Payroll Compliance Updates- Ghana
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A. Update

The President has given the assent to The Income Tax (Amendment) (No.2) Act, 2023 Act 1111, amending the personal income tax bands and rates for resident employees. The tax rates impacting individual tax compliances are provided below:

Annual tax rate table for Individual resident taxpayers:

Income from Income To Rate of Tax Cumulative Tax payable
GH¢ 0 GH¢ 5,880 Nil -
GH¢ 5,880 GH¢ 7,200 5% GH¢ 66
GH¢ 7,200 GH¢ 8,760 10% GH¢ 222
GH¢ 8,760 GH¢ 46,760 17.5% GH¢ 6,872
GH¢ 46,760 GH¢ 2,38,760 25% GH¢ 54,872
GH¢ 2,38,760 GH¢ 6,05,000 30% GH¢ 1,64,744
GH¢ 6,05,000 - 35% -

Monthly tax rate table for Individual resident taxpayers:

Income from Income To Rate of Tax Cumulative Tax payable
GH¢ 0 GH¢ 490 Nil -
GH¢ 490 GH¢ 600 5% GH¢ 5.5
GH¢ 600 GH¢ 730 10% GH¢ 18.5
GH¢ 730 GH¢ 3,896.7 17.5% GH¢ 572.7
GH¢ 3,896.7 GH¢ 19,896.7 25% GH¢ 4,572.7
GH¢ 19,896.7 GH¢ 50,416.7 30% GH¢ 13,728.7
GH¢ 50,416.7 - 35% -
B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: December 29, 2023
C. Effective Date: January 01,2024.
 
A. Update

In line with section 113 (1) (a) of the Labour Act, 2003 (651), The National Tripartite Committee (NTC) concluded negotiations on the determination of the National Daily Minimum Wage (NDMW) in respect of 2024.

The Committee agreed to increase in the NDMW by 22% over the 2023 NDMW which now translates into a new NDMW of GHS18.15.

Employers are required to adjust their wages effective January 2024.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: November 13, 2023
C. Effective Date: January 01, 2024
 
A. Update

The President has given the assent to The Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2023 Act 1094 (‘the Act’) amending the personal income tax bands and rates for resident employees, among other items. The tax rates impacting individual tax compliances are provided below:

1. Monthly tax rate table for Individual resident taxpayers:
From To Tax Rates Cumulative Tax Payable
GH¢ 0 GH¢ 402 0.00% -
GH¢ 402.01 GH¢ 512 5.00% GH¢ 5.5
GH¢ 512.01 GH¢ 642 10.00% GH¢ 18.5
GH¢ 642.01 GH¢ 3,642 17.50% GH¢ 543.5
GH¢ 3,642.01 GH¢ 20,037 25.00% GH¢ 4,642.25
GH¢ 20,037.01 GH¢ 50,000 30.00% GH¢ 13,631.15
GH¢ 50,000.01   35.00%  
2. Annual tax rate table for Individual resident taxpayers.
From To Tax Rates Pay-Out
GH¢ 0 GH¢ 4,824 0.00% -
GH¢ 4,824.01 GH¢ 6,144 5.00% GH¢ 66
GH¢ 6,144.01 GH¢ 7,704 10.00% GH¢ 222
GH¢ 7,704.01 GH¢ 43,704 17.50% GH¢ 6,522
GH¢ 43,704.01 GH¢ 240,444 25.00% GH¢ 55,707
GH¢ 240,444.01 GH¢ 600,000 30.00% GH¢ 163,573.8
GH¢ 600,000.01   35.00%  

Further on April 27, 2023, a notification has been released that the above amendments will be effective from May 01,2023

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: April 03, 2023
C. Effective Date: May 01, 2023
 
A. Update

The management of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) in consultation with the National Pensions Regulatory Authority have increased the maximum insurable earnings vide Public- Notice number 110123-1-1. The maximum insurable basic salary has been revised from GHS 35,000 to GHS 42,000 effective January 1, 2023.

Therefore, all basic salary amounts will be capped to the current amount of GHS 42,000 for purposes of SSNIT Tier 1 contribution.

The minimum insurable earning for 2023 has also been increased from GHS 365.33 to GHS 401.76 following the raise in the National Daily Minimum Wage.

The maximum and minimum contributions payable to SSNIT will be GHS 5,670.00 and GHS 54.24 respectively.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: January 11, 2023
C. Effective Date: January 1, 2023
 
A. Update

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has launched GRA Taxpayers portal for online filing of personal tax returns for the following categories of taxpayers:

  • Taxpayers registered with the Large Taxpayer Officer (LTO)
  • Taxpayers whose annual turnover is above GH₵5million
  • Excise taxpayers

The Taxpayers portal can be accessed on www.taxpayersportal.com. Also, the portal app can be downloaded as Ghana Taxpayers’ App on Google Play Store or App Store.

GRA offices will not accept manual returns from the above-mentioned groups of taxpayers from April 1, 2022. Officers will, however, be available to assist taxpayers to file returns online.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: April 04, 2022
C. Effective Date: April 01, 2022
 
A. Update

Management of SSNIT has issued a communique to extend the deadline to merge the SSNIT Number and National Identification Numbers (known locally as the "Ghana Card PINs") to 30 June 2022. Therefore, from July 01,2022 Ghana Card PINs will be the only identification recognized by SSNIT. Employers are required to use only Ghana Card PINs of their workers to file their SSNIT returns.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: January 31, 2022
C. Effective Date: July 01, 2022
 
A. Update

Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has extended the deadline to merge the Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) and National Identification Numbers (known locally as the "Ghana Card PINs") till March 31, 2022.Therefore from April 01,2022 Ghana Card PINs will be the only identification recognised by GRA for tax purposes and all other transaction replacing TINs.

The transitional period is not applicable for foreign mission employees, non-resident foreigners not eligible to acquire Ghana Card PIN as well as non-resident Ghanaians without Ghana Card PIN.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: January 31, 2022
C. Effective Date: April 01, 2022
 
A. Update

The Ministry of Finance has laid a Bill in Parliament seeking to, among other things, amend the personal income tax bands and rates for resident employees. Following is the monthly tax rate table for residents.

From To Tax Rates Pay-out
0 365.00 0% -
365.01 475.00 5% 5.50
475.01 605.00 10% 18.50
605.01 3,605.00 17.5% 543.50
3,605.01 20,000.00 25% 4,642.24
20,000.01 99,99,99,999.00 30%
B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: December 20, 2021
C. Effective Date: January 01, 2022
 
A. Update

Following the merger of the SSNIT and Ghana Card Pins, SSNIT has issued a new Contribution Report Structure that requires employers and Agents to take the following steps:

  • Submit Contribution Report (CRs) in the new format to include NIA numbers of workers;
  • Ensure that all your employees register with the NIA and merge with SSNIT numbers; and
  • Ensure that all employees on payroll submit their NIA numbers for SSNIT CR processing.

The NIA number should be a primary requirement for all new employees.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: November 05, 2021
C. Effective Date: November 01, 2021
 
A. Update

The management of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has introduced a “Saturday Service”. The effect of this Saturday Service is that, where the date for submitting a SSNIT contribution is due on a Saturday (i.e. the 14 day of the ensuing month falls on a Saturday), the due date for the submission of such SSNIT contribution would be that Saturday.

The Saturday Service has commenced in some piloting SSNIT branches and would be extended to other SSNIT branches. In Accra, the service is available at Accra Industrial Area Branch, Trust Towers Branch, Legon Branch and Airport City Branch. In Tema, it is available at the Community 2 and Harbour branches while in Kumasi, the Adum and Asafo branches would be opened for business and the Takoradi Branch.

The branches will be opened from 09:00GMT to 14:00GMT every Saturday.

For employers, this additional day of service means that businesses can be registered, submit and validate contribution reports as well as pay contributions especially when the 14th of the Month falls on a Saturday.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: September 28, 2021
C. Effective Date: October 02, 2021
 
A. Update

In line with section 113 (1) (a) of Ghana’s Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), the National Tripartite Committee concluded negotiations on determination of the National Daily Minimum Wage (NDMW) in respect of 2021 and 2022.

The Committee agreed as follows:

  • The 2021 NDMW has been revised to GHS12.53; and
  • The 2022 NDMW have been set at GHS13.53 (January 2022)

This will impact the social security minimum salary, which is 27 days of Daily minimum wage. The Employers are required to adjust their wages effective June 2021.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: June 03, 2021
C. Effective Date: June 04, 2021 / January 01,2022
 
A. Update

With a view to implementing the government's databases unification policy and putting into place a unique identifier for individual taxpayers, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Registrar General's Department (RGD) and National Identification Authority (NIA), following the 2021 National Budget presentation, have started the process of merging the Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) and National Identification Numbers (known locally as the "Ghana Card PINs").

A transitional period from April 01, 2021 to December 31, 2021 will allow individual taxpayers to use a GRA self-service portal, or GRA offices to link their Ghana Card PINs and TINs. After the transitional period, the TINs will cease to exist for individuals taxpayers and the Ghana Card PINs will be used for all transactions with the government and tax administration.

Since the Ghana Card PIN is only intended for the use of natural persons (both citizens and non- citizens), companies and other tax-registered organizations will continue to use their TINs.

The Ghana card Pin contains 15 characters in total - the first 3 characters are alphabets in capital letters, then a hyphen followed by nine numeric characters, another hyphen and a final numeric character. A dummy example is GHA-123456789-1.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: March 31, 2021
C. Effective Date: April 01, 2021
 
A. Update

The management of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) in consultation with the National Pensions Regulatory Authority have increased the maximum insurable earnings. The maximum insurable basic salary has been reviewed from GHS 25,000 to GHS 35,000 effective January, 2021

This means that the maximum basic salary for the purpose of determination of Tier 1 social security contributions managed by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has been increased from GHS 25,000 to GHS 35,000.

The change will reflect in the January, 2021 contribution report submission due by February 12, 2021. Contribution reports from employers must however include the actual salaries of all employees in the establishment of the employer as SSNIT's system will automatically cap salaries above this threshold.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: February 02, 2021
C. Effective Date: January 01, 2021
 
A. Update

On passing of the amendment of The Income Tax Act, the personal income tax bands and rates for resident individuals have been revised as provided below

Annual
Chargeable income (GHS) Cumulative chargeable income (GHS) Rate of tax
First 3,828 3,828 Nil
Next 1,200 5,028 5%
Next 1,440 6,468 10%
Next 36,000 42,468 17.5%
Next 197,532 240,000 25%
Exceeding 240,000 >240,000 30%

The personal reliefs available to resident individuals have been revised. Please refer the below list of changes:

Description of relief New personal relief per annum (GHS)
Dependent spouse or at least 2 dependent children 1,200
Individual with a disability 25% of assessable income from business or employment
Individual who is 60 years and above 1,500
Individual sponsoring education of child or ward1,3 600
Dependent relative who is 60 years and above, other than a child or spouse2,3 1,000
Training to update the professional, technical or vocational skills or knowledge4 2,000
Notes:

1The amount is for child or ward education in a recognized registered educational institution in Ghana and available per child or ward up to a maximum of 3 children or wards

2The amount available is for dependent relatives up to a maximum of 2 dependent relatives.

3Where two or more persons qualify for the relief in respect of the same child, ward, or relative, the Commissioner-General shall grant only one relief.

4This is the maximum cost of training available as a relief.

B. Statutory Compliance Release Date: December 30, 2019
C. Effective Date: January 01, 2020
 

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