Nearly 60% of Businesses yet to Comply with Ghana’s new VAT Regime
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has intensified measures to address compliance gaps following the rollout of the reformed Value Added Tax (VAT), which took effect on January 1, 2026.
This comes after the Authority uncovered that nearly 60 percent of businesses have not complied with the new VAT regime, which is intended to ease prices for consumers. The GRA noted that the low compliance rate is also resulting in significant revenue leakages.
As part of efforts to address the challenge, the GRA has established a Compliance and Enforcement Unit within its Domestic Tax Revenue Division to strengthen monitoring and ensure proper VAT remittance.
Commissioner-General of the GRA, Anthony Kwasi Sarpong, has stated that stricter enforcement of the VAT system will enhance domestic revenue mobilisation and support the Authority’s ability to meet its revenue targets.
According to him, assessments conducted over the past few months, particularly in December, revealed widespread non-compliance among businesses.
“We carried out extensive assessments and realised that about 60 out of every 100 businesses visited were not paying VAT. In some cases, businesses collected VAT from customers but failed to remit it to the GRA.
“This situation calls for decisive action. The core mandate of this unit is to improve VAT compliance and promote voluntary adherence to tax obligations,” he stated.
