All details about B2B E-VAT electronic invoicing in Ghana
As of July 1, 2023, e-Invoicing is mandatory in Ghana for 650 large taxpayers selected by the government.
Are you one of them? You have until June 30th, 2023 to prepare your systems for the transition.
Don't hesitate, EDICOM together with Deloitte can provide a turnkey solution to make this regulatory mandate seamless.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ghana's tax authority, introduced the E-VAT system through the modified VAT Act 870 in October 2022. This is an improvement in the way VAT transactions are invoiced. The law establishes the mandatory nature of the model for all companies through a phased implementation.
The E-VAT electronic VAT system in Ghana consists of an invoice validation process. Once submitted to the GRA, the authority returns each invoice with a code called the "sales data controller" (SDC). The SDC includes a timestamp and a QR code. This SDC code must be included in the PDF invoice sent to the customer.
The E-VAT system applies to invoices and credit notes. In addition, companies must send information about their inventory and purchases to the GRA.
Implementation schedule for e-Invoicing in Ghana
The GRA establishes a phased implementation for the adoption of electronic invoicing.
- Phase 1: Since October 2022, the authority has invited certain large taxpayers to begin issuing electronic invoices.
- Phase 2: In 2023, date to be confirmed, medium taxpayers will join.
- Phase 3: Starting in 2024, it will be extended to all companies.
How to connect with the Ghana Revenue Authority
EDICOM's global electronic invoicing platform is ready to connect with the GRA for sending electronic documents and for sending files to their end customers. Through an integrated solution, you can automate any process to comply with Ghana's electronic VAT legal requirements.
From your ERP, you must extract a file with the necessary data that will contain the documents.
EDICOM integrates to receive this file and transform it into the standard required by the GRA, semantically validate it, and automatically send it to the GRA portal.
Once the GRA has validated the document, EDICOM receives it along with the SDC code to integrate it into your ERP or include it in the PDF invoice to be sent to the customer.
Finally, EDICOM will securely archive the documents for the period established by law in Ghana of 6 years.
Send invoices to your customers in an integrated and automated way
To complete the accounts receivable process, we offer an electronic sending service for your invoices to your customers. Business@Mail is designed for sending any document to all your contacts. This is how the service works:
- Document generation and sending: The issuer generates the documents (invoices, purchase orders, payroll receipts, etc.) from their company's management systems in the same way they do with their other contacts.
- Notification to recipients: The recipient company of the documents receives an email informing them that they have a new document in the Business@Mail platform along with a link to access it.
- Document consultation and/or download: The document recipients access a web environment from the link to consult and/or download it. At all times, the issuer knows if the recipient has taken any action with the document.
The Business@Mail service provides greater guarantees, agility, and control than conventional email delivery.
Legal context of electronic invoicing in Ghana
Law 870 modifies the initial law of 2013, where the model was already introduced, and makes it mandatory. In October 2022, GRA began selecting certain large taxpayers to comply with the model and will continue inviting selected companies until October 2023. It is expected to be mandatory for large and medium taxpayers throughout 2023.
This new billing system has been designed to simplify the work of companies registered for VAT purposes. It provides, among others, the following advantages:
- Improved record-keeping and accounting
- Reduced compliance costs
- Simplified VAT refund process.
