Ghana's Parliament passed the Excise Bill 2026 on 28 July 2026, introducing a hybrid excise system for alcoholic beverages, a sliding-scale regime tied to local agricultural content, duty exemption for locally made fruit juices, and mandatory stockist registration to plug revenue leaks.

RF Report

Ghana’s Parliament passed the Excise Bill 2026 on 28 July 2026.

The Excise Bill of 2026 is a comprehensive legislative proposal designed to overhaul the taxation of specific imported and locally manufactured goods in Ghana.

The bill consolidates and reforms the existing legal landscape by repealing both the Excise Tax Stamp Act, 2013 (Act 873) and the Excise Duty Act, 2014 (Act 878) to modernise tax administration, curb revenue leakages, and resolve structural weaknesses in inventory and warehouse control. Key reforms introduced by the bill include a Hybrid Excise System for alcoholic products and a Sliding Scale Policy that provides tax incentives for using local agricultural materials.

The key tax measures of the Bill are:

Duty exemption for locally manufactured fruit juices

While fruit juices generally attract an excise duty of 20% of the ex-factory price under the First Schedule, the Bill explicitly moves “Locally Manufactured Fruits Juices” to the Second Schedule of Exempt Goods, applying a 0% excise duty rate.

This concession applies to locally manufactured fruit juices (including grape and vegetable juices) falling under heading 20.09 of the Harmonised System and Custom  Tariff Schedules, 2022. The juices must be unfermented and must not contain any added spirits, whether or not they contain added sugar or other sweetening agents.

This measure is designed to support domestic agro-processing, encourage value addition, and create sustainable markets for local farmers.

Differentiated sliding-scale excise regime

The Bill implements a strengthened Sliding Scale Excise Policy that rewards manufacturers who incorporate domestic agricultural inputs by scaling down their excise duties proportionally:

  • Malt drinks: 
    • 20% of the ex-factory price when locally sourced raw materials comprise less than 50% of production.
    • 12.5% of the ex-factory price when locally sourced raw materials are between 50% and 70%.
    • 10% of the ex-factory price when local raw material usage exceeds 70%.
  • Beer and stout (excluding indigenous beer): 
    • 47.5% of the ex-factory price when locally sourced raw materials are less than 50%.
    • 40% of the ex-factory price when local raw materials are between 50% and 70%.
    • 25% of the ex-factory price when local raw material usage exceeds 70%.

Hybrid excise structure for wines and spirits

  • A hybrid excise regime for alcoholic beverages combines value-based and alcohol-content-based duties to tighten tax collection and discourage import price manipulation.
  • Wines, including sparkling varieties, face an ad valorem levy of 42% of ex-factory price alongside an alcohol-specific component.
  • Spirits—distilled, rectified, and traditional varieties like Akpeteshie—are subject to 48.5% of ex-factory price plus GHS 0.50 per 100 millilitres. Both domestic and imported products fall under the same rates.

Expanded registration framework for stockists

The new framework closes a gap in the prior regime by extending oversight beyond manufacturers to all supply chain participants.

  • Stockists purchasing imported excisable materials for resale must register with the Ghana Revenue Authority.
  • All registered manufacturers, importers, and stockists are required to display their certificate of registration at their principal place of business and any location where they conduct excisable activities.

Offences & penalties

  • Audit powers: Authority officers can conduct random or periodic audits and enter manufacturer, importer, wholesaler, or distributor premises at any reasonable time to inspect inventory and verify excise tax stamps.
  • False local material declarations: Manufacturers who knowingly misstate their percentage of local raw materials to claim lower sliding-scale rates must pay underpaid excise duty plus a penalty equal to twice that amount.
  • Wrongful concessional rate claims: Anyone claiming or using concessional excise rates without entitlement faces a penalty of twice the underpaid duty.
  • Warehouse violations: Manufacturing excisable goods in unapproved premises or storing unpaid goods outside approved warehouses triggers a penalty equal to twice the excise duty owed on those goods.