The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) says its use of artificial intelligence to detect customs undervaluation generated an additional GH¢1 billion in revenue in April 2026 alone.
The authority highlighted the figure at the seventh Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum (BRITACOF) in Jakarta, Indonesia, where it presented Ghana’s experience with digital tax reforms.
Hosted by Indonesia’s Directorate General of Taxes from October 13 to 15, the forum brought together tax administrators and policymakers to discuss digital transformation and international cooperation.
Leading Ghana’s delegation, Technical Adviser to the GRA Commissioner-General, Elsie Appau-Klu, said technology must do more than automate existing processes. It must also improve governance and strengthen trust between tax authorities and taxpayers.
She was speaking during a digital transformation panel on the theme, “From Tax Informatisation to Smart Taxation: The Ghanaian Experience and Shared Paths for Belt and Road Jurisdictions.”
Ms Appau-Klu identified three major developments in Ghana’s transition: the introduction of the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) in 2020, the adoption of the Ghana Card Personal Identification Number as the Tax Identification Number in 2021, and the launch of the Modified Taxation Scheme (MTS) in 2025.
She said the Ghana Card integration had increased the number of identity-linked taxpayers from about three million to more than 18 million, providing a common identification platform for tax administration.
ICUMS, she explained, had brought customs operations across ports and borders onto a unified system.
The MTS, meanwhile, was designed to bring eligible informal-sector operators into the tax net through simpler registration, filing and payment processes.
According to Ms Appau-Klu, eligible operators can register with their Ghana Cards, file returns through a mobile application or the *880# short code, and make payments through mobile money.
She described Ghana’s approach as combining an accessible interface with more sophisticated technology in the background, supported by continuous taxpayer education.
The authority also highlighted electronic VAT invoicing, the Integrated Tax Administration System and Publican AI as tools for improving compliance, monitoring transactions and identifying revenue leakages.
Ms Appau-Klu attributed the additional GH¢1 billion collected in April to Publican AI’s detection of customs undervaluation.
She said total GRA revenue reached GH¢182 billion in 2025, compared with GH¢153 billion in 2024, with the authority targeting GH¢310 billion by 2028.
However, she stressed that investment in technology must be matched by investment in staff.
The GRA, she said, was retraining auditors to work as data analysts and risk managers, with AI supporting fraud detection, audit case selection and customs valuation. Final decisions remained the responsibility of human officers.
She identified data security, privacy, legal authority, human oversight and taxpayers’ rights to object and appeal as essential safeguards for digital tax administration.
Ms Appau-Klu also called for common standards on identity verification, electronic invoicing, secure data exchange and AI governance under the Tax Administration Product Portfolio 2.0.
She proposed a dedicated digital capacity-building programme and a shared repository documenting both successful and unsuccessful reforms, offering Ghana’s informal-sector taxation model as a contribution.
She also identified opportunities for Ghana to learn from Brazil’s experience with informal businesses, Indonesia’s electronic tax systems and China’s Golden Tax System.
Other members of Ghana’s delegation were Moses Koloni Yidana, Head of the GRA’s Transfer Pricing Unit, and Abdul Rauf Nasiru, Head of the Telecommunications and Services Large Taxpayer Office in the Audit Division.