[Adopted 1-11-1977 by Ord. No. 1409; amended in its entirety 11-25-2008 by Ord. No. 1871]
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Local Services
Tax Ordinance."
As used in this article, unless the context clearly indicates
a different meaning, the following words shall have the meanings set
forth below:
The entity designated by the Board of Commissioners of the
Township of Shaler.
Salaries, wages, commissions, tips, bonuses, fees, gross
receipts or any other income derived from engaging in an occupation.
The Department of Community and Economic Development of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Shall have the same meanings as those terms are given in
Section 13 of the Local Tax Enabling Act, Act 511 of 1965, as amended
(53 P.S. § 6913).[1]
Emergency services which shall include emergency medical
services, police services and/or fire services.
Any person, partnership, limited partnership, unincorporated
association, institution, trust, corporation, governmental agency
or any other body engaged in business or situated in the Township
employing one or more employees engaged in any occupation, on a salary,
wage, commission or other compensation basis, including a self-employed
person, other than domestic servants.
An exemption certificate substantially in the form of the
uniform certificate prescribed by the Pennsylvania Department of Community
and Economic Development affirming that the person reasonably expects
to receive earned income and net profits from all sources within the
Township of less than $12,000 in the calendar year for which the exemption
certificate is filed, which exemption certificate has attached to
it a copy of all of the employee's last pay stubs or W-2 forms
from employment within the Township for the year prior to the fiscal
year for which the employee is requesting to be exempted from the
tax.
Emergency services; road construction and/or maintenance;
reduction of property taxes; and property tax relief through implementation
of a homestead and farmstead exclusion in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S.A.
Chapter 85, Subchapter F (relating to homestead property exclusion).[2]
Includes any livelihood, job, trade, profession, business
or enterprise of any kind, including services, domestic or other,
for which any compensation is received.
The tax imposed by this article.
Any natural person liable for the tax levied by this article.
The period of January 1 until December 31 in any year; a
calendar year.
The Township of Shaler.
For local services purposes, a tax is hereby levied upon the privilege of engaging in any occupation within the Township. Each natural person who exercises such privilege for any length of time in any year shall be assessed and shall pay the tax in the amount equal to the pro rata share of the annual amount of $52 in accordance with the provisions of this article, subject to the exemptions set forth in § 201-24 of this chapter. This tax levy shall continue in force from year to year without annual reenactment.
The tax levied by § 201-23 shall not be imposed upon the following persons:
A.
Any person who 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, 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
permanent disability.
B.
Any person who serves as a member of a reserve component of the armed
forces and is called to active duty at any time during the taxable
year. For 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.
C.
Any natural person whose total earned income and net profits from
all sources within the Township during the taxable year is not in
excess of $12,000.
A.
Every employer not registered under the provisions of the Earned
Income Tax Ordinance of the Township[1] shall, within 15 days after first becoming an employer,
register with the Collector the employer's name, address and
such other information as the Collector may require.
B.
As to each taxpayer employed for any length of time during any payroll
period of an employer during the calendar year, each employer shall
deduct a pro rata share of the tax from compensation payable to the
taxpayer with respect to such payroll period. The pro rata share of
the tax assessed on a taxpayer for a payroll period shall be determined
by dividing the rate of the tax levied for the calendar year by the
number of payroll periods established by the employer for the calendar
year. For purposes of determining the pro rata share of the tax, an
employer shall round down the amount of tax deducted for each payroll
period to the nearest $0.01. Each employer shall file a return on
a form prescribed by the Collector and pay the Collector the full
amount of all such taxes deducted during a calendar quarter within
30 days after the end of the calendar quarter.
C.
Any employer who discontinues business or ceases operation before
December 31 of any year shall, within 15 days after discontinuing
business or ceasing operation, file the required return and pay the
tax to the Collector.
D.
The failure of any employer to deduct the tax shall not relieve the
employee from the duty to file and pay the tax. Any employer who fails
to deduct the tax as required by this article, or who fails to pay
such tax to the Collector, shall be liable for such tax in full as
though the tax had originally been levied against such employer. No
employer shall be liable for failure to deduct the tax if the failure
to deduct the tax arises from incorrect information submitted by the
employee as to the employee's place or places of employment,
the employee's principal office or where the employee is principally
employed.
E.
The employer shall not deduct the tax but shall maintain adequate records concerning the employees in the cases described in Subsection E(1) and (2) below:
(1)
In the case of concurrent employment, if the employee provides a
recent pay statement from a principal employer that includes the name
of the employer, the length of the payroll period and the amount of
the tax deducted, and a statement from the employee that the pay statement
is from the employee's principal employer and that the employee
will notify other employers of a change in the principal place of
employment within two weeks of its occurrence.
(2)
In the case of an employee claiming the exemption set forth in § 201-24C, if the employee has provided an exemption certificate to the employer, the Collector has not otherwise instructed the employer, the employer has not received notification from the person who claimed the exemption or from the Collector that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within the Township equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year or that the person is otherwise ineligible for the tax exemption for that calendar year, and the employer has not paid to the person earned income within the Township in an amount equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year.
F.
The employer shall file with the Collector a copy of each exemption certificate, including attachments, received by the employer no later than the end of the first payroll period as to which the employee claims the exemption set forth in § 201-24C.
G.
If a person has claimed the exemption from the tax under § 201-24C for a given calendar year, but either the employer has received notification from the person who claimed the exemption or from the Collector that the person has received earned income or net profits from all sources within the Township equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year or that the person is otherwise ineligible for the tax exemption for that calendar year, or the employer has paid to the person earned income within the Township in an amount equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year, then the employer shall withhold the tax for the remainder of that calendar year and the employer shall withhold from the person, for the first payroll period after receipt of the notification described above or for the first payroll period after payments described above have been made, a lump sum equal to the amount of the tax that was not withheld from the person due to the exemption claimed by the person, plus the per-payroll amount due for that first payroll period. The amount of tax withheld per payroll period for the remaining payroll periods in that calendar year shall be the same amount withheld for other employees. In the event the employment of a person subject to withholding of the tax under this subsection is subsequently severed in that calendar year, the person shall be liable for any outstanding balance of tax due, and the Collector may pursue collection under this article.
H.
Each employer shall ensure that exemption certificate forms are readily
available to employees at all times and shall furnish each new employee
with an exemption certificate form at the time of hiring.
Every taxpayer who is self-employed, or whose tax for any other reason is not collected under § 201-25 of this article, shall file a return on a form prescribed by the Collector and shall pay a pro rata share of the tax directly to the Collector within 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter. The pro rata share of the tax assessed on a taxpayer for a calendar quarter shall be determined by dividing the rate of the tax levied for the calendar year by four.
Both resident and nonresident taxpayers shall, by virtue of
engaging in an occupation within the Township, be subject to the tax
and the provisions of this article.
The Collector, on behalf of the Township, shall collect and
receive the taxes, interest, fines and penalties imposed by this article
and shall maintain records showing interest, fines and penalties imposed
by this article and shall maintain records showing the amounts received
and the dates such amounts were received. The Collector shall prescribe
and issue all forms necessary for the administration of the tax and
may adopt and enforce regulations relating to any matter pertaining
to the administration of this article, including, but not limited
to, requirements for collection through employers, requirements for
evidence and records, and provisions for the examination and correction
of returns. The Collector and agents designated by him may examine
the records of any employer or supposed employer or of any taxpayer
or supposed taxpayer in order to ascertain the tax due or verify the
accuracy of any return. Every employer or supposed employer and every
taxpayer or supposed taxpayer shall give the Collector, and any agent
designated by him, all means, facilities and opportunity for the examinations
hereby authorized.
The Collector shall collect, by suit or otherwise, all taxes,
interest, costs, fines and penalties due under this article and unpaid.
If for any reason any tax is not paid when due, interest at the rate
of 6% per year on the amount of unpaid tax and an additional penalty
of 1/2 of 1% of the amount of unpaid tax, for each month or fraction
of month during which the tax remains unpaid, shall be added and collected.
Whenever suit is brought for the recovery of unpaid tax, the taxpayer
shall, in addition, be liable for the costs of collection as well
as for interest and penalties. The Collector may accept payment under
protest of the tax claimed by the Township in any case where any person
disputes the Township's claim for the tax. If a court of competent
jurisdiction thereafter decides that there has been overpayment to
the Collector, the Collector shall refund the amount of the overpayment
to the person who paid under protest.
Any person who has overpaid the tax may obtain a refund by making
a written application for a refund to the Collector no later than
one year after payment of the tax or three years after the due date
for payment of the tax, whichever is later, and satisfactorily proves
to the Collector that he is entitled to the refund. Refunds made within
75 days of a refund request or 75 days after the last day the employer
is required to remit the tax to the Collector for the last quarter
of the calendar year, whichever is later, shall not be subject to
interest imposed under 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 8426 (relating to
interest on overpayment). A refund shall be provided only for an amount
overpaid in a calendar year that exceeds $1. The Collector shall provide
a taxpayer a receipt of payment of the tax upon request by the taxpayer.
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement on any return required
by this article, or whoever refuses inspection of the books, records
or accounts in his or her custody and control setting forth the number
of employees subject to this tax who are in his or her employment,
or whoever fails or refuses to file any return required by this article
or shall violate any other provision of this article shall be guilty
of a summary offense and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced
to pay a fine of not more than $600 and costs of prosecution and,
in default of payment thereof, to imprisonment for not more than 30
days. The action to enforce the penalty herein prescribed may be instituted
against any person in charge of the business of any employer who shall
have failed or who refuses to file a return required by this article.
The tax shall not apply to any subject of tax or person not
within the taxing power of the Township under the Constitution of
the United States and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
