Stamp Duty on Property in Ghana: Rates, Calculation, and Process

Stamp duty is a tax on documents — particularly legal documents that transfer property, create mortgages, or evidence certain transactions. In Ghana, the Stamp Duty Act (Cap 67) requires payment of duty on land transactions before documents can be used as legal evidence. Failure to pay means your title deed may not be admitted in court proceedings.

What Documents Attract Stamp Duty?

• Conveyances and indentures (property transfer documents)
• Leases and assignments of leases
• Mortgages and charges over land
• Powers of Attorney for property transactions
• Share transfer documents
• Certain commercial agreements

Stamp Duty Rates on Property

GRA assesses stamp duty based on the market value of the property (not necessarily the purchase price). Current rates for land and buildings:

• Properties valued up to GHS 10,000: 0.25%
• Properties valued GHS 10,001–50,000: 0.5%
• Properties valued GHS 50,001–250,000: 1%
• Properties valued above GHS 250,000: 2%

Note: GRA may assess the property independently if they consider the declared value understated. They use their own valuation schedules which are sometimes significantly below market value — to the buyer's advantage.

Example Calculation

Property with GRA assessed value of GHS 400,000:

• First GHS 10,000 at 0.25% = GHS 25
• Next GHS 40,000 at 0.5% = GHS 200
• Next GHS 200,000 at 1% = GHS 2,000
• Remaining GHS 150,000 at 2% = GHS 3,000
• Total stamp duty: GHS 5,225

Stamp Duty on Leases

For leases, stamp duty is calculated on the total rent payable over the lease term (or 3 times annual rent for long leases). This makes stamp duty on long commercial leases significant.

How to Pay Stamp Duty

1. Take your executed (signed) documents to the GRA Stamp Duty office in the relevant region
2. GRA assesses the value and calculates duty payable
3. Pay the assessed amount
4. GRA stamps the documents — each page is individually stamped
5. The stamped document is now legally effective

Stamp duty must be paid within 30 days of execution of the document. Late payment attracts penalties.

Exemptions

• Documents executed by or in favour of the government
• Certain charitable and religious documents
• Documents under mortgage relief programmes (where applicable)

Consequences of Non-Payment

• The document cannot be admitted as evidence in any court proceeding
• The Lands Commission will not register the document until stamp duty is paid
• Penalties and interest accrue for late payment

In practice, unstamped documents are still signed and relied upon by many parties — until a dispute arises, at which point the party holding an unstamped document has a serious problem in court.

Use our free Land Deal Risk Check to prepare for any property purchase. Read about the full transfer process and property valuation.