[Adopted 11-18-1986 by Ord. No. 819]
This article shall be known as the "Business
Privilege Tax Ordinance."
[Amended 1-20-1987 by Ord. No. 823]
The following words and phrases, when used in
this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section,
except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning. The
masculine shall include the feminine, the singular includes the plural,
and vice versa.
The Borough of Lewisburg, Union County, Pennsylvania.
Any activity carried on, engaged in or exercised for gain,
profit or otherwise in the Borough of Lewisburg, Union County, Pennsylvania,
including, but not limited to, the sale of merchandise or other personalty
and/or realty, the performance of services, and the rental of personalty
and/or realty.
The period from January 1 to December 31, inclusive.
The period from January 1 to December 31, inclusive.
Any individual, partnership, limited partnership, association,
firm, corporation of any class, and/or any other entity. Whenever
used in any clause prescribing or imposing a penalty, the term "person"
as applied to associations shall mean the partners or members thereof,
and as applied to corporations, the officers thereof, and if there
are no officers, the shareholders thereof.
The person, firm, or entity duly appointed by the Borough
Council of the Borough of Lewisburg to administer and collect the
within tax and shall include his or its deputies.
A person subject to the payment of the tax imposed by this
article.
The period from January 1 to December 31, inclusive.
Any business that is conducted within the Borough of Lewisburg
for less than 60 consecutive days.
The whole or gross value of revenue received in cash, credits
or property of any kind or nature by any person engaging in business
in the Borough of Lewisburg, without deduction on account of cost
or expenses incurred in connection therewith.
Any person who sells to dealers in or vendors of goods, wares
and merchandise and to no other persons.
A.
After the effective date of this article, any person
desiring to conduct or to engage in, or to continue to conduct or
engage in, any business within the Borough, whether or not he maintains
a place of business within the Borough, shall, on or before the 31st
day of January of the license year or prior to the commencement of
business in such license year, make application with the Tax Administrator
for one registration for each place of business within the Borough
or, if such person has no actual place of business within the Borough,
make application for only one registration. Such registration shall
be made only once by the completion of an application furnished by
the Tax Administrator and the payment of a fee of $10. Each application
for registration shall be signed by the applicant, if a natural person,
and in the case of a corporation by an officer or duly authorized
local manager thereof or in the case of an association or a partnership
by a member or partner thereof.
B.
Each applicant shall receive a certificate of registration,
or license, from the Tax Administrator, which shall be assignable.
Such certificate shall be conspicuously posted at all times in the
place of business for which it is issued. In the case of loss, defacement
or destruction of any such certificate, the person to whom the certificate
was issued shall reapply to the Tax Administrator for a new certificate,
for which a fee of $10 shall be charged.
[Amended 1-20-1987 by Ord. No. 823]
There is hereby levied for the tax year 1987
and for each tax year thereafter, a tax for general revenue purposes
on the privilege of doing business within the Borough, at the rate
of 3/4 of a mill on each and every dollar of the whole or gross volume
of business transacted within the territorial limits of the Borough
(3/4 mill shall mean $0.75 per $1,000 of the whole or gross volume
of business); except that the rate of tax on each and every dollar
of the whole or gross volume of business transacted by wholesale dealers
or wholesale vendors within the territorial limits of the Borough
shall be 1/2 of a mill (1/2 mill shall mean $0.50 per $1,000 of the
whole or gross volume of business). All non-wholesale business of
such wholesale dealers or wholesale vendors shall be taxed at the
general rate of 3/4 of a mill.
A.
Every person subject to the payment of the business
privilege tax imposed by this article who has commenced his business
at least one full calendar year prior to the beginning of any tax
year, shall compute his annual estimated whole or gross volume of
business upon the actual amount of the whole or gross receipts received
by or credited to him during the preceding calendar year.
B.
Every person subject to the payment of the business
privilege tax imposed by this article who has commenced or who commences
his business less than one calendar year prior to the beginning of
the tax year, shall compute his annual estimated whole or gross volume
of business for such tax year by taking the monthly average of whole
or gross receipts by him or credited to him during that period of
the prior calendar year during which he transacted or conducted business
and multiplying the same by 12.
C.
Every person subject to the payment of the business
privilege tax imposed by this article who has commenced or commences
his business subsequent to the beginning of the tax year, shall compute
his annual whole or gross volume of business upon the actual whole
or gross amount of receipts received by or credited to him during
such tax year.
D.
Every person subject to the payment of the business
privilege tax imposed by this article who engages in a business which
is temporary, seasonal or itinerant by its nature, shall compute his
annual estimated whole or gross volume of business upon the actual
amount of the whole or gross receipts received by or credited to him
during the period of the tax year in which he engages in such temporary,
seasonal or itinerant business. All persons engaged in such temporary,
seasonal or itinerant businesses shall be required to make a deposit
toward the tax hereby imposed in an amount determined by the Tax Administrator
prior to their engaging in or conducting such business.
E.
Every person who ceases to carry on a business during
any tax year after having paid the business privilege tax imposed
by this article for the entire year shall, upon making proper application
to the Tax Administrator, be entitled to receive a refund of the pro
rata amount of the tax paid based upon the period of time he was not
in business during the tax year. In the event that a person who discontinues
business during any tax year does so before payment of his tax becomes
due for such tax year, he shall be permitted to apportion his tax
for such tax year and shall pay an amount to be computed by multiplying
his whole or gross receipts for the preceding full calendar year by
a fraction whose numerator shall be the number of months such person
was in business during the tax year and whose denominator shall be
12.
F.
The Tax Administrator is hereby authorized to accept
payment under protest of the amount of the business privilege tax
claimed by the Borough in any case where the taxpayer disputes the
validity or amount of the Borough's claim for tax. If it is thereafter
judicially determined by a court of competent jurisdiction that the
Borough has been overpaid, the amount of the overpayment shall be
refunded to the taxpayer. The provisions of this particular subsection
shall be applicable to any and all cases in which the facts are similar
to those in a case actually litigated in a court of competent jurisdiction.
A.
Persons and businesses. Persons employed for a wage
or salary, nonprofit corporations or associations organized for religious,
charitable or educational purposes, agencies of the United States
or of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the business of any of
its political subdivisions or of any authority created or organized
under and pursuant to any act of assembly, are exempt from the provisions
of this article. The activities of an independent contractor shall
not be considered as employment for wage or salary.
B.
State tax or license fee. No business privilege tax
shall be assessed and collected on a privilege, transaction, subject
or occupation which is subject to a State tax or license fee, and
which tax or license fee has been held by the Courts of Pennsylvania
to be the basis for exemption from the imposition of a business privilege
tax by a municipality.
C.
Utilities. No business privilege tax shall be assessed
and collected on the gross receipts from utility service of any person
or company whose rates of service are fixed and regulated by the Pennsylvania
Public Utility Commission; or on any public utility service rendered
by any such Person or company or on any privilege or transaction involving
the rendering of any such public utility service.
D.
State tax on tangible property. No business privilege
tax shall be assessed and collected on the privilege of employing
such tangible property as is subject to a state tax, except on sales
of admission to places of amusement or on sales or other transfers
of title or possession of property.
E.
Exemption by law. Any other person exempt by law from
the imposition of a business privilege tax or any business upon which
the power to levy such tax is withheld by law, shall not be subject
to the business privilege tax imposed by this article.
The whole or gross volume of business upon which
the business privilege tax imposed by this article is computed shall
include the gross consideration credited to or received by the taxpayer
which is attributed or allocable to business conducted in the Borough,
without deduction therefrom for or on account of the costs of property
sold, materials used, labor, service, or other costs, interest or
discount paid, or any other expense or cost of doing business.
A.
Exclusions. The following shall not be included in
the computation of whole or gross volume of business:
(1)
The dollar volume of business transacted by wholesale
and retail dealers derived from the resale of goods, wares and merchandise
taken by any dealer as trade-in or as part payment for other goods,
wares and merchandise, except to the extent that the resale price
exceeds the trade-in allowance.
(2)
Refunds, credits, or allowances given by a taxpayer
to a purchaser on account of defects in goods, wares or merchandise
sold, or on account of goods, wares or merchandise returned.
(3)
Any commissions paid by a broker to another broker
on account of a purchase or sales contract initiated, executed or
cleared in conjunction with such other broker.
(4)
In the case of a financial business, the cost of securities
and other properties sold, exchanged, paid at maturity, or redeemed,
and moneys or credits received in repayment of advances, credits and
loans (not to exceed the principal amount of such advances, credits
or loans), and deposits.
(5)
Bad debts, where the deduction is also taken in the
same year for federal income taxation purposes.
(6)
Taxes collected as agent for the United States of
America, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and/or its political subdivisions.
B.
Allocation. Where the whole or gross volume of business
in its entirety cannot be subjected to the business privilege tax
imposed by this article by reason of the provisions of the Constitution
of the United States or any other provision of law, the Tax Administrator
with the approval of the Borough shall establish rules and regulations
and methods of allocation and evaluation so that only that part of
the whole or gross volume of business which is properly attributable
and allocable to business conducted or rendered in the Borough shall
be taxed hereunder.
C.
Apportionment. If any person is liable for the same
tax on the same subject imposed under authority of the Local Tax Enabling
Act of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1257, as amended, to the Borough and
one or more other political subdivisions of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
then and in that event the business privilege tax imposed by this
article shall be apportioned by such political subdivisions, but,
in no event, shall the combined taxes of both subdivisions exceed
the maximum rate of tax as fixed by the said Local Tax Enabling Act
permitting the imposition of such taxes.
D.
Records. The taxpayer, to obtain the foregoing enumerated
exclusions and deductions, shall keep books and records of his business
so as to show clearly, accurately and separately the amount of such
sales and services as are excluded from the business privilege tax
imposed by this article and the amounts of such sales and services
which he is entitled to deduct from the gross volume of business as
hereinbefore provided.
Each taxpayer shall keep full, complete and
accurate books and records of account of the business, as defined
herein, conducted or rendered by him in the Borough, including a full,
complete and accurate account of the gross consideration or other
thing of value credited to, received in, allocable to, or attributed
to business conducted or rendered in the Borough. Such books, records
and account must disclose in detail the gross receipts and other data
pertaining to the taxpayer's gross volume of business and must be
sufficiently complete to enable the Tax Administrator or his deputies
to verify all such transactions. The Tax Administrator or his deputies
are hereby authorized to examine, inspect and/or copy all books, papers
and records of any person or persons subject to or supposed to be
subject to the business privilege tax imposed by this article, and
such taxpayer shall produce the same for the inspection, review and/or
copying of the Tax Administrator or his deputies at such times and
places as specified by the Tax Administrator or his deputies.
A.
Every return shall be made upon a form prescribed
and/or furnished by the Tax Administrator in which a taxpayer shall
set forth his name, his business, business address and such other
information as may be required by the Tax Administrator. Every person
making a return shall certify the correctness thereof by affidavit
or verification. Each return shall be documented by appropriate schedule
to verify its accuracy.
B.
Every person subject to the business privilege tax imposed by this article who has commenced his business at least one full calendar year prior to the beginning of any tax year, shall, on or before the 15th day of April of said tax year, file with the Tax Administrator, together with the payment of the tax due, a return setting forth the estimated whole or gross volume of business for the tax year based on the actual whole or gross volume of business transacted in the prior calendar year in accordance with § 324-18A of this article.
C.
Every person subject to the business privilege tax imposed by this article who has commenced his business less than one full calendar year prior to the beginning of any tax year, shall, on or before the 15th day of April of said tax year, file with the Tax Administrator, together with payment of the tax due, a return setting forth the estimated whole or gross volume of business for the tax year calculated in accordance with § 324-18B of this article.
D.
Every person subject to the business privilege tax imposed by this article who has commenced or commences business subsequent to the beginning of any tax year, shall, on or before January 31st of the year immediately following the tax year, file with the Tax Administrator, together with payment of the tax due, a return containing the actual or whole or gross amount of business transacted by him as calculated under § 324-18C of this article.
E.
Every person subject to the payment of the business privilege tax imposed by this article who engages in a business which is temporary, seasonal or itinerant by its nature, shall, within seven days from the date he completes such business, file with the Tax Administrator, together with the payment of any tax due after credit for any advanced payment made, a return containing the actual whole or gross amount of business transacted by him as calculated under § 324-18D of this article.
F.
Any person going out of or ceasing to do business
shall within 14 days from the date of ceasing to do business, file
with the Tax Administrator, together with payment of the tax due,
a return setting forth the actual whole or gross volume of business
constructed or transacted by such person during that tax year in which
said person ceased doing business. If such tax has been previously
paid based upon estimated gross receipts, the taxpayer shall be entitled
to a refund, without interest, of any excess tax paid for the tax
year in which the business was terminated.
The Tax Administrator shall, upon receipt of
payment by him of the business privilege tax imposed by this article,
give the person paying the same a receipt therefor or some other acknowledgement
of receipt as the Tax Administrator may determine.
The business privilege tax levied pursuant to
this article shall be due and payable on the date on which the taxpayer
is required to file a return as set forth hereinabove, and if the
same is not paid on said date, any taxpayer who shall fail to pay
said tax shall be charged a penalty of 10% of the amount of the tax
due, plus interest of 18% per annum on the amount of the tax due or
1.5% for each month or fractional part thereof, commencing from the
day when said tax was due until the day it is paid. The said penalty
and interest shall be added to and become a part of the tax due and
shall be collectible in the same manner as the tax.
Any person who shall conduct, transact or engage in any of the businesses subject to the business privilege tax imposed by this article without having first secured a business privilege license, or any person who shall fail to file a tax return as required by the provisions of this article, or any person who shall refuse to produce books and records for inspection, review or copying as may be required by the Tax Administrator or his deputies, or any person who shall willfully file a false return, shall, upon conviction thereof in a summary proceeding before a District Justice, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $300 for any one offense, plus costs of prosecution, and, in default of payment of such fine and costs, be imprisoned for a period not to exceed 90 days; provided, however, that each day's continuance of a violation of any of the provisions of this article shall constitute a separate offense and shall be punishable as such. The fine and costs imposed by this section shall be in addition to any penalty and interest imposed by § 324-24 of this article.
A.
The Tax Administrator is charged with the duties of
administering this article and collecting and receiving the taxes,
interest, fines and penalties imposed by this article. It shall be
his duty to keep a record showing the amount received by him from
each person paying the tax and the date of such receipt. The Tax Administrator
may delegate his authority hereunder, with the approval and consent
of the Borough Council of the Borough, to a deputy or deputies.
B.
The Tax Administrator is hereby empowered, with the
approval and consent of the Borough Council of the Borough, to prescribe,
adopt and promulgate rules and regulations relating to any matter
pertaining to the administration and enforcement of this article,
including provisions for the examination and correction of returns,
and payments alleged or found to be incorrect, or as to which any
overpayment is claimed, or found to have occurred, and charged with
enforcing the provisions of this article and any rules and/or regulations
promulgated pursuant hereto.
C.
In the event the person to be assessed neglects or
refuses to make a return, then in such case, the Tax Administrator
or his duly appointed deputies shall assess said person or persons
on such an amount of whole or gross volume of business as the Tax
Administrator or his deputies deem reasonable and appropriate. In
all cases of assessment, the Tax Administrator or his duly appointed
deputies shall give the parties assessed a notice in which shall be
stated the amount of the business privilege tax assessed against him.
D.
The Tax Administrator or his deputies are hereby authorized
to compel the production of books, papers and records, and/or writings
and documents of every nature and kind, of any person or persons subject
or supposed to be subject to the tax imposed by this article, for
his review, inspection or copying, and the attendance of all persons
before him, whether as parties or witnesses, whom he believes to have
knowledge of such books, papers, records, documents, writings and/or
knowledge of the business transacted by any taxpayer within the Borough.
E.
The Tax Administrator or his deputies are hereby authorized
to examine, review, inspect or copy the books, papers, records and
documents of any person or persons subject or supposed to be subject
to the tax imposed by this article, in order to verify the accuracy
of any return made, or if no return was made, to ascertain the tax
due. Every such taxpayer or supposed taxpayer is hereby directed and
required to give the Tax Administrator or his deputies the means,
facilities and opportunity for such examinations and investigations
as are hereby authorized.
F.
The Tax Administrator shall, with the consent and
approval of the Borough Council of the Borough, establish rules, regulations
and methods of allocation and evaluation so that only that part of
such receipts received or credited during the tax year which are properly
attributable and allocable to the doing of business in the Borough
shall be taxed hereunder. The Tax Administrator may make such allocation
with due regard to the nature of the business concerned on the basis
of the division of the receipts according to the number of jurisdictions
in which it may be taxed, the ratio of the value of the property or
assets of the taxpayer owned and situated in the Borough to the total
property or assets of the taxpayer wherever owned and situated, or
to any other method or methods of calculation other than the foregoing,
calculated to effect a fair and proper allocation.
G.
Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Tax Administrator
shall have the right to appeal to the Court of Common Pleas, as in
other cases.
Any information gained by the Tax Administrator,
his deputies or any other official agent or employee of the Borough
as a result of any returns, investigations, hearings or verifications
required or authorized by this article, shall be confidential, except
in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided
by law.
A.
The Tax Administrator or his duly appointed deputies
shall have the power in the name of the Borough to institute proceedings
against any and all persons who violate the provisions of this article.
B.
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due and
suit is brought for the recovery of any such tax, the person liable
therefor, shall, in addition, be liable for the costs of collection
and interest and penalties herein imposed.
A.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed
to empower the Borough to levy and collect the taxes hereby imposed
on any person or any business, or any portion of any business not
within the taxing power of the Borough under the Constitution of the
United States and the laws and Constitution of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
B.
If the tax, or any portion thereof, imposed upon any
person under the provisions of this article shall be held by any court
of competent power or jurisdiction to be in violation of the Constitution
of the United States or of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, or any other provision of law, the decision of the court
shall not affect or impair the right to impose the taxes, or the validity
of the taxes so imposed upon other persons as herein provided.
C.
The provisions of this article are severable, and
if any of its provisions shall be held illegal, invalid or unconstitutional,
the decision of the court shall not affect or impair any of the remaining
provisions of this article. It is hereby declared to be the intention
of the Borough Council of the Borough that this article would have
been adopted if such illegal, invalid or unconstitutional provisions
had not been included herein.
This article shall become effective 30 days
after enactment or on January 1, 1987, whichever shall be later, and
shall remain in effect and continue thereafter from year to year on
a calendar year basis unless amended or repealed.
