Ghana’s 20% digital VAT may hit online bettors, MP warns
What the GRA’s guidance says about gambling, what it leaves open, and how the new charge differs from the abolished winnings tax.
Key takeaways:
- The Ghana Revenue Authority launched its Real-Time VAT (RTVAT) system on October 15, 2026 to automate VAT collection on digital services from foreign suppliers.
- The effective rate is 20 per cent: 15 per cent VAT, a 2.5 per cent National Health Insurance Levy and a 2.5 per cent GETFund Levy.
- Ghana’s older e-commerce guidance lists games of chance and gambling games as electronically supplied services. The VAT Act, 2025 subsequently removed betting and gaming from the previous list of VAT-exempt supplies, although the precise treatment of individual transactions under RTVAT remains unclear.
- Tano North MP Gideon Boako argues that applying the policy to platforms such as Betway could amount to a return of the abolished betting tax. He has also questioned how the GRA will prevent double charges and handle refund requests.
- Ghana abolished its 10 per cent withholding tax on betting winnings in April 2025. It is a separate levy from RTVAT, and Boako’s criticism does not show it has returned.
Ghana.- Ghana’s new real-time digital VAT system has triggered a debate over online betting taxation, after MP Gideon Boako warned it could place a financial burden on bettors similar to the winnings tax scrapped in 2025. The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) says RTVAT improves the collection of existing taxes rather than introducing a new rate, but its published guidance does not specifically explain how the system treats individual betting transactions. Until this is clarified, operators and players cannot be certain whether stakes and deposits on foreign platforms will attract the full 20 per cent effective rate.
Boako questioned the implications of applying the effective rate to foreign digital service providers, including online betting platforms such as Betway, warning that consumers could face additional costs for services that had not previously been charged the applicable taxes, according to MyJoyOnline. Boako said: “Taxpayers are concerned about the economic incidence on their purse/pocket and not the legal regimes of taxes.”
Ghana abolished its 10 per cent withholding tax on betting and lottery winnings in April 2025, removing the deduction previously applied to players’ winnings. That levy was distinct from VAT on qualifying digital services and the separate tax obligations applicable to betting operators. Boako’s criticism does not establish that the former betting winnings tax has been reinstated.
The GRA’s official e-commerce guidance includes games of chance and gambling games among electronically supplied services. However, it does not specifically confirm whether every betting deposit, stake or wager is subject to the effective rate.
Boako also questioned how the GRA would prevent consumers from being charged twice on the same transaction and what procedures would be available to those seeking refunds.
The GRA introduced its Real-Time VAT Collection (RTVAT) system on October 15, 2026 to automate the collection and monitoring of VAT on eligible digital services supplied by foreign companies. The system covers qualifying services paid for using Ghana-issued bank cards, mobile money accounts or digital wallets.
The effective rate is 20 per cent, comprising 15 per cent VAT, a 2.5 per cent National Health Insurance Levy and a 2.5 per cent GETFund Levy. The GRA says consumers should not be charged twice where the applicable taxes have already been paid, although customers using providers that have not previously charged the taxes could see their costs increase.
The published RTVAT guidance does not specifically explain whether individual stakes and deposits on foreign betting platforms will be subject to the full 20 per cent rate.
