Ghana's new PAYE bands from September 2026: what changes on your payroll

Ghana has new PAYE bands. The Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2026 (Act 1178) changed the rates for resident individuals, and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) applies the new table from 1 September 2026.

The headline is simple: the part of monthly income that is taxed at 0% goes up from GH₵490 to GH₵588. What most summaries leave out is that the bands above it moved too, and not everyone ends up paying less. This guide shows the new table, works through real salaries, and lists what to change before your next payroll run.

The new monthly PAYE table

These are the GRA’s monthly bands for resident employees, for salaries from September 2026.

Chargeable income (monthly)	Rate
First GH₵588	0%
Next GH₵80	5%
Next GH₵100	10%
Next GH₵2,900	17.5%
Next GH₵16,000	25%
Next GH₵30,332	30%
Above GH₵50,000	35%

If you work on annual figures, the GRA’s annual table is the monthly one multiplied by 12: the first GH₵7,056 is tax-free, then GH₵960 at 5%, GH₵1,200 at 10%, GH₵34,800 at 17.5%, GH₵192,000 at 25%, GH₵363,984 at 30%, and 35% on anything above GH₵600,000.

Non-resident employees are still taxed at a flat 25%.

What actually moved

It helps to look at where each rate now stops, rather than at the width of each band.

Rate	Old band ends at (Jan to Aug 2026)	New band ends at (from Sept 2026)
0%	GH₵490	GH₵588
5%	GH₵600	GH₵668
10%	GH₵730	GH₵768
17.5%	GH₵3,896.67	GH₵3,668
25%	GH₵19,896.67	GH₵19,668
30%	GH₵50,416.67	GH₵50,000

The bottom three bands now reach further, which is the relief for lower earners. But the 17.5%, 25% and 30% bands each stop a little earlier than before, so a slice of income that used to be taxed at a lower rate is now taxed at the next one up.

Who pays less, and who pays a little more

Here is the monthly PAYE on four basic salaries with no allowances. In each case we take off the employee’s 5.5% SSNIT contribution first, because SSNIT is deducted before PAYE is worked out (see our guide to SSNIT, Tier 2 and Tier 3).

Basic salary	SSNIT (5.5%)	Chargeable income	PAYE before	PAYE now	Change
GH₵1,200	GH₵66.00	GH₵1,134.00	GH₵89.20	GH₵78.05	GH₵11.15 less
GH₵3,000	GH₵165.00	GH₵2,835.00	GH₵386.88	GH₵375.72	GH₵11.16 less
GH₵6,000	GH₵330.00	GH₵5,670.00	GH₵1,016.00	GH₵1,022.00	GH₵6.00 more
GH₵10,000	GH₵550.00	GH₵9,450.00	GH₵1,961.00	GH₵1,967.00	GH₵6.00 more

So, in plain terms:

• Chargeable income up to GH₵588 a month: no PAYE at all (the old cut-off was GH₵490).
• Up to about GH₵3,817 a month: the employee pays less, with the saving levelling off at about GH₵11 a month.
• Above about GH₵3,817 a month: the employee pays slightly more. For most salaries it’s GH₵6 a month. It rises to about GH₵17 once chargeable income passes roughly GH₵19,900 a month, and to about GH₵38 above roughly GH₵50,420.

None of these changes is large, but they are exactly the kind of difference that makes a payslip look “wrong” to an employee who has read that taxes went down. If your senior staff ask why their PAYE went up by a few cedis in September, this is the reason.

How to work out PAYE on the new bands

Take an employee on a basic salary of GH₵6,000 with no taxable allowances:

1. SSNIT: 5.5% of GH₵6,000 is GH₵330.
2. Chargeable income: GH₵6,000 minus GH₵330 is GH₵5,670.
3. Walk up the bands:
   • First GH₵588 at 0%: GH₵0
   • Next GH₵80 at 5%: GH₵4.00
   • Next GH₵100 at 10%: GH₵10.00
   • Next GH₵2,900 at 17.5%: GH₵507.50
   • The remaining GH₵2,002 at 25%: GH₵500.50
4. Total PAYE: GH₵1,022.00 for the month.

If the employee has taxable allowances, add them to the basic salary before step 2. Deductions the GRA allows before PAYE include the 5.5% SSNIT contribution, provident fund (Tier 3) contributions up to 16.5% of basic salary, and mortgage interest on one residential property.

What to update before your next payroll run

1. Switch tables for September 2026 salaries onward. January to August 2026 stays on the old bands, so don’t rerun those months with the new table.
2. Check your annual reconciliation. Your 2026 annual PAYE return will mix eight months on the old table and four on the new one. Keep each month’s working so the totals are easy to explain.
3. Leave bonus and overtime rules alone. The GRA still lists the 5% rate on bonuses up to 15% of annual basic salary, and the special 5% and 10% overtime rates for eligible junior staff. We explain both in how bonuses and overtime are taxed in Ghana.
4. Tell your team. A short note with the payslip saves a lot of questions, especially from the employees whose PAYE went up slightly.
5. Remit on time. PAYE deducted in a month is still due to the GRA by the 15th of the following month.

How Eban handles the change

In Eban, Ghana’s PAYE tables are stored with the date they take effect. A payroll run for September 2026 or later uses the new bands without anyone touching a setting, and if you rerun an earlier month for a correction, it still uses the table that applied at the time. SSNIT and PAYE show as separate lines on each payslip, so employees can see exactly where their money went.