Ghana Tax Bills Tracker

Clauses 1–59

Customs control, trade facilitation, risk management, the National Single Window, authorised economic operators, post-clearance audit, rulings, passengers, conveyances, agents and controlled areas.

Clauses 60–146

Declaration, clearance, valuation, warehouses, e-commerce, classification, origin, assessment, temporary admission, processing, Free Zones, transit, export and bonded warehousing.

Border systems and risk

• A national risk framework using the National Single Window, a National Risk Management Committee and Team, and a Customs Risk Management Unit.
• Advance rulings on classification, valuation and origin, together with taxpayer objection mechanisms.
• Post-clearance audit, inspection and investigation, with a call for transparent audit and risk-selection criteria.

Warehousing and transit

• Initial statutory warehouse periods described as one month for perishables, six months for general goods and twelve months for raw materials.
• First-port duty and transit controls supported by tracking, security and ministerial oversight.
• The Committee recommended electronic cargo tracking and information sharing before implementation.

Free Zones and petroleum

• Stricter Free Zone and duty-free-shop regulation, with consultation recommended before implementation.
• A specialised customs framework for petroleum registration, movement, storage, reporting, export and re-import.
• Coordination among the Ghana Revenue Authority, National Petroleum Authority and other regulators.

Security and information

• Financial-security reforms, with guidelines and transitional arrangements recommended.
• Advance passenger information and passenger-name records, subject to data-protection and privacy safeguards.
• Clear operational guidance for customs-controlled areas and adequate resources and training for risk-management institutions.

Clauses 1–45

Excise-duty imposition and administration, registration and licensing, payment, warehousing, movement, refunds, audit, inspection, offences and penalties.

Clauses 46–73

The Excise Tax Stamp regime occupies clauses 46–69. Clauses 70–73 contain general provisions.

Registration and administration

• Mandatory registration for manufacturers, importers and stockists, including stockists who acquire imported excisable raw materials for resale.
• Stronger security, accounting and temporary-import controls.
• The Committee recommended public education, transitional arrangements and Ghana Revenue Authority administrative guidance.

Fruit juice and agro-processing

• The Bill seeks to abolish the 20% excise duty on locally manufactured fruit juices.
• The Committee connected the proposal to lower production costs, competitiveness, local consumption, agricultural value addition and employment.

Rates, stamps and monitoring

• A hybrid of specific and ad valorem excise for selected alcoholic beverages and spirits, intended to address undervaluation and support revenue and fairness.
• Consolidation of the Excise Tax Stamp regime into the proposed legislation.
• The Committee recommended digital monitoring and interoperable systems.

Enforcement and penalties

• Stronger enforcement, including suspension of registration without prior notice in the circumstances specified by the Bill.
• Those circumstances include fraud, counterfeit stamps and health or safety breaches.
• The report describes substantially increased penalties for listed forms of non-compliance.

Clause 1

Substitutes paragraph 1 of the First Schedule to revise the individual income-tax rates, including the report's stated exemption linked to the National Daily Minimum Wage.

Clause 2

Substitutes the provisions identified in the Second Schedule to revise the turnover threshold for the presumptive-tax measure described by the report.

Individual income tax

• The proposal was presented as protection for vulnerable and low-income workers and as a means of increasing disposable income.
• The Committee said the minimum-wage exemption would support progressivity and help avoid fiscal drag where tax bands remain unchanged.

Presumptive tax

• The report connects the proposed threshold change to the increase in the VAT registration threshold from GHS 200,000 to GHS 750,000.
• The Committee said alignment would simplify compliance and administration for micro and small businesses.
• It described presumptive tax as a simplified turnover-based method using prescribed instalments rather than a full determination of business profits.