Ghana sets out real-time VAT collection for foreign digital services

VAT is collected when the customer pays

GRA describes RTVAT as a platform that automatically identifies, calculates, collects and monitors VAT on eligible digital services purchased from foreign companies. It connects to banks, mobile-money providers and other payment-service providers so that VAT can be charged and reported when the qualifying payment is made, replacing post-transaction declaration and payment for transactions handled through this collection channel.^[1][2]

Three transaction indicators define published coverage

The guidance applies where payment is made with a Ghana-issued bank card, mobile-money account or digital wallet, the merchant is established outside Ghana, and the service is delivered electronically. Banks issuing Ghanaian debit, credit or prepaid cards must integrate. GRA also lists payment-service providers and aggregators, electronic-money issuers, third-party processors and other Bank of Ghana-licensed institutions facilitating merchant acquiring, wallets, gateways, remittances or related electronic payments.^[1][2]

The underlying non-resident liability remains

The statutory VAT liability predates this guidance. Section 15 of the Value Added Tax Act, 2025 requires a non-resident supplying telecommunications or electronic-commerce services for use or enjoyment in Ghana, other than through a VAT-registered agent, to register where it makes taxable supplies. Section 1 permits the Commissioner-General to appoint a person to collect VAT and associated levies and defines electronic commerce broadly to include digital services transmitted over communications networks. RTVAT is therefore an administrative collection mechanism under the existing statutory framework, rather than a newly announced tax on foreign suppliers.^[3]

Reconciliation questions remain open

The published RTVAT page changes the collection channel but does not say that registered foreign suppliers are relieved of registration, filing or reconciliation duties. It also does not specify how suppliers should match payment-provider collections to returns, correct wrongly classified transactions or substantiate business customers' input-tax claims. Non-resident platforms and Ghana-facing payment groups should therefore map Ghana-issued payment instruments, merchant location and electronic-delivery indicators, retain transaction-level evidence and keep existing compliance processes in place pending more detailed reconciliation instructions.^[1][3]