KPMG urges phased rollout of Ghana tax reforms in mid-year budget

KPMG called for a phased rollout of Ghana’s tax reforms, warning that a faster timetable could hit compliance teams, pricing models and cash flow before businesses have time to adjust. The point, made on July 28, 2026, was less about resisting reform than about the work needed to make it run inside finance departments, tax functions and client service teams.

The warning came after Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson presented Ghana’s 2026 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review to Parliament on July 23 under President John Dramani Mahama. The review, titled Resetting for Growth, Jobs, and Economic Transformation, was tabled under section 28 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016, and Parliament of Ghana confirmed the presentation in its own notice.

The mid-year package included measures affecting customs, excise and VAT, which helps explain why KPMG focused on sequencing. A separate tax newsflash tied to the review said Ghana advanced tax administration reforms and unveiled customs and excise duty reform bills on July 30, while another analysis highlighted proposed customs warehousing periods of three months for perishables, six months for general goods and 12 months for some other categories. Those kinds of changes do not only affect tariff calculations; they ripple through import planning, invoice coding, tax forecasting and customer pricing.

For KPMG tax professionals and client-facing advisers, the biggest strain would fall on companies that need to change systems and controls quickly. That means revising ERP settings, updating contracts, aligning payroll processes, refreshing transfer pricing documentation and resetting tax calendars before the first filing deadlines hit. Multinational groups would also need to make sure local compliance work in Ghana matches group reporting and treasury planning, while smaller businesses would have less room to absorb penalties or operational errors.

The firm’s position also fits a broader advisory push already visible around the Ghana budget cycle. KPMG’s 2026 Pre-Budget Survey Report was published in November 2025, and its July 2026 Mid-Year Budget Highlights, co-branded with UNDP, tracked the same review and its tax implications. For KPMG teams, the message is that policy change creates work only when implementation is clear: timing, transition rules and administrative readiness decide whether reform is manageable or disruptive.