The 3% flat rate is gone. Here’s what that means for you.

This is a plain summary to help you ask the right questions, not tax advice. The rules are GRA’s, they change, and they depend on your business. Check with GRA or an accountant before you change your prices.

What changed on 1 January 2026

The Value Added Tax Act, 2025 (Act 1151) replaced the old VAT law. For a food business, four things matter:

• VAT is 15%, NHIL 2.5% and GETFund 2.5%, all on the same value. Together that’s 20%. Before, the levies were worked out one on top of another; now they sit side by side.
• The 3% VAT Flat Rate Scheme is gone. Retailers who used it now charge the standard rate if they’re registered.
• The registration threshold for goods went up from ₵200,000 to ₵750,000 of turnover in 12 months.
• Services have no threshold. A business that supplies services registers however small it is.

Whether selling food counts as goods, services or both for your business is exactly the kind of question to put to GRA or your accountant, because the answer decides whether the threshold applies to you.

The Tourism Levy

The Tourism Levy is 1% of the value of what you sell, and it’s charged by businesses licensed by the Ghana Tourism Authority: hotels and guesthouses, and food and beverage businesses among them. Since Act 1151 it sits outside the VAT base, so it’s added alongside VAT, not taxed again by it. A licensed restaurant that’s registered for VAT charges 21% in all.

The levy is the customer’s to pay and yours to collect and pay over each month, as your licence requires. Your receipts should show it on its own line.

What ₵100 of food looks like

There are two ways to hold tax in a price, and customers only notice one of them.

Tax added on top. The menu says ₵100 and the bill says more:

Line	20%: VAT, NHIL, GETFund	21%: with the Tourism Levy
The meal	₵100.00	₵100.00
VAT 15%	₵15.00	₵15.00
NHIL 2.5%	₵2.50	₵2.50
GETFund 2.5%	₵2.50	₵2.50
Tourism Levy 1%		₵1.00
The bill	₵120.00	₵121.00

Tax included in the price. The menu says ₵120 and the bill says ₵120, but only ₵100 of it is yours; the other ₵20 is the government’s. Same meal, same tax. The difference is what your customer sees on the menu, and what you have to remember when you set prices: ₵120 on the menu is not ₵120 in the business.

Whichever you choose, GRA expects NHIL, GETFund and VAT on separate lines on the invoice.

The turnover tax is something else

Many small businesses under the VAT threshold are on the Modified Taxation Scheme instead. That’s income tax, not VAT: resident individuals with a turnover between ₵20,000 and ₵500,000 pay 3% of turnover. It isn’t added to the customer’s bill. It comes out of what you take, so it’s worth setting aside as you go, not finding at the end of the quarter.

E-VAT and invoices

VAT-registered businesses are being moved onto GRA’s certified invoicing system, E-VAT, in phases, and electronic fiscal devices are being introduced in some sectors this year. If you’re registered, find out when your business is due.

How Tabworthy handles it

When a business sets Tabworthy up, it asks one question about tax: No, Yes, or Not sure yet. There’s no rate to type. You pick from the presets: VAT, NHIL and GETFund, 20%; with the Tourism Levy, 21%; the Tourism Levy only, 1%; or the 3% turnover tax, which isn’t charged to anyone but shows on the report as what to set aside. Your prices can include the tax or have it added.

The receipt shows each tax on its own line, and your Tourism Levy registration number when the sale carries the levy. The tax a sale is charged at is fixed when the order opens, so a change halfway through the evening doesn’t rewrite bills already running.

What it doesn’t do: it isn’t a GRA certified invoicing system, so it doesn’t issue E-VAT invoices, and it doesn’t file your returns.