Tax
Tax advisory and compliance services in Ghana
Compliance handled quietly. A position you can defend.
Corporate and personal tax compliance, support when the Ghana Revenue Authority is asking questions, transfer pricing documentation under L.I. 2412, and a plan for the tax position you would rather be in next year. Led by Michael Siaw Larbi, Partner, Tax and Advisory.
Request a tax proposal See what is includedMost tax exposure in Ghana starts with ordinary obligations: filed late, or at the wrong rate, compounding quietly until an officer arrives and asks for four years of records at once.
The two things we do
The first is compliance, and the measure of success is that you stop thinking about it. Returns filed on time, withholding applied at the right rate, certificates issued, VAT reconciled to the ledger rather than to the return, and a calendar that someone owns. Unglamorous, and it is where most of the exposure sits.
The second is the position itself. Whether an incentive you are claiming has a proper legal basis. Whether a related party charge would survive a transfer pricing review. Whether a payment you have been treating as a service fee is actually a royalty, and what the difference costs. This is the work that changes numbers rather than tidying them.
Where the exposure actually builds
Withholding tax, almost every time. A business paying fifty suppliers a month, getting the rate wrong on a handful of them, accumulates a meaningful liability inside two years without anyone noticing. Nothing flags it, because each individual error is small. It surfaces as one assessment with interest attached.
The second is documentation. Almost every assessment we have successfully defended was defended with paperwork that already existed. The ones that go badly are the ones where the paperwork was never created in the first place. A deduction you cannot support is a deduction you do not have, however commercially obvious it was.
An incentive is not a tax exemption
This one costs real money. Registration with an investment authority, or a benefit named in an approval letter, does not by itself create an exemption. The exemption must have a basis traceable through the Exemptions Act 2022 (Act 1083), the applicable tax legislation, any required legislative instrument, and any approval the Ghana Revenue Authority or Parliament had to give.
We see businesses applying a benefit for years on the strength of a certificate, then meeting the full liability with interest when it is tested. If you are relying on an exemption and have never traced its legal basis, that is the first review worth doing.
The day PAYE and withholding tax are due for the previous month
Combined VAT, NHIL and GETFund on a standard rated supply from 2026
From your year end to the annual corporate tax return
Scope
From filing the return to defending the position
Most clients begin with compliance and add advisory work once they see how much of the exposure was structural rather than accidental.
Corporate tax compliance
Annual returns, quarterly instalment computations, deferred tax, and the reconciliation between your accounting profit and your taxable profit that most finance teams do once a year under pressure. We do it as a routine, so the annual return is a formality rather than an event.
GRA audit and objection support
When the Ghana Revenue Authority opens a review, raises an assessment or issues a demand. We handle the correspondence, assemble the evidence, prepare the objection within the statutory window and represent your position. Deadlines here are short and unforgiving, so the first call matters.
Transfer pricing
Documentation under the Transfer Pricing Regulations 2020 (L.I. 2412) for businesses with related party transactions, whether cross-border or domestic. Benchmarking, the local file, and the annual return. Also the harder conversation about whether the charge itself is defensible before we document it.
VAT and indirect taxes
Registration, monthly returns, and the reconciliation between output tax, input tax and the general ledger. Since the 2026 reset under Act 1151 we have been reworking clients' input tax positions, because NHIL and GETFund became deductible and many businesses are still treating them as a cost.
Employment taxes and payroll
PAYE, SSNIT, Tier 3 relief, benefits in kind, bonus treatment and expatriate taxation. This is where a GRA payroll review starts, and where the records are usually thinnest because payroll sits between finance and HR and belongs to neither.
Exemption and incentive reviews
Tracing the legal basis of every benefit, exemption and concession you are applying, through Act 1083, the applicable tax legislation and any required approval. Where the basis does not hold, we tell you before the Ghana Revenue Authority does.
Process
How a tax engagement actually runs
Compliance work runs on a calendar. Advisory work runs on a question. Both start the same way, with finding out what is actually there.
Position review
We look at the last two years of returns, the ledger, the withholding records and any correspondence with the Ghana Revenue Authority. The point is to find what is already there before we agree what to do about it.
One to two weeksExposure summary
A short written note setting out what we found, ranked by financial exposure rather than by how technically interesting it is. Anything that could attract an assessment with interest goes at the top.
On completion of the reviewRemediation plan
Agreed with you, with owners and dates. Where a voluntary disclosure is the right route we say so, because approaching the Ghana Revenue Authority first is almost always cheaper than being found.
Immediately afterCompliance calendar
Filing dates, payment dates and the internal deadlines that have to be met to hit them. Assigned to named people on your side, monitored on ours.
Ongoing, monthlyAdvisory work
Transfer pricing documentation, exemption reviews, structuring questions and transaction support, taken as they arise rather than saved for year end.
As neededAnnual return
Prepared from records that have been reconciled all year, so filing is a formality. If the return is the first time anyone looks at the numbers, something upstream has gone wrong.
Within four months of year endEngagement
Fees, timing and who does the work
Fee basis
Retainer or fixed feeCompliance work on an annual retainer with a published scope. Advisory and audit support quoted as a fixed fee per piece of work.Who does the work
Partner and tax managerMichael Siaw Larbi leads the practice. Franklina Nintori manages compliance delivery. Both are named in the proposal.Response time
One working dayEvery enquiry answered within one working day. Where the Ghana Revenue Authority has issued a deadline, same day.Sectors
Where the tax questions differ by sector
Withholding on interest, financial services VAT treatment and Bank of Ghana interaction.
Petroleum-specific levies, margins and reconciliation to NPA reporting.
Cross-border service charges, transfer pricing and permanent establishment risk.
Import duty relief, VAT on distributor structures and stock-based exposure.
Exemption status, withholding on grant-funded payments and expatriate tax.
NHIS receivables, exempt and taxable supply mix, and consultant engagement terms.
Fiscal regime, stability agreements and contractor withholding.
Contract retentions, subcontractor withholding and works rates.
Rates
The rates people actually look up
A working reference, current for 2026. Use the tax calculator to run a figure, and speak to us before relying on any of it for a material position.
| Item | Rate | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate income tax, general | 25% | The standard rate for resident companies |
| VAT, standard rated supply | 20% combined | VAT 15%, NHIL 2.5% and GETFund 2.5% on the same taxable value. All three deductible as input tax from 1 January 2026 |
| VAT registration threshold | GHS 750,000 | Suppliers of goods. All service providers must register regardless of turnover |
| SSNIT, employee | 5.5% of basic | Deducted before PAYE is calculated |
| SSNIT, employer | 13% of basic | An employer cost, not deducted from the employee |
| Tier 3, voluntary | Up to 16.5% | Relievable against employment income, as a share of basic salary |
| Non-resident employment income | 25% flat | No graduated bands and no personal reliefs |
| Payment | Rate | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Supply of goods | 3% | Certificate must be issued to the supplier |
| Supply of works | 5% | Construction and similar contracts |
| Supply of services | 7.5% | The one most commonly applied at the wrong rate |
| Rent, residential | 8% | Where the property is used as a dwelling |
| Rent, commercial | 15% | Business premises |
| Dividend | 8% | Final tax for a resident individual |
| Director's fees | 20% | Frequently missed on non-executive payments |
| Royalty and natural resource payment | 15% | Check the treaty position where the payee is non-resident |
Questions
Questions we are asked before the proposal
When are PAYE and withholding tax due in Ghana?
Is SSNIT deducted before PAYE is calculated?
What changed with VAT in 2026?
Do we need transfer pricing documentation?
The GRA has issued an assessment. What now?
Does registering for an investment incentive give us a tax exemption?
How is a bonus taxed?
Can you take over from our current tax agent mid-year?
Next step
Send us one sales invoice and one purchase invoice.
We will tell you within one working day whether the treatment is right. It is the fastest useful thing we can do for you, and there is no charge for it.
Under Tax
Corporate tax compliance and returns
Annual returns, quarterly instalments, capital allowances and the reconciliation between accounting profit and taxable profit, handled as a routine rather than as an annual emergency.
GRA tax audit and objection support
Support through a tax audit, an assessment or a demand: the correspondence, the evidence, the objection within the statutory window, and the negotiation. Deadlines here are short and unforgiving, which is why the first call matters more than the last.
Transfer pricing under L.I. 2412
Documentation, benchmarking and the annual return under the Transfer Pricing Regulations 2020 (L.I. 2412), for businesses with related party transactions. And, before any of that, the harder question of whether the charge itself would survive a review.
VAT, NHIL and GETFund under Act 1151
VAT registration, monthly returns and the reconciliation between output tax, input tax and the ledger. Since Act 1151 took effect we have been reworking input tax positions, because the levies became claimable and most businesses are still treating them as a cost.
PAYE, SSNIT and expatriate tax
PAYE, SSNIT, Tier 3 relief, benefits in kind, bonus treatment and expatriate taxation. Payroll sits between finance and HR and frequently belongs to neither, which is exactly why officers look there first.
Exemption and incentive reviews
Tracing the basis of every benefit, exemption and concession you are applying, through the Exemptions Act 2022 (Act 1083), the applicable tax legislation and any approval that had to be given. Where the basis does not hold, we tell you before the Ghana Revenue Authority does.