[Adopted 12-13-1999 by Ord. No. 1999-8]
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Lancaster Township
Earned Income Tax Ordinance," as amended.
All terms defined in Section 13 of the Local Tax Enabling Act, Act of
December 31, 1965, P.L. 1257, 53 P.S. § 6913, shall have the meanings
set forth therein. The following terms shall have the meanings set forth herein:
An agency organized and operated by its member school districts to
collect, receive, and administer earned income taxes as authorized by resolutions
of the various districts and also of municipalities with which it may enter
into agency and collection agreements.
The Local Tax Enabling Act, Act of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1257,
53 P.S. § 6901 et seq., and as may be amended in the future.
Regulations duly adopted by the Bureau for the administration of the earned income tax. To the extent provided by law, including but not limited to 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1937, it is the intention of the Board of Supervisors to incorporate amendments to the regulations. If a court of competent jurisdiction prohibits such construction, it is the intention of the Board of Supervisors to incorporate the regulations as they exist on the date of enactment of this article except as provided in § 247-32D herein.
The Township of Lancaster, County of Lancaster, and Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
A tax for general revenue purposes, at the rate of 1%, subject to the
maximum rate as permitted under Section 8 of the Enabling Act,[1] is hereby restated and amended on earned income received and net
profits earned by individual residents of the Lancaster Township during the
calendar year 2000 (or taxpayer's fiscal year beginning in said calendar
year) and during each year thereafter (on a calendar or taxpayer fiscal year
basis), without reenactment, until this article shall be repealed or the rate
of tax changed.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 6908.
A.
Every taxpayer earning net profits or receiving earned
income in the current year shall, on or before April 15 of the succeeding
year, make and file with the Income Tax Officer a return thereof (on forms,
and furnishing information, prescribed by the Income Tax Officer) and pay
the tax (or balance thereof after crediting employers' withholding) due
thereon.
B.
Further details concerning taxpayers' payment and
making returns of tax levied by this article are set forth in the regulations.
If required in the regulations, taxpayers shall file a declaration of estimated
net profits and pay the tax due thereon and shall file quarterly returns of
earned income and pay the tax due thereon.
A.
As authorized in Section 10 of the Enabling Act,[1] Lancaster Township has entered into a joint agreement with other
political subdivisions for collection of the tax by the Bureau, and has included
in this article provision as deemed necessary for collection of the tax. Every
employer with a place of business within Lancaster Township, or within the
jurisdiction of the Bureau as defined in the regulations, is required to register,
to deduct tax from earned income of employees subject to the tax within the
jurisdiction of the Bureau, to file quarterly reports and make remittances,
and to do other acts as fully set forth in Section 13(IV) of the Enabling
Act.[2]
B.
Any employer who has no place of business in Lancaster
Township, or within the jurisdiction of the Bureau as defined in the regulations,
but who desires, for the convenience of his employees residing within Lancaster
Township, to deduct tax hereunder from such employees' wages, shall become
subject to all obligations of timely filing of returns, reports and remittances,
and of maintaining and disclosing records, and to all interest and penalties
with respect to such tax as he may actually deduct, in all respects, and with
the same incidents, as though he were a resident employer.
C.
Tax deducted from wages by an employer shall at all times
be and remain the property of this Lancaster Township, and shall constitute
a trust fund in the employer's hands until remitted to the Income Tax
Officer; and deduction of tax from wages shall, as between the employee and
Lancaster Township, constitute payment of the tax by the employee, regardless
of any insolvency or failure to remit on the employer's part.
D.
If and to the extent provided in the regulations, every
employer who shall deduct tax from wages, and remit it, may deduct from each
such remittance a commission, not to exceed 2%, or any lesser amount provided
in the regulations, of the tax withheld. Lancaster Township expressly authorizes
the Bureau to amend the regulations to decrease or eliminate such commission.
Lancaster Township hereby designates the Bureau (an unincorporated agency
organized and operated jointly by the school districts of Lancaster County)
as its Income Tax Officer to perform all the duties, be subject to all the
requirements, and have all the powers prescribed by Section 13(V) of the Enabling
Act.[1] Said Bureau shall receive such compensation for its services as
it and Lancaster Township may agree from time to time. Lancaster Township
expressly authorizes the Bureau to promulgate and amend the regulations.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 6913.
A.
Suits for collection of tax are hereby authorized, and
interest and penalties shall be imposed, as provided in Section 13(VII) and
(VIII) of the Enabling Act.
B.
Notwithstanding prior mention in this article, for convenience,
of reference only, of specific subsections of Section 13 of the Enabling Act,
all provisions of the entire Section 13 of the Enabling Act are hereby incorporated
into this article by this reference, as required by the Enabling Act. Any
provisions which any future supplements to or amendments of the Enabling Act
may require to be included in or construed to be a part of any tax on earned
income or net profits, or of the ordinance levying the same, shall automatically
become a part of this article upon the effective date of such supplement or
amendment, without the need for formal amendment of this article by the Board
of Supervisors of Lancaster Township to the maximum extent authorized by 1
Pa.C.S.A. § 1937.
A.
Employee's unreimbursed business expenses. Business
expenses are as set forth in the regulations.
B.
Losses. Losses are as set forth in the regulations.
C.
Persons under 16 years of age. This Board of Supervisors
finds that minors of various age groups have traditionally, and with judicial
sanction, been considered as comprising separate classes for many legislative
purposes; and that minors under the age of 16 years are for the most part
unemancipated and subject to compulsory school attendance and child labor
laws, and therefore for the most part so lacking in power to earn and to have
legal control of money or property that enforcement of reporting and collection
of tax hereunder against them would yield inconsequential amounts and would
be unduly difficult, expensive, and not in the public interest; and therefore
persons under the age of 16 years are hereby exempted from all liability for
tax under this article.
A.
The tax levied by this article imposes the same tax without
substantial change as imposed in previous years, and shall be so interpreted.
B.
This article shall not apply to any person or property
as to whom or which it is beyond the legal power of Lancaster Township to
impose any tax or duty herein provided for.
The provisions of this article, so far as they are the same as ordinances
in force immediately prior to the enactment of this article, including but
not limited to a resolution passed by the Board of Supervisors on May 11,
1970, are intended as a continuation of such resolution and not as a new enactment.
In the event that this article is declared invalid, the resolution passed
May 11, 1970, and any other ordinances or resolutions of Lancaster Township
levying an earned income tax shall remain in full force and effect and shall
not be affected in any manner by enactment of this article. The provisions
of this article shall not affect any act done or liability incurred, nor shall
they affect any suit or prosecution pending or to be instituted to enforce
any right or penalty or to punish any offense under the authority of any ordinance
in effect prior to the enactment of this article. Subject to the foregoing
provisions of this section, this article shall supersede, replace and repeal
ordinances or resolutions levying an earned income tax, including but not
limited to the resolution passed May 11, 1970, in force immediately prior
to the effective date of this article.
This article shall become effective as provided by law. To the extent
that this article amends imposition, collection, or any other matter relating
to the earned income tax as reenacted by this article, such revised provisions
shall become effective January 1, 2000.
