Ghana Bets on Rewards, Not Rates: A VAT Prize Scheme to Plug a 60% Compliance Gap

Presenting the 2026 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review to Parliament on 23 July 2026, Ghana’s Finance Minister said the government will introduce a VAT Reward Scheme under which customers who request and obtain valid VAT invoices qualify for periodic rewards. The aim is to make it harder for businesses to avoid accounting for VAT they collect, by turning consumers into active participants in protecting the tax base. Dr Forson said Ghana loses an estimated 60% of its potential VAT revenue to non-compliance—”unacceptable,” he told Parliament—and that the reward scheme will operate alongside the nationwide deployment of fiscal electronic devices to strengthen monitoring. The initiative complements a wider package: abolition of the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy, reduction of the effective VAT rate from 21.9% to 20%, removal of VAT on mineral reconnaissance and prospecting, and a rise in the registration threshold from GH¢200,000 to GH¢750,000—all designed to lift non-oil revenue through compliance rather than higher rates.