Investors regardless the citizen of Ghana or outsiders can set up a company in Ghana according to the Law and Regulation of Companies Code (Act 179), Partnership Act (192) and the Business Name Act 151. Foreign investors can set up the company individually or through joint venture with an individual or company in Ghana and they have to pay US $10,000 to the authority. Initially, the investors need a TIN to apply for registration. Registrar-General Department or Ghana Revenue Authority will provide a Registration Form naming Ghana Revenue Authority Taxpayer Registration Form-Organization and the investors should fill up and submit to the authority.
The applicants will get a message from the authority when the processing of Tax Identification Number will be finished through revenue officers. The investors will get an opportunity to apply processing physically or through online for their company registration. It takes normally 2 days on average and no extra charge will be required. Customer Service Office will conduct searching a company name on the basis of the request from the applicants or investors. They need to submit the proposed company name previously with the necessary documents for registration.
According to the section 15(13) of Companies Act1963 (Act 179), the registrar will reserve a name after getting the payment of certain amount from the investors. In the forms, investors should put some necessary information such as nature of the business, full name and address of applicants, company secretary and auditors. Minimum nominal capital will be required GHC 500 in the time of 100% Ghanaian owned company. During document submission, a letter is provided from an auditing firm should be presented. It will take 1 day to obtain certificate of incorporation.
A single shareholder can form a Ghanaian Limited Liability Company with appointing two directors which is a must. It is also recommended that a director should be the resident of Ghana. To complete the registration process, minimum capital will be required in the amount of US $50,000 for the foreign company but if the company has an intention to make sales in Ghana in further time, the minimum requirement of paid up capital will be increased to US $300,000.
Private Limited Company Registration Ghana
The Limited Liability Company (LLC) has to have a registered office which will be used to maintain statutory and accounting records of the company in Ghana. Investors who want to set up a Public Limited Company in Ghana, must have to pay minimum US $ 150,000 as capital where 20% of the capital will be required for incorporation process. If the company is totally foreign owned, then the required capital amount will be increased as US $50,000. For the external company, setting up a branch office is a must where one representative should be appointed.
The representative could be any nationality but has to have a citizenship in Ghana. Like the limited liability company, branch office should have an address of post office which will help to maintain communication properly. After completing the incorporation process of the company, the investors should fill up the form 3 and 4 which contain the name, address of qualified editors, members of the company, the amount of stated capital of the company and issued or unissued company shares.
Register General Department will collect 0.5%of the stated capital from the company where commencement tax, registration fee and form fees will be added. 15% Value Added Tax (VAT) will be charged where 2.5% will be the National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL). Under the “Know Your Customer” procedures, introductory letter is required by most banks and sometimes the banks can conduct an inspection to justify the transparency of the company.
Metropolitan Authority permits the business operation of any company which is totally depended according to the category of business. Different kinds of business will get the permission from different kinds of authority such as those who want to get permission for restaurant business, must take permission from fire department, Town and Country planning Authority with submitting necessary documents.
To get the license, investors should pay GHC 270 and the total time of completion will be required 7 days. Limited Liability Company, Public Limited Company and Branch take 4 weeks to set up the company where 6 weeks will be required to set up free zone. Within 4 weeks, all kinds of business entities in Ghana will be able to open a bank account under the company name. Besides, all kinds of business entities should file the annual tax return except free zone. Government of Ghana will provide the guarantee of investment of all kinds (Foreign/Local) investors under the GIPC Act. There are some procedures in GPC registration. Initially the company needs to open a corporate account in the bank and make a bank to bank transfer which costs between the amounts of USD 1000 to USD 5000 depending on the company structure.