The rate
The standard rate in Ghana is 15%. Some goods and services carry reduced or zero rates and others are exempt. The difference matters: zero-rated sales still let you reclaim the tax on your purchases, exempt sales do not.
Plus the 2.5% NHIL and 2.5% GETFund levy. Since 1 January 2026 all three are charged side by side on the same pre-tax value (VAT Act 2025, s.44(1)) and the levies are reclaimable as input tax. The effective rate on a standard supply is 20%. The 1% COVID-19 levy was abolished on 1 January 2026.
Who must register
Compulsory above GH₵750,000 of turnover a year for goods since 1 January 2026, raised from GH₵200,000. Suppliers of services must register at any turnover. The VAT flat rate scheme was abolished at the same time.
How to register
When you must apply: if you supply services, within 30 days of starting to trade, whatever your turnover. If you supply goods, within 30 days after the end of any 12-month period in which sales passed the goods threshold, or after the end of a month when you can expect to pass it over the next 12 months. A goods seller who makes more than GH₵187,500 in any three months, and expects to cross the annual threshold within the year, must also apply within 30 days after those three months (VAT Act 2025, s.6). Promoters of public entertainment apply at least 48 hours before the event, and auctioneers within 30 days of starting (s.7).
How: apply on the GRA's ITAS portal (etax.gra.gov.gh) or at your Taxpayer Service Centre, with your TIN or Ghana Card PIN, your business registration documents, the owners' or directors' Ghana Cards, your business location and your financial statements. The GRA must decide within 30 days. If it says nothing in that time you are treated as registered; if it asks for more information, it decides within 14 days of receiving it (s.9). You may be onboarded to E-VAT invoicing as part of the same registration.
After registering, display the VAT certificate at your main place of business and at every other site where you trade (s.10). Leaving it late is expensive. A business that should have registered owes at least three times the VAT on its sales from the date it should have applied (s.16), and an unregistered importer of taxable goods pays an extra 20% of the customs value upfront at the port (s.17).
Filing and paying
Registered and filed with Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Monthly returns and payment are due by the last working day of the month following the return month.