How to Export Goods from Ghana: A Small Exporter's Guide (2026)

Exporting is mostly paperwork, and the paperwork has deadlines

Most small businesses that start exporting from Ghana worry about the buyer: will they order again, will they pay, will the goods arrive in good condition. Those worries are real, but the problems that actually cost first-time exporters money are usually closer to home. A permit that was not in hand when the truck reached Tema. A declaration filed with the wrong procedure code. Export money that sat abroad past the Bank of Ghana's deadline. Input VAT that could have been refunded but was never claimed because nobody knew the rules.

This guide walks through the full journey for a small exporter of goods: the registrations you need before your first shipment, how the customs declaration works, the rules on bringing the money home, and how VAT and duty drawback work in your favour when you sell abroad. It is written for traders and small manufacturers shipping through Tema, Takoradi, Kotoka airport or a land border, rather than for large cocoa or mining houses, which work under their own arrangements.

Before your first shipment: three registrations and a bank account

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) sets out three basic requirements for anyone who wants to export:

• Register the business with the Registrar-General's Department, now the Office of the Registrar of Companies. Sole proprietors and companies both qualify. Our guide on how to register a business in Ghana covers the steps.
• Register as an exporter with the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA). GRA's page still uses the authority's older name, the Ghana Export Promotion Council. Confirm GEPA's current requirements and any fee directly with GEPA before you apply.
• Hold a Taxpayer Identification Number or Ghana Card PIN. For individuals the Ghana Card PIN now does the job of the TIN, as we explain in the Ghana Card PIN as your TIN.

Do the fourth step at the same time, even though GRA's list leaves it out: open a business account with a bank that can handle foreign exchange, and ask for a foreign exchange account (FEA) alongside your cedi account. Your export proceeds have to come home through your nominated bank, and for traditional exports the bank also issues the exchange-control paperwork. Our guide on opening a business bank account in Ghana covers the documents the bank will ask for.

Traditional or non-traditional: know which route you are on

GRA splits exports into two customs procedures, and the route decides your paperwork.

Traditional exports are cocoa, minerals such as gold, timber and electricity. These go under Customs Procedure Code 10X01. Before declaring, the exporter must get a Bank of Ghana Exchange Control Form A2 from their bankers.

Non-traditional exports are everything else. GRA's own examples are yams, pineapples, handicrafts, cashew nuts, coffee, canned fish, shea butter and textiles. They go under Customs Procedure Code 10X02 and skip the Form A2 step, although GRA's customs FAQ still expects a valid Letter of Commitment from an authorised bank to be part of the declaration.

Most small exporters are on the non-traditional route. If you are unsure which code applies to your goods, ask a licensed customs house agent or GRA before you file. A declaration under the wrong code is an easy way to get a shipment held.

The permits your product needs, and what you cannot ship at all

The customs declaration needs the certificates or permits that apply to your product, and GRA lists the issuing agency for each category. The ones small exporters meet most often:

Start the permit process before you agree a shipping date, not after. Phytosanitary and standards certificates often need an inspection, and the buyer's letter of credit or contract may have a last shipment date that will not wait for you.

Some goods cannot leave Ghana at all. GRA's absolute prohibition list covers round logs of twelve species including rosewood, narcotics and psychotropic substances, African grey parrots, endangered animal species, currency above US$10,000, rattan canes and bamboo, obscene material, and anything else prohibited under international law.

Most exports carry no export duty, but GRA names cocoa beans and hydrocarbon oils such as aviation turbine kerosene as goods that do. Where duty applies, the Customs Act lets the Commissioner-General ask you for security before the goods are loaded.

Step by step: declaring and clearing an export through ICUMS

All exports go through the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), GRA's single window for declarations and payments. Each consignment gets a Unique Consignment Reference, and you use that number to track the shipment.

1. For traditional exports, get Form A2 from your bank first. Non-traditional exporters go straight to the declaration.
2. Submit the customs declaration electronically in ICUMS, under the right procedure code. Attach the bill of lading or airway bill, the commercial invoice, the packing list, the bank's Letter of Commitment and every certificate or permit your product needs.
3. Present the goods for inspection at the port or border you are exporting from.
4. Customs releases the goods once it is satisfied with the examination.

Keep four rules from the Customs Act in mind:

• You must declare even if nothing is dutiable. GRA is explicit that every export needs a declaration, both for control and for trade statistics.
• Goods cannot sit at the port. Goods left in a customs-controlled area for more than 14 days after being entered for export can be forfeited.
• You are responsible for what your agent files. Many exporters use a licensed customs house agent, who has to produce your written authority. The Act still makes the person providing information to GRA responsible for its accuracy and for the documents being genuine.
• Keep everything for six years. Exporters must keep customs records, including electronic ones, for at least six years and produce them for audit.

In law, sea and air exports count as exported once they are put on board the exporting ship or aircraft, and overland exports once they cross Ghana's boundary. That moment matters, because the Bank of Ghana's repatriation clock and your VAT treatment both depend on the goods having actually left.

Getting paid: the Letter of Commitment and the 120-day clock

When you export, you commit to bringing the proceeds back to Ghana, and your bank's Letter of Commitment (LOC) is the record of that promise. Bank of Ghana Notice BG/GOV/SEC/2025/34, in force since 30 October 2025, sets the current rules for every LOC issued on exports from Ghana:

• 120 days. Export proceeds must be repatriated through your nominated bank within 120 days of the date of shipment.
• One extension, and only one. The Bank of Ghana may grant up to 60 more calendar days, but only against a reasonable and well-documented justification.
• No further extensions. Beyond that, you can ask for the LOC to be cancelled, again only with adequate justification.
• Real sanctions. An exporter who cannot justify non-repatriation faces sanctions under section 15(4) of the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723): a fine of up to 5,000 penalty units, imprisonment of up to ten years, or both.

The notice repealed section 4 of the Bank of Ghana's 2016 Rules on Repatriation of Export Proceeds. Older guides written under the 2016 rules still quote a different window, so work from the 2025 notice.

This turns your payment terms into a compliance matter. If you give a foreign buyer 90 days to pay and they pay 40 days late, you are already asking for your one extension. So agree terms your buyer can meet, chase overdue invoices early, and tell your bank as soon as a payment looks likely to slip, while there is still time to document why.

On currency: invoicing a buyer abroad in US dollars is normal and allowed. The Bank of Ghana's August 2025 notice on foreign-exchange transactions says foreign-currency invoices may be issued only to non-residents or expatriates, with the proceeds paid into a foreign exchange account at a licensed bank. What you cannot do is invoice your Ghanaian customers in dollars. For those sales the cedi is the only legal tender. Our guides on invoicing properly, holding US dollars in Ghana and protecting your money from cedi depreciation cover the practical side of earning in one currency and spending in another.

VAT: exports are zero-rated, so your input VAT can come back

Under the Value Added Tax Act, 2025 (Act 1151), a supply of goods is zero-rated when you have entered the goods for export under the Customs Act and exported them yourself. Zero-rated does not mean exempt. You charge VAT at 0% on the export sale, but as a VAT-registered business you can still deduct the VAT you paid on your inputs: raw materials, packaging, transport, utilities. Freight and insurance directly attributable to exporting the goods are zero-rated too.

The Act sets out what counts as exported. The goods must be produced to Customs for examination immediately before loading, samples must be provided if Customs asks for them, the person in charge of the ship, aircraft or vehicle must certify on the entry document that the goods were received on board, and the goods must appear on the cargo manifest. Goods that you later re-import do not count as exported, so the zero rating falls away.

Because your export sales carry no output VAT, an exporter often ends a period with more input VAT than output VAT. Section 53 of the Act deals with that excess credit:

• The default is a credit carried into the next period.
• A cash refund is possible for the export portion when two conditions are met: your exports are more than 25% of your total supplies in the period, and the total export proceeds have been repatriated to your bank in Ghana.
• You can apply once the credit has been outstanding for a continuous three months or more. The claim goes in on GRA's Refund Claim Form with the supporting tax invoices and customs documents.
• GRA must pay within 30 days of the application, but only if all your earlier returns were filed on time and your tax, penalties and interest were paid by their due dates. If they were not, the claim is rejected or offset against what you owe. If GRA pays late, the Act adds interest linked to the Bank of Ghana discount rate.

Three details catch people out. An input-tax deduction cannot be claimed more than six months after it accrued. A refund claim you were not entitled to carries a penalty of twice the refund plus interest. And the repatriation rules tie back in here: an export whose proceeds never came home cannot support a refund.

Whether you have to register for VAT depends on your turnover. Our explainers on VAT in Ghana and when a business must register for VAT cover the thresholds, and the VAT calculator handles the arithmetic on your local sales.

Duty drawback, re-exports and free-zone sales

If you import materials, pay duty on them, and then export them or the goods you make from them, you may be able to recover that duty. The Customs Act calls this a drawback, meaning a refund of all or part of the duty on goods that are exported. GRA may pay a drawback where imported goods are exported in the same condition they arrived in, or where imported goods are used to manufacture goods in Ghana that are then exported.

Apply within 12 months of the date of exportation, in the correct format and with documentary evidence. GRA pays verified claims within 12 months of verification. If you import inputs regularly, keep the import entries, your production records and the export entries together so the chain from one to the other is easy to show. Our guide to import duty for small importers explains how the original duty bill is built.

Commercial goods re-exported from a bonded warehouse carry a processing fee of 1% of their cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value. Exporting warehoused goods, or goods entitled to drawback, outside the proper customs procedure can bring a penalty equal to the full value of the goods plus forfeiture.

Selling to a company in one of Ghana's free zones can also be zero-rated for VAT, provided the free-zone developer or enterprise gives you documentation showing that its operations and the way it buys from you meet the requirements of the Free Zones Act, 1995 (Act 504). Get that paperwork before you invoice without VAT.

Proof of origin and trade preferences

Many buyers abroad can bring your goods in at a lower tariff if they can prove the goods originate in Ghana. GRA's customs FAQ notes that certificates of origin are what let exports benefit from preferential treatment in the European Union and other countries that grant preferences. The same logic applies to preferential trade within West Africa. Ask your buyer early which document their customs authority needs, and confirm with GRA how to get it for your product.

For hard cases, the Customs Act lets you apply in writing to the Commissioner-General for an advance ruling on the tariff classification, customs value or origin of your goods. Your request must set out the relevant facts, the parties and the port. The ruling binds GRA until it is revoked, which gives you certainty before you sign a long contract. Established exporters can also apply for registration as an Authorised Economic Operator, a certified status for businesses with a secure, customs-compliant supply chain.

A worked example

Take Akosua, who makes leather sandals and bags in Kumasi and has a first order from a boutique in Europe. The figures below are illustrative. The exchange rate is assumed and the rules are the ones described above.

• Before shipping: her business is registered, she has registered with GEPA, and her company has a TIN. She asks the Ghana Standards Authority whether her products need certification, and she opens a foreign exchange account with her bank, which issues the Letter of Commitment.
• The shipment: her agent files the declaration in ICUMS under the non-traditional procedure code, with the invoice in US dollars, the packing list, the airway bill and the LOC. Customs examines the goods, and they are loaded on 1 March.
• The clock: the 120 days run from the date of shipment, so the proceeds must be repatriated by 29 June. If the buyer runs late, she can ask for a single extension of up to 60 calendar days, which takes her to 28 August, and only with documented reasons.
• The VAT month: say her local sales are ₵20,000, on which she charges VAT at the flat 20% (₵4,000). Her export sale, worth about ₵150,000 at the assumed rate, is zero-rated. Leather, dyes and packaging cost her ₵9,000 in input VAT. That leaves an excess credit of ₵5,000.
• The refund: her exports are well over 25% of total supplies. Once the buyer's payment has landed in her Ghanaian bank and the credit has been outstanding for three continuous months, she can apply for a refund of the export portion. Because her returns and payments are up to date, GRA should pay within 30 days.

Without the zero rating and the refund route, that ₵5,000 would be a straight cost buried in her export price. Our guide on pricing your product or service explains how to build costs like these into a quote.

Mistakes that cost small exporters money

• Booking the ship before the permits are in hand. The declaration needs them, and the buyer's deadline will not move.
• Assuming "no duty" means "no declaration". Every export has to be declared.
• Leaving goods at the port. More than 14 days after entry for export and they can be forfeited.
• Generous payment terms with no buffer. The 120-day repatriation clock runs from shipment, not from when the buyer feels like paying.
• Invoicing local customers in dollars. Only non-residents and expatriates may be invoiced in foreign currency.
• Letting input VAT expire. You get six months to claim a deduction, and late returns kill the 30-day refund.
• Thin records. Customs can audit six years back. Good bookkeeping, as in our bookkeeping basics guide, makes drawback and VAT refund claims straightforward.

If growing export orders need working capital, compare options on our business loans comparison or read about Development Bank Ghana's SME lending.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a customs declaration if my goods carry no export duty? Yes. GRA requires a declaration for every export, dutiable or not, both for compliance and for national trade statistics.

How long do I have to bring the money home? 120 days from the date of shipment, under Bank of Ghana Notice BG/GOV/SEC/2025/34. You can get one extension of up to 60 calendar days with a well-documented justification, and no more after that.

Can I keep my export earnings in US dollars? The proceeds must come back through your nominated bank in Ghana. The Bank of Ghana directs the proceeds of foreign-currency invoices to non-residents into a foreign exchange account at a licensed bank, so you can hold them there. Confirm with your bank how and when you can convert them to cedis.

Is exporting VAT-free? Exported goods are zero-rated: 0% VAT on the sale, while a registered business keeps its right to deduct input VAT. You only get the zero rating if the export conditions in the VAT Act are met, and you lose it if the goods are re-imported.

Do I have to use a customs agent? The declaration is filed through ICUMS, and many small exporters use a licensed customs house agent to file it. The agent must produce your authority, and you remain responsible for the accuracy of what is filed in your name.

Is my export income taxed? Yes. Profit from exporting is business income like any other and goes on your annual return. Our complete guide to tax in Ghana explains how business income is taxed. Confirm any sector-specific treatment with GRA.

Reviewed 11 September 2026. Requirements are drawn from the Ghana Revenue Authority's export procedures, customs FAQ and export prohibitions pages, the abridged Customs Act, 2015 (Act 891), the Value Added Tax Act, 2025 (Act 1151), and Bank of Ghana Notices BG/GOV/SEC/2025/26 and BG/GOV/SEC/2025/34. Permit, standards and agency fees change and are set by each agency, so confirm current requirements before you ship.

This article is general information, not financial or legal advice. Export rules depend on your product and destination, so speak to GRA, your bank or a licensed customs house agent about your specific shipment.