{"id":458129,"date":"2026-01-01T13:57:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T13:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2026\/01\/01\/vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T13:57:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T13:57:28","slug":"vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/01\/01\/vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"VAT cut to 20%, COVID Levy gone as as new tax act takes effect January 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/316\/31662394.295.jpg\" alt=\"The new reforms take effect January 1, 2026\" title=\"The new reforms take effect January 1, 2026\" width=\"295\" height=\"166\" \/> <span class=\"image_caption\"><span>The new reforms take effect January 1, 2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"-webkit-user-select: none; -webkit-touch-callout: none; -moz-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: none; user-select: none;\">\n<p id=\"article-123\">Following the passage of the Value Added Tax Act, 2025 (Act 1151), which takes effect from January 1, 2026, the VAT rate has been cut to 20% from its previous rate of 21.9%.<\/p>\n<p>This comes after the abolition of the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy, marking an end to the pandemic-era tax measure.<\/p>\n<p>GRA to implement new VAT reforms from January 1, 2026<\/p>\n<p>In a public notice issued on its official website, the GRA said the new law introduces far-reaching changes aimed at simplifying VAT administration, improving efficiency, and promoting voluntary tax compliance.<\/p>\n<p>Among the key reforms is an increase in the VAT registration threshold for businesses dealing in goods, which has been revised upward from GH\u20b5200,000 to GH\u20b5750,000. <\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the Act provides for the recoupling of the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) levies, allowing taxpayers to claim input tax credits on these levies. <\/p>\n<p>Under the new arrangement, both NHIL and GETFund levies will be treated as input tax deductions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe VAT rate remains at 15% while the NHIL and GETFund levies stay at 2.5% each, bringing the total effective VAT rate to 20%,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis approach is designed to ease the tax burden on households and businesses while still supporting essential national programmes,\u201d the statement explained.<\/p>\n<p>The authority further announced the abolition of the VAT Flat Rate Scheme (VFRS), replacing it with a unified and more transparent VAT structure.<\/p>\n<p>The GRA urged VAT-registered taxpayers, employers, accountants, auditors, importers, exporters, clearing agents, and tax consultants to take note of the reforms, stressing that the changes are designed to promote equity, enhance administrative efficiency, and strengthen compliance across the tax system.<\/p>\n<p>ID\/AE<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new reforms take effect January 1, 2026 Following the passage of the Value Added Tax Act, 2025 (Act 1151), which takes effect from January 1, 2026, the VAT rate has been cut to 20% from its previous rate of 21.9%. This comes after the abolition of the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy, marking an end [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":458130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-458129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>VAT cut to 20%, COVID Levy gone as as new tax act takes effect January 2026 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/01\/01\/vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VAT cut to 20%, COVID Levy gone as as new tax act takes effect January 2026 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The new reforms take effect January 1, 2026 Following the passage of the Value Added Tax Act, 2025 (Act 1151), which takes effect from January 1, 2026, the VAT rate has been cut to 20% from its previous rate of 21.9%. This comes after the abolition of the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy, marking an end [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/01\/01\/vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-01T13:57:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/316\/31662394.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/01\\\/vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/01\\\/vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19f97c9b96bb4eec1ec652714cfea7e6\"},\"headline\":\"VAT cut to 20%, COVID Levy gone as as new tax act takes effect January 2026\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-01T13:57:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/01\\\/vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":289,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/01\\\/vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/https:\\\/\\\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\\\/imagelib\\\/pics\\\/316\\\/31662394.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/01\\\/vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/01\\\/vat-cut-to-20-covid-levy-gone-as-as-new-tax-act-takes-effect-january-2026\\\/\",\"name\":\"VAT cut to 20%, COVID Levy gone as as new tax act takes effect January 2026 - 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