TIN, VAT registration, and what to put on an invoice before you have either

Two different numbers identify a Ghanaian business on an invoice, they are not interchangeable, and claiming one you do not hold is a harder conversation than simply not having it.

Registration thresholds and procedures change. Confirm your own position with the Ghana Revenue Authority or your accountant rather than with an article.

The TIN identifies you

Your Tax Identification Number is how the revenue authority knows which business issued the document. It belongs near your business name at the head of the invoice, not buried in the footer. A business customer will often ask for it before paying, because they need it for their own records.

VAT registration is a separate thing

Being registered for VAT is not the same as having a TIN, and it is what entitles you to charge VAT and to show a VAT registration number. Until you are registered, you do not have that number and you must not print one.

Invoicing before you are registered

This is where people go wrong out of a wish to look established. The rule is short: do not put a VAT line on the invoice, do not show a registration number you do not have, and do not add a percentage and call it tax. Invoice the amount you agreed, say nothing about VAT, and the document is correct.

An invoice without a VAT line is not an unprofessional invoice. An invoice with a VAT line you cannot support is a problem you will have to unpick with a customer who has already claimed it.

When it changes

The day you register, the invoices you issue from then on carry the new number and the tax lines. The ones you issued before do not get reissued. Whatever was true on the day a document was raised is what that document should keep saying.