Data-center law in Ghana

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-04

Drafted with AI

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page. How this site is made

Ghana has no data-center-specific siting, permitting, or utility statute.

A data-center project is governed by the general investment framework of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act, 2013 (Act 865), which sets the registration process for any enterprise with foreign participation and lets the Board negotiate specific incentive packages for strategic investments with the President's approval, while the general tax and customs incentives available to a registered enterprise are those already granted under the Internal Revenue Act, the Value Added Tax Act, and the customs schedule, rather than a rate stated in Act 865 itself.

A data center sited inside a designated free zone instead falls under the Free Zones Act, 1995 (Act 504), which names information processing and computer-aided services among the activities a free zone enterprise may render and sell, and grants a registered free zone developer or enterprise a ten-year income tax holiday, after which section 28(2) of Act 504 still states a rate of no more than eight per cent of the profit while the Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896) taxes a free zone enterprise's export income at fifteen per cent and its domestic-market income at twenty-five per cent, an exemption of free zone imports from direct and indirect taxes and duties, and a withholding-tax exemption on dividends from free zone investments.

Neither Act names electricity grid interconnection, water use, or air emissions as a data-center-specific concern.

01

Instruments on record

2 instruments on record, grouped by the family of approval each one governs.

Public agreements

What fiscal agreements attach a data center to its host jurisdiction?

Free Zones Act

In force

Free Zones Act, 1995 (Act 504), as amended by the Free Zone (Amendment) Act, 2002 (Act 618)

Effective 1995-09-15 · Applies to both

Act 504 lets the President, on the recommendation of the Board of the Free Zones Authority, declare an area of land or a building a free zone. A free zone enterprise may render and sell information processing, computer-aided design, computer-aided printing and publishing, and software development telemarketing services, among other listed activities. Its imports into the free zone are exempt from direct and indirect taxes and duties.

A free zone developer or enterprise is exempted from income tax on profits for the first ten years from the date it commences operations. Section 28(2) of Act 504 caps the income tax rate after those ten years at eight percent of the profit. The Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896) taxes the income of a free zone enterprise after its concessionary period at fifteen percent where it comes from the export of goods and services outside the national customs territory.

It taxes income from goods and services provided to the domestic market by a free zone enterprise after that period at twenty-five percent. Act 896 repeals any other law to the extent that it is inconsistent with that Act. A shareholder is exempted from withholding tax on dividends arising from free zone investments.

A foreign employee of a free zone enterprise pays appropriate tax to the Government on income earned in the Republic, including income earned in the free zone, under the existing income tax legislation and subject to any double-taxation agreement with the employee's home country.

Source: Full text of law

Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act

In force

Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act, 2013 (Act 865)

Effective 2013-10-30 · Applies to both

Act 865 sets Ghana's general registration process for an enterprise with foreign participation, administered by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre. Section 26 entitles a registered enterprise to the benefits and incentives available to an enterprise of a similar nature under the Internal Revenue Act, the Value Added Tax Act, and specified chapters of the customs schedule, without stating an incentive rate itself.

Section 26(4) lets the Board, in consultation with government agencies and with the President's approval, specify priority areas of investment and negotiate specific incentive packages for strategic investments, publishing the criteria for a strategic-investment designation in the Gazette and on its website.

Source: Full text of law

Every entry cites the instrument it describes. None of it is legal advice: verify a citation before relying on it. Full sourcing: read the methodology. The rest of the record: all jurisdictions.