- Tax Net Faces Digital Overhaul as GRA Says 60% of Businesses Are Non-Compliant
Ghana is preparing for a significant overhaul of business tax enforcement as the Ghana Revenue Authority moves to expand digital transaction monitoring after estimating that about six out of every 10 businesses are failing to comply fully with their tax obligations.
The GRA plans to intensify the deployment of Fiscal Electronic Devices in the final quarter of 2026, giving the tax authority greater visibility over commercial transactions and Value Added Tax reporting as government seeks to widen the revenue base without repeatedly increasing the burden on already compliant taxpayers.
Commissioner-General Anthony Kwasi Sarpong disclosed the scale of the compliance problem at the Association of Ghana Industries’ 2026 Industrial and Exhibition Summit.
“For every 10 businesses in Ghana, about six are not complying,” Mr Sarpong said.
The figure places tax-base coverage, rather than simply tax rates, at the centre of Ghana’s domestic revenue challenge.
A system in which a substantial share of businesses either remain outside the effective tax net or under-report economic activity limits government revenue while potentially creating an uneven competitive environment for firms that account fully for their transactions, payroll obligations and statutory taxes.
The GRA argues that non-compliant businesses can effectively gain a cost advantage over companies that meet their obligations.
“For those of you who are complying, you are doing your best. For those who are not complying, they are then becoming… unfair advantage,” Mr Sarpong said.
The Authority’s response is increasingly technological.
The Fiscal Electronic Device framework is intended to capture transaction information at the point of sale, allowing taxable sales to be recorded more systematically and giving the GRA a clearer basis for comparing business activity with VAT declarations.
Ghana already has a statutory framework for the technology under the Taxation (Use of Fiscal Electronic Device) Act, 2018, Act 966. The law requires specified taxable persons to use GRA-approved fiscal electronic devices and was designed to maximise revenue collection, minimise revenue suppression and provide more accurate records of taxable sales.
Mr Sarpong said implementation would intensify in the final quarter following parliamentary action in July connected to the rollout programme.
The proposed deployment represents a shift from tax administration that has depended heavily on taxpayer declarations, periodic audits and investigations towards greater transaction-level visibility.
The tax is generated across millions of individual transactions, meaning weak record keeping, incomplete reporting or deliberate under-declaration can create a substantial gap between actual commercial activity and what eventually reaches the state as tax revenue.
Digital transaction records could make those discrepancies easier to identify.
But the broader objective is not merely enforcement. The GRA is simultaneously attempting to modernise the taxpayer interface through its Integrated Tax Administration System, or ITAS.
The platform integrates functions including registration, return filing, payments, compliance management and data analytics and is intended to replace fragmented and partly manual processes with a more seamless digital system.
Mr Sarpong has described ITAS as a “game-changer”, arguing that reducing human intervention should make interaction between taxpayers and the authority more efficient.
The combination of ITAS and fiscal devices could therefore reshape both sides of tax administration.
For taxpayers, more processes can move online, potentially reducing paperwork, physical visits and administrative delays. For the GRA, integrated transaction and taxpayer data could improve risk assessment, allowing enforcement resources to be directed towards sectors and businesses where revenue leakage appears greatest.
If compliance can be improved among businesses already carrying out taxable economic activity, government can expand revenue without relying solely on new taxes or higher rates.
That could also reduce the disproportionate pressure on a narrower group of businesses that are already compliant.
For established companies, especially those competing against informal operators, more consistent enforcement could potentially improve the commercial environment by making tax avoidance harder to use as a competitive strategy.
But implementation will determine whether the reform delivers those benefits.
Businesses will have to incorporate approved devices and digital requirements into their operating systems. Large companies with established accounting and enterprise software may adapt relatively quickly, but smaller businesses could face challenges involving cost, training, connectivity and technical integration.
The GRA will therefore need to combine enforcement with extensive taxpayer education and technical support.
If transaction-monitoring equipment or supporting digital systems suffer persistent technical problems, businesses could face delays and additional operating costs. The Authority will also need to demonstrate that commercially sensitive information collected through the system is adequately protected.
These concerns make the GRA’s objective of simplifying compliance as important as its enforcement agenda.
Mr Sarpong has said the Authority intends to broaden the tax base, improve predictability, simplify rules and use digitisation to improve compliance, suggesting an approach that combines stronger monitoring with attempts to make participation in the formal tax system easier.
If firms view digital enforcement principally as another compliance cost, resistance could increase. If it produces a simpler and more predictable relationship with the tax authority Ghana continues to rely heavily on stronger domestic revenue mobilisation to support fiscal sustainability and reduce the need for additional borrowing. GRA management has set a longer-term ambition to increase tax revenue substantially through enhanced mobilisation, technology, data and improved compliance.
Technology alone, however, will not close a compliance gap estimated at 60%.
The GRA will still need consistent enforcement, functional systems, reliable taxpayer identification, effective dispute resolution and public confidence that compliance rules are applied fairly.
Mr Sarpong has framed the relationship between tax collection and private-sector growth as mutually reinforcing.
“GRA succeeds when Ghana’s industries succeed,” he said.
The fourth-quarter digital enforcement push will put that principle to the test.
For compliant businesses, the potential prize is a more level competitive environment. For government, it is a broader and more dependable tax base. For non-compliant operators, greater transaction visibility could make under-reporting increasingly difficult.
Ultimately, the success of Ghana’s tax overhaul will not be measured by how many fiscal devices are installed, but by whether a larger share of the economic activity already taking place in the country is converted into accurate tax declarations and actual revenue.
With six in every 10 businesses estimated by the GRA to be non-compliant, the scale of that challenge remains considerable.
