The Acting Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Anthony Sarpong, has disclosed that the final Value Added Tax (VAT) rate that will be paid by businesses is expected to be reduced from 22% to 20 % from 2026.
According to him, this is part of the government’s move to reduce the tax burden on Ghanaians.
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He noted that the reduction is expected to be captured in the upcoming 2026 budget in October 2026.
“The new VAT bill should be ready by September this year and that should help the Finance Minister lay it before the end of 2025,” Sarpong revealed.
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The Commissioner General explained that the Value Added Tax is applied on the value added to goods and services at each stage in production and the distribution chain.
This adds up to the final price that the consumer pays for the goods and services.
Here is a breakdown of the 22% VAT applied on goods:
VAT standard Rate – 15%
National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) – 2.5%
Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) – 2.5%
COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy (COVID-19 HRL) – 1%
Sarpong added that the GRA has so far made progress on reforms that are seeking to simplify the current VAT laws as well as the whole tax structure in the country.
“We are currently at the last phase of engagement, and everything should be finalised by September this year,” the Commissioner General said.
He added that the authority has also “come very far” in removing the COVID-19 Levy as well.
He therefore rejected claims that the expected 20 percent effective VAT rate is too high, adding that, “We are working very hard to improve compliance and that could see the government reduce the rate further going forward”.
SSD/EB
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