[Adopted 5-11-2006 by Ord. No. 203][1]
[1]
Editor's Note: This article was amended 3-11-2010 by Ord.
No. 223 to change occurrences of "Emergency and Municipal Services
Tax" to "Local Services Tax."
The following words and phrases when used in
this article shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this section
unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
An individual, partnership, limited partnership, association
or corporation that engages the services of any individual and makes
payment to said individual whether by salary, wages or commission.
An employer shall include a self-employed person who engages in his
employ the services of one or more individuals, besides himself.
Any person, male or female, engaged in any occupation of
any nature, type or kind whatsoever within the corporate limits of
the Township of Maidencreek, whether in the employ of another or self-employed,
during the fiscal year.
The exercising or carrying on by any manner or means any
occupation whatsoever, whether it be a trade, profession, business
or undertaking of any type or kind carried on or performed within
the corporate limits of the Township of Maidencreek for which recompense
is received, whether by means of salary, wages, commission or whether
the individual be self-employed by parent for services rendered.
A tax of $52 per year levied on the privilege of each engagement
in any occupation, as heretofore defined, within the corporate limits
of the Township of Maidencreek, during each calendar year. This tax
is in addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature heretofore
levied by the political subdivision. This tax may be used solely for
the following purposes as the same may be allocated by the Township
of Maidencreek from time to time: emergency services, which shall
include emergency medical services, police services and/or fire services;
road construction and/or maintenance; reduction of property taxes;
or property tax relief through implementation of a homestead and farmstead
exclusion in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S., Ch.85, Subch.F (relating
to homestead property exclusion). The political subdivision shall
use no less than 25% of the funds derived from the tax for emergency
services.
[Amended 11-24-2010 by Ord. No. 228]
For this fiscal year and annually thereafter,
the Township hereby imposes on the privilege of each engagement in
an occupation, to be paid by each individual exercising the privilege
of engaging in any occupation, named the Local Services Tax, within
the corporate limits of the Township of Maidencreek an annual tax
in the manner and at the rates hereinafter set forth.
[Amended 11-24-2010 by Ord. No. 228]
Beginning on the first day of January, 2011,
the privilege of each engagement in an occupation, as hereinbefore
defined, shall be subject to a tax of $52 to be paid by each individual
exercising in the privilege of engaging in any occupation as hereinbefore
defined, within the corporate limits of the Township of Maidencreek.
[Amended 11-24-2010 by Ord. No. 228]
A.
If said tax is not paid when due in each fiscal year,
interest thereon shall begin to accrue at the rate of 6% per annum
on the amount of said tax remaining unpaid. Said interest to be calculated
beginning on the first day of January of the ensuing year, and to
be calculated thereafter until said tax is paid in full, together
with penalty as hereinbefore provided.
B.
In the
event that any tax under this article remains due or unpaid at the
end of the taxable year, the Tax Collector may sue for the recovery
of any such tax due or unpaid under this article, together with interest
and penalty. Where suit is brought for the recovery of any local services
tax, the individual liable therefor shall, in addition, be responsible
and liable for the costs of collection and the interest and penalties
herein imposed.
[Amended 11-24-2010 by Ord. No. 228]
A.
Each individual
exercising the privilege of engaging in any occupation or occupations
within the corporate limits of the Township of Maidencreek and who
shall earn less than $12,000 during the calendar year from said occupation
or occupations shall be exempt from the payment of the local services
tax of $52.
B.
Each individual
who shall be engaged in more than one occupation within the corporate
limits of the Township of Maidencreek and who shall earn a total of
$12,000 or more from the two or more occupations engaged in shall
not be exempt from the local services tax of $52 though he or she
shall earn less than $12,000 in each one of the two or more occupations
he or she is engaging in within the corporate limits of the Township
of Maidencreek.
C.
Any person
who has served in any war or armed conflict in which the United States
was engaged and is honorably discharged or released under honorable
circumstances from active service if, as a result of military service,
the person is blind, a paraplegic, or a double or quadruple amputee
or has a service-connected disability declared by the United States
Veterans' Administration or its successor to be a total one-hundred-percent
disability, shall be exempt from payment of the tax.
D.
Any person
who has served as a member of a reserve component of the armed forces
and is called to active duty at any time during the taxable year shall
be exempt from payment of the tax. For the purposes of this subsection,
"reserve component of the armed forces" shall mean the United States
Army Reserve, United States Navy Reserve, United States Marine Corps
Reserve, United States Coast Guard Reserve, United States Air Force
Reserve, the Pennsylvania Army National Guard or the Pennsylvania
Air National Guard.
[Amended 11-24-2010 by Ord. No. 228]
A.
Each employer
within the Township of Maidencreek and each employer situated outside
the Township who engages in business within the Township is hereby
charged with the duty of collecting the tax from each of the employees
engaged by the employer and performing work for the employer within
the Township of Maidencreek.
B.
Each person
subject to the tax shall be assessed a pro rata share of the tax for
each payroll period in which the person is engaging in an occupation
and paid by salary, wages or commission. The pro rata share of the
tax assessed on the person for a payroll period shall be determined
by dividing the combined rate of the local services tax levied for
the calendar year ($52) by the number of payroll periods established
by the employer for the calendar year. For purposes of determining
pro rata share, an employer shall round down the amount of the tax
collected each payroll period to the nearest one-hundredth of a dollar.
C.
Employer
collection of the local services tax shall be made on a payroll period
basis for each payroll period, beginning with the first payroll period
in which the person is engaging in an occupation.
D.
.Employers
are required to make and file a local services tax quarterly return
30 days after the end of each quarter of a calendar year to the Tax
Collector of the Township of Maidencreek on a form provided by the
Tax Collector. Payments and returns shall be filed April 30, July
30, October 30 and January 30, respectively.
Each individual who shall have more than one
occupation within the Township of Maidencreek shall be subject to
the payment of the annual tax solely upon the privilege of engaging
in his principal occupation and his principal employer shall deliver
a certificate of payment form, to be furnished to the employer by
the Tax Collector, certifying to any other employer of such individual
that said tax has been deducted by the principal employer and in turn
remitted by said employer to the employer receiving such certificate
of payment of the tax by another employer by deduction from said individual
shall not or collect the tax imposed by this article.
[Amended 3-11-2010 by Ord. No. 223; 11-24-2010 by Ord. No. 228]
Each employer in the Township of Maidencreek shall use his employment
records as of the first day of January in determining the number of
employees from whom the said local services tax shall be deducted
and paid over to the Tax Collector. Each employer who engages the
services of any individual in an occupation to be performed in the
Township of Maidencreek on or after the first day of January, 2011,
and every year thereafter shall collect from said employee a pro rata
share of the fifty-two-dollar tax by dividing 52 by the number of
payroll periods established by the employer for the year and collecting
that sum for each remaining pay period from the employee's pay.
[Amended 11-24-2010 by Ord. No. 228]
Each self-employed individual in the Township of Maidencreek who performs any services of any type or kind within the corporate limits of the Township of Maidencreek, whether the same is regarded either as a profession or as a business, shall be required to pay the local services tax of $52 for himself and shall, further, be required to deduct and pay over in the manner hereinbefore set forth in § 195-52, but in any event no less than $13 per quarter to the Tax Collector of the Township of Maidencreek, an annual local services tax of $52 for himself or herself and every individual in his employ who is engaged in the performance of any occupation or profession for him within the Township of Maidencreek. Any individual engaged in any occupation within the said Township who is an employee of another shall be liable for the payment of the tax of $52 for himself and shall be treated and regarded as a self-employed individual if the location of the business of his employer is beyond the corporate limits of the Township of Maidencreek and said employee is not liable for a similar tax in another municipality. Each employer whose business location is beyond the corporate limits of the Township of Maidencreek shall be required to furnish to the Tax Collector of the Township of Maidencreek a list of all individuals employed by him who exercise the privilege of engaging in any occupation of any type or kind within the corporate limits of the Township of Maidencreek during the calendar year and who are not liable for a similar tax in another municipality. It is further provided that the provisions of this section shall apply to each self-employed individual as defined herein earning less than $12,000 during the calendar year as defined and set forth under § 195-51. The burden of proof shall be upon the self-employed individual to verify and furnish proof to the Tax Collector that he is exempt under § 195-51 and thus entitled to a refund.
A refund may be applied for where the tax has
been paid twice as the result of a deduction by an employer after
a prior deduction and payment during the same fiscal year by a prior
employer within the Township of Maidencreek or by an employer in another
municipality within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania imposing a similar
tax within the fiscal year. Any claim for a refund under this section
must be filed in writing with the Tax Collector on or before the first
day of July of the ensuing year.
A.
It shall be the duty of the Tax Collector to collect
and receive the taxes, fines and penalties imposed by this article,
and to transmit the same to the Township Treasurer. It shall also
be his/her duty to keep a record showing the amount received by him
from each self-employed person paying the tax and the date of such
receipt; and further, it shall be his/her duty to keep a record showing
the amount received by him from every employer paying the tax on behalf
of his employees by deduction made by such employer from the salary,
wages, commissions or other forms or recompense.
B.
The Tax Collector is hereby authorized to examine
the books and payroll records of any employer in order to verify the
accuracy of any return required to be made by any employer, on behalf
of his employees, or, if no return was made, to ascertain the tax
due. Each employer in the Township of Maidencreek is hereby directed
and required to give to the Local Services Tax Collector the means,
facilities and opportunity for such examinations and investigations
as are hereby authorized.
A.
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement on any return required by this article, makes any false or untrue statement for the purpose of exercising the exemption set forth in § 195-51, or who refuses inspection of his books, records, or accounts in his custody or control, in order to determine the number of employees subject to the tax who are in his employment, or whoever fails or refuses to file any return required by this article, shall be subject to a fine of not more than $600 for each violation. It is further provided that action to enforce the penalty herein provided may be begun and instituted against any person in charge of the business premises of any employer who has failed or who refuses to file a return required by this article.
B.
This article shall be enforced by a civil enforcement
proceeding before a Magisterial District Judge. The civil enforcement
proceeding shall be initiated by the Solicitor for Maidencreek Township
by a complaint or by such other means as may be provided in the Pennsylvania
Rules of Civil Procedure.
C.
In addition, in lieu of civil actions before a Magisterial
District Judge, Maidencreek Township may enforce violations of this
article in equity.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed
to empower the Township to levy and collect the tax hereby imposed
on any occupation not within the taxing power of the Township under
the Constitution of the United States and the laws and Constitution
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
