HOW-TO: VERIFY TIN Number and Business Name Registration in Ghana

It has become necessary that every Ghanaian gets a Tax Identification Number (TIN). As nurses, it is a must have. You may have seen some people selling TIN number registration on social media. Getting a TIN is actually easy (all you need is your details and other requirements e.g. a copy of your ID), free and can be gotten online from the comfort of your home. That will be discussed in a subsequent article.

Today, lets talk about how to verify TIN numbers and also how to check if a business has been duly registered in Ghana. You can also check to see if a business name you plan on registering has not been taken already.

What is a TIN?

The Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) is a unique Identification number issued to taxpayers and potential taxpayers.

Getting a TIN is free. You must get it if you should be paying tax. It is an offense if you don’t.

Reasons to get a TIN

You must have a TIN to:

register your business with the Registrar-General’s Department,
do business with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA),
open a bank account,
register your vehicle,
get a passport,
register land,
clear goods from a port or airport,
get a drivers’ licence.

Requirements

Before you start

You need any of the following documents to apply, your:

valid Drivers’ License,
valid Passport,
Voters ID,
National Identification Card,
Make a coloured photocopy of the ID used.

For companies you will need documents such as:

certificate of incorporation,
commencement certificate,
partnership certificate,
external company letter

Verifying your TIN online

The process to verify TIN is very easy.

Simply CLICK HERE to visit the GRA TIN verification page.
Type in the complete TIN Number and the name of the owner should appear.

Verifying Business Registration

This process is easy as well.

First, CLICK HERE to visit the Registrar General's Department where you'll search for the desired business name.
You should be greeted by this screen....
Enter the "Entity Name" or the Business Name you'd like to search.
Under "Search Type", you can select "Contains" to get all results that contains your query.
Under "Captcha", kindly enter the numbers you see on the right side of the 'Entry Box'.
Hit the "Search" button.

When you are through, you should have a list of already registered business names that contain your query. If none exists, you should see that notification too.

Below is a sample search.