By Eugene Davis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abeku Gyan-Quansah, a tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has endorsed the government\u2019s decision to reform Ghana\u2019s Value Added Tax (VAT) system and has urged all stakeholders to ensure full compliance when the changes take effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has announced major VAT reforms aimed at reducing tax burdens on businesses and households. Key measures include scrapping the COVID-19 Levy and adjusting VAT rates to simplify the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presenting the 2025 Budget to Parliament, Dr. Forson acknowledged that Ghana\u2019s current VAT system is inefficient and combines elements of both VAT and sales tax principles\u2014resulting in a complex structure with flat rates, standard rates, and multiple levies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support for VAT Reforms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the 2025 PwC Budget Forum, Mr. Gyan-Quansah expressed his support for the reforms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy introduce a VAT system, tinker with it, and then disrupt it? One of the things that excites me is that we are finally looking to reform it. We must all get involved and eliminate any excuses for non-compliance. If we do not fix the system, we create an environment that disadvantages everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, Ghana\u2019s official VAT rate is 15%, but the effective rate is around 22% due to additional levies such as: GETFund Levy (2.5%),National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) (2.5%),COVID-19 Levy (1%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These levies are excluded from input tax credit claims, increasing costs for businesses and indirectly raising consumer prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key VAT Reforms in the 2025 Budget<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To simplify the system and reduce tax burdens, Dr. Forson outlined the following reforms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Abolishing the COVID-19 Levy, Reversing the decoupling of GETFund and NHIL from VAT, allowing businesses to claim input tax credits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reducing the effective VAT rate to ease financial strain on businesses and households<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reversing the VAT flat rate regime, which currently applies to some sectors<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raising the VAT registration threshold, exempting micro and small businesses from VAT collection<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enhancing tax compliance through public education and awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2025 Post-Budget Digest Breakfast Forum served as a platform for government and business leaders to discuss budget priorities and strategies to drive private sector-led economic growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eugene Davis Abeku Gyan-Quansah, a tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has endorsed the government\u2019s decision to reform Ghana\u2019s Value Added Tax (VAT) system and has urged all stakeholders to ensure full compliance when the changes take effect. The government has announced major VAT reforms aimed at reducing tax burdens on businesses and households. Key […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11496"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11496"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11506,"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11496\/revisions\/11506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmenttimesonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}