
What payroll admins can do
| Capability | Detail |
|---|---|
| Centralised Dashboard | View every employee’s tax regime, declared amount, and submission status in a single screen. |
| Configurable Submission Windows | Set start and end dates for the Declaration Phase and Proof Submission Phase via Settings → Entity Fields. |
| Proof Audit Workflow | Open submissions in Review Mode. Navigate section by section. View uploaded proofs in a side panel and adjust approved amounts where needed. |
| Approve, Reject, or Partially Approve | Each proof has three possible outcomes. Partial approvals require a written reason – visible to the employee. |
| Mandatory Comments on Decisions | Comments accompany every approval and rejection – employees see them instantly inside ESS, reducing back-and-forth. |
| Final Audit Summary | The Final Audit tab consolidates declared vs. approved amounts across all sections – a one-click final approval or rejection. |
| Tax Regime Monitoring | See Old vs. New regime distribution across the workforce. Mid-year regime changes are system-restricted to protect TDS accuracy. |
Tax sections covered
The module supports all major investment and income categories under the Indian Income Tax Act:
Important to know before activation
Audience at a glance
| Role | Primary action |
|---|---|
| Employee | Declare investments, upload proofs, track status, resubmit on rejection |
| Payroll Admin | Configure windows, audit submissions, approve/reject proofs, finalise audit |
| HR Manager | Monitor regime distribution and submission progress across the workforce |
| Finance / Compliance | Review final approved amounts before TDS finalisation; verify audit trail |
Available now for all India ESS clients on the current platform version. Contact your Mercans consultant to confirm storage configuration and activate the module for your environment. 5. May, 2026
HR Blizz Payroll admin console Improvements Update
The problem it solves: When a record changed via an integration, Employee History showed the source as a generic EIF – Employee Integration File. With multiple integrations potentially feeding the same record, that single label gave no indication of which integration was actually responsible. Audit trails became harder to follow. Root-cause investigations took longer. Discrepancy reviews relied on guesswork or external logs.
What we built: The Source column in Employee History now displays the actual integration file name – not the generic token. You can see at a glance exactly which integration drove a change, whether it was an EIF or an MSS file.
What this means for your team:
What you’ll see
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| EIF | EIF – [File Name] |
| EIF | MSS – [File Name] |
Active now for all HR Blizz users – no configuration required. The new format applies to integration-triggered changes from this release onwards.24. April, 2026
HR Blizz Payroll admin console Employee self service Improvements New Feature
The problem it solves: Adjusting a leave balance used to mean changing one number. It worked – but it left no trace of why. Was that +5 days a correction to an entitlement? A reversed taken day? A carry-forward update? The record gave no answer. For HR teams handling audits, disputes, or staff handovers, that opacity created real risk.
On top of that, bulk leave operations – year-end corrections, back-dated approvals, legacy migrations – required separate processes or manual workarounds. There was no single, structured path to load both adjustments and taken leave in one go.
What we built: HR Blizz now lets you adjust leave balances at the component level – not as a single opaque figure. Every change captures a reason, a timestamp, and a source. And a single bulk upload can now carry both balance adjustments and leave taken records in the same file.
What this means for your team:
What you can now adjust: Leave balance adjustments are made at the component level. The Total Balance is always calculated automatically – you never edit it directly.
| Component | What it represents |
|---|---|
| Entitlement | Total days granted for the current period |
| Entitlement Taken | Days already consumed from the entitlement |
| Carried Forward | Days brought in from a previous period |
| Carried Forward Taken | Days consumed from the carry-forward balance |
Bulk leave records – one upload, two types of data: The bulk upload screen now accepts both balance adjustments and leave taken records in a single file. You no longer need separate uploads or separate processes for each.
Ideal for:
Important: How this feature works – read before first use
These are deliberate design decisions, not limitations. Please share these with your HR and payroll teams before using the feature for the first time.
Adjustments are permitted only for the current payroll period, and only while it is in Draft status. Once a period moves to Review, Approved, or Closed, no further adjustments are accepted for that period. Future-dated adjustments are not supported.
2. Total Balance editing has been removed
Direct editing of the Total Balance field is no longer available. All changes must be made through the underlying components. The Total is calculated automatically from those components.
3. Formula-driven leave types are excluded
Leave types calculated by a formula – such as maternity leave tied to gender, or childcare leave tied to dependents – cannot be adjusted through this feature. To change these balances, update the relevant employee attribute. The leave balance will recalculate automatically on the next cycle.
If any row in an uploaded file fails validation, the entire file is rejected. There are no partial commits. The preview screen shows exactly which rows have issues before you confirm – giving you the chance to fix errors and re-upload cleanly.
5. Duplicate prevention is built in
The system will not allow you to create a second adjustment for the same employee and leave type (or the same employee, leave type, and dates for Leave Taken rows). If a record already exists, you will be directed to edit it rather than create a duplicate.
| Role | Primary action |
|---|---|
| HR Manager | Make component-level adjustments for individual employees; review adjustment history |
| Payroll Admin | Manage bulk uploads; validate files before committing; oversee periodstatus rules |
| Auditor / Compliance | Review full adjustment trail – reason, timestamp, source – per employee per leave type |
| Implementation Consultant | Use bulk upload for leave data migrations and legacy system transitions |
Learn more:
20. April, 2026
Update Back Office HR Blizz Payroll admin console Improvements
The problem it solves: When running payroll reports across multiple pay groups — weekly, monthly, bi-weekly — there was no immediate way to confirm which pay group a report belonged to without reading through the data itself. For teams managing several concurrent payroll cycles, this added unnecessary verification steps, especially when reviewing or sharing exported reports.
What we built: HR Blizz now includes a Pay Group field in the headers of all system default reports and GLType reports. The field dynamically reflects the pay group — or groups — associated with the payroll run it was generated from, and appears consistently across every output format.
What this means for your team:
Reports updated:
| Report | Report Code | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Gross to Net | gross-to-net-new | System Default |
| Variance Report | variance-new | System Default |
| Payment Report | payments | System Default |
| Compare Different Run in Period | — | System Default |
| Detailed Headcount Report | — | System Default |
| Starters and Leavers Report | — | System Default |
| GL Type Reports | — | GL Type |
Supported output formats: On-screen · Excel export · PDF export
Active now for all users — no setup required6. April, 2026
HR Blizz Employee self service Accessibility Improvements
The problem it solves: Every extra screen between login and your actual workspace adds friction – especially for payroll teams logging in multiple times a day during busy processing periods.
What we built: HR Blizz now takes users directly to their role-based landing page after login. Intermediate screens for app and entity selection have been removed. Switching between apps or entities remains available within the platform when needed.
What this means for your team:
Best for: All HR Blizz users, with the most noticeable impact for those logging in frequently across payroll processing days.
Active for all users automatically – no configuration required11. March, 2026
Back Office HR Blizz Payroll admin console Improvements Update
The problem it solves: Before submitting statutory payroll files, errors are hard to spot when all you have is a raw TXT file. By the time a problem is found, resubmission means delays and potential penalties.
What we built: HR Blizz now provides an Excel download of Form 24Q (Q4) data, organized across multiple sheets – covering employee details, challans, deductions, salary information, and statutory sections. Review everything clearly before generating the final submission file.
What this means for your team:
Best for: India payroll teams managing TDS compliance, particularly during Q4 when year-end salary and deduction data requires thorough verification.
11. March, 2026
Settings Update Improvements HR Blizz Secure file transfer Payroll admin console
The problem it solves: In many countries, payslip files need to follow specific naming conventions – often including employee tax numbers or other identifiers. Renaming files manually after generation is tedious and creates inconsistency.
What we built: Payslip filenames in HR Blizz can now be configured to dynamically include HR field values – such as employee tax IDs – based on your required format. Files are named correctly at the point of generation.
What this means for your team:
Best for: Multi-country payroll operations where local compliance standards dictate specific file naming formats.
Contact your Mercans account manager to configure filename variables for your environment2. March, 2026
Back Office HR Blizz Payroll admin console Improvements Update
The problem it solves: Payroll teams often need to validate data, answer leadership queries, or share figures before the payroll run is fully finalized – but most systems lock reporting until the close is complete.
What we built: HR Blizz now allows reports to be generated as soon as a payroll run reaches the Result Review stage – for main runs, off-cycle runs, and correction runs alike. Where multiple runs exist in the same period, values are automatically combined into one consolidated view.
What this means for your team:
Best for: Organizations with tight reporting deadlines, multi-run payroll periods, or finance teams that need payroll visibility before the close is confirmed.
Available now at the Result Review stage – no additional setup required 19. February, 2026
Back Office HR Blizz Payroll admin console New Feature Settings
The problem it solves: Employees who aren’t assigned to a pay group can slip through payroll processing unnoticed – resulting in missed payments, reporting gaps, and exceptions that surface at the worst possible time.
What we built: HR Blizz now validates pay group assignments before payroll progresses. If an employee isn’t properly mapped, the system flags it before it becomes a downstream problem.
What this means for your team:
Best for: Organizations with high employee turnover, frequent onboarding cycles, or complex workforce structures where assignment gaps are a recurring risk.
9. February, 2026
New Feature HR Blizz Payroll admin console Settings
The problem it solves: Creating a pay group or moving employees between groups has historically required a change request to Mercans – adding wait time and operational friction for routine workforce changes.
What we built: Pay group creation and employee movement are now fully self-service within HR Blizz. Payroll administrators can manage these directly, without raising a request.
What this means for your team:
Best for: Organizations managing multiple payroll calendars, growing headcounts, or frequent workforce restructuring where pay cycle changes are routine.
9. February, 2026
HR Blizz Payroll admin console Improvements New Feature Back Office
The problem it solves: When payroll involves split calculations, repayments, or multi-currency conversions, minor rounding differences appear in payroll journals – causing Finance teams to manually chase down small discrepancies at month-end.
What we built: HR Blizz now automatically allocates rounding variances to a designated General Ledger account. Journals stay balanced without anyone touching them.
What this means for your team:
Best for: Organizations running multi-currency payroll or managing complex pay structures with frequent split calculations.
Talk to your account manager to enable this 9. February, 2026
HR Blizz Payroll admin console Improvements Update
The problem it solves: When a payroll discrepancy surfaces, tracking what changed and when means running separate audit reports, scrolling through pages of records, and losing time during investigations or compliance reviews.
What we built: Change history is now embedded directly inside the employee profile and listing view. One click shows exactly what was updated, when it changed, and who made the change – no separate report, no extra navigation.
What this means for your team:
Best for: Teams that handle frequent compliance queries, internal audits, or multi-country payroll where change tracking is a regulatory requirement.
Available now in the Employee Listing and Profile view – no additional setup required 7. January, 2026
HR Blizz Payroll admin console Improvements New Feature
The problem it solves: Manually entering opening balances for employee loans, advances, or recurring benefit deductions one by one is time-consuming and error-prone – especially when managing hundreds or thousands of employees.
What we built: The HR Blizz import template now supports multiple pay elements per employee with opening balances in a single structured upload. Load an entire population’s recurring deductions or loan balances in one go.
What this means for your team:
Best for: Organizations managing employee loans, recurring advances, or multi-tier benefit deductions at scale – particularly during implementations or workforce restructuring.