[Adopted 1-5-2009 by Ord. No. 119]
A. 
When used in this article, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:
COLLECTOR
The person, public employee or private agency designated by the political subdivision to collect and administer the tax herein imposed.
DCED
The Department of Community and Economic Development of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
INDIVIDUAL
Any person, firm or corporation engaged in any occupation, trade, business or profession within the limits of the political subdivision who is not subject to any other Township tax, such as school or Township.
NET PROFITS
The net income from the operation of a business, profession, or other activity, as this term is defined in Section 13 (relating to earned income taxes) of the Local Tax Enabling Act, the Act of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1251, Section 13, 53 P.S. § 6913, as amended.
OCCUPATION
Any trade, profession, business or undertaking of any type, kind or character, including services, domestic or other, earned on or performed within the corporate limits of the political subdivision, for which compensation is charged or received, whether by means of salary, wages, commission or fees for services rendered.
POLITICAL SUBDIVISION
The area within the corporate limits of Chadds Ford Township, a Second Class Township organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
TAX
The local services tax at the rate fixed in § 116-35 of this article.
TAX YEAR
The period from January 1 until December 31 in any year; a calendar year.
B. 
"He," "his" or "him" indicates the singular and plural number, as well as male, female and neuter.
A. 
For specific revenue purposes, an annual tax is hereby levied and assessed, pursuant to the Local Tax Enabling Act[1] and the local services tax, which levy commenced January 1, 2009, upon the privilege of engaging in an occupation with a primary place of employment within Chadds Ford Township during the tax year. Each individual who exercises such privilege for any length of time during any tax year shall pay the tax for that year in the amount of $52, assessed on a pro-rata basis, in accordance with the provisions of this article.
[Amended 11-21-2011 by Ord. No. 123]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 6901 et seq.
B. 
Use of funds.
(1) 
This tax may be used solely for the following purposes as the same may be allocated by the Board of Supervisors from time to time:
(a) 
Emergency services, which shall include emergency medical services, police services and/or fire services;
(b) 
Road construction and/or maintenance;
(c) 
Reduction of property taxes; or
(d) 
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) 
Chadds Ford Township shall use no less than 25% of the funds derived from the tax for emergency services.
[Amended 11-21-2011 by Ord. No. 123]
C. 
This tax is an addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature heretofore levied by Chadds Ford Township. The tax shall be no more than $52 on each person for each calendar year, irrespective of the number of political subdivisions within which a person maybe employed.
Beginning with the effective date of this article, the amount of the tax levied under § 116-35 of this article is the sum of $52 per annum.
Each employer within Chadds Ford Township, as well as those employers located outside Chadds Ford Township but who engage in business within the Chadds Ford Township, is hereby required to collect from each of the employees engaged by him and having an occupation within Chadds Ford Township who is subject to the tax, the said tax of $52 per annum and make a return and pay the same over to the Occupational Tax Officer. Each employer is hereby required to deduct said tax from each employee in his employ whether said employee is paid by salary, wages, commission or fees, where part or all of such services are performed within Chadds Ford Township.
Each employer shall file a return showing the number, names and addresses of employees in his employ subject to this tax and compute the tax on forms to be supplied to him by the Occupational Tax Officer. If the employer fails to file said return and pay said tax, whether or not he makes collection thereof from the salary, wages, commissions or fees paid by him to said employee, the employee shall be responsible for the payment of said tax. The failure of any employer residing either within or without Chadds Ford Township to make such return and/or pay such tax shall not relieve the employee from the responsibility for making the returns and paying the tax.
A. 
The employer shall file his return as set forth in § 116-38 of this article on July 1 of each year, showing the number of employees subject to such tax that were employed by him from January 1 to June 1 of such year, and pay the tax thereon.
B. 
Such employer shall make a supplemental report on December 30 of each year showing the number of additional employees subject to the tax that were employed by him since the filing of the last return and shall pay the tax thereon.
A. 
All self-employed individuals who perform services of any type or kind or who engage in any occupation or profession within Chadds Ford Township who are subject to this tax by reason of not paying any other Township taxes shall be required to comply with this article and pay the tax to the Occupational Tax Officer on June 15 of each year or within 30 days if engaging in an occupation in Chadds Ford Township after June 15 of any year.
B. 
Each individual who shall have more than one occupation within Chadds Ford Township shall be subject to the payment of this tax on his principal occupation, and his principal employer shall deduct this tax and deliver to him evidence of deductions on a form to be furnished to the employer by the Secretary, which form shall be evidence of deduction having been made and, when presented to any other employer, shall be authority for such employer not to deduct this tax from the employee's wages but to include such employee on his return by setting forth his name, address and the name and account number of the employer who deducted this tax.
All employers and self-employed individuals residing or having their place of business outside Chadds Ford Township but who perform services of any type or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within Chadds Ford Township are hereby required to be bound by and subject themselves to the provisions, penalties and regulations promulgated under this article with the same force and effect as though they were residents of Chadds Ford Township. Any individual engaged in an occupation within Chadds Ford Township and any employee of a nonresident employer may for the purpose of this article be considered a self-employed person, and in the event this tax is not paid the Occupational Tax Officer shall have the option of proceeding against either the employer or the employee for the collection of this tax as hereinafter provided.
A. 
The Secretary shall furnish the Occupational Tax Officer with a tax duplicate of all persons who are subject to the tax under this article.
B. 
It shall be the duty of the Occupational Tax Officer to collect the taxes hereby imposed, to accept and receive payments of this tax, and to keep a record thereof showing the amount received by him from each employer or self-employed person together with the date the tax was received.
C. 
Chadds Ford Township may 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 of the payroll records of any employer subject to the article and the examination and correction of any return made in compliance with the article and any payment alleged or found to be incorrect or as to which overpayment is claimed or found to have occurred. Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Occupational Tax Officer shall have the right of appeal to the Board of Supervisors of Chadds Ford Township.
D. 
The Secretary is hereby authorized to examine the books and payroll records of any employer in order to verify the accuracy of any return made by an employer or if no return was made to ascertain the tax due. Each employer is hereby directed and required to give the Secretary the means, facilities and opportunity for such examination.
A. 
In the event that any tax under this article remains due or unpaid 30 days after the due dates above set forth, Chadds Ford Township may sue for the recovery of any such tax due or unpaid under this article, together with interest and penalty.
B. 
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due, interest at the rate of 6% on the amount of said tax shall be due and payable beginning with the due date of said tax, and a penalty of 5% shall be added to the flat rate of said tax for nonpayment thereof. Where suit is brought for the recovery of this tax, the individual liable therefor shall, in addition, be responsible and liable for the costs of collection, including reasonable attorney's fees.
[Added 11-21-2011 by Ord. No. 123]
A. 
Exemption. Any person whose total earned income and net profits from all sources within Chadds Ford Township is less than $12,000 for any calendar year in which the tax is levied is exempt from the payment of the tax for the calendar year. In addition, the following persons are also exempt from payment of the tax:
(1) 
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, 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.
(2) 
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 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.
B. 
Procedure to claim exemption.
(1) 
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services tax may annually file an exemption certificate with Chadds Ford Township's Tax Collector and with the person's employer affirming that the person reasonably expects to receive earned income and net profits from all sources within Chadds Ford Township of less than $12,000 in the calendar year for which the exemption certificate is filed. The exemption certificate shall have attached to it a copy of all the employee's last pay stubs or W-2 forms from employment within Chadds Ford Township for the year prior to the fiscal year for which the employee is requesting to be exempted from the tax. Upon receipt of the exemption certificate and until otherwise instructed by Chadds Ford Township or except as required by § 116-44A(2), the employer shall not withhold the tax from the person during the calendar year or the remainder of the calendar year for which the exemption certificate applies. Employers shall ensure that the exemption certificate forms are readily available to employees at all times and shall furnish each new employee with a form at the time of hiring. The exemption certificate form shall be the uniform form provided by Chadds Ford Township.
(2) 
With respect to a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the tax, upon notification to an employer by the person or by Chadds Ford Township that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within Chadds Ford 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 upon an employer's payment to the person of earned income within Chadds Ford Township in an amount equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year, an employer shall withhold the local services tax from the person under § 116-44B(3).
(3) 
If a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the tax becomes subject to the tax for the calendar year under § 116-44B(2), the employer shall withhold the tax for the remainder of that calendar year. The employer shall withhold from the person, for the first payroll period after receipt of the notification under § 116-44B(2), a lump sum equal to the amount of tax that was not withheld from the person due to the exemption claimed by the person under this subsection, 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 Chadds Ford Township may pursue collection under this article.
(4) 
Except as provided in § 116-44B(2), it is the intent of this subsection that employers shall not be responsible for investigating exemption certificates, monitoring tax exemption eligibility or exempting any employee from the local services tax.
(5) 
Refunds shall be available within three years after the due date for filing a return or one year after actual payment, whichever is later, in conformity with the Local Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, for any amounts paid in error or overpaid. This provision shall be retroactive to January 5, 2009, the date the local services tax was first enacted by the Township.
C. 
Refunds. Chadds Ford Township, in consultation with the Tax Collector and DCED, shall establish procedures for the processing of refund claims for any tax paid by any person who is eligible for exemption, which procedures shall be in accord with provisions of the general municipal law relating to refunds of overpayments and interest on overpayments. Refunds made within 75 days of a refund request or 75 days after the last day the employer is required to remit the tax for the last quarter of the calendar year, whichever is later, shall not be subject to interest. No refunds shall be made for amounts overpaid in a calendar year that do not exceed $1. Chadds Ford Township or the Collector shall determine eligibility for exemption and provide refunds to exempt persons.
[Added 11-21-2011 by Ord. No. 123]
A. 
The situs of the tax shall be the place of employment on the first day the person becomes subject to the tax during each payroll period. In the event a person is engaged in more than one occupation, that is concurrent employment, or an occupation which requires the person to work in more than one political subdivision during a payroll period, the priority of claim to collect the local services tax shall be in the following order:
(1) 
First, the political subdivision in which a person maintains his or her principal office or is principally employed;
(2) 
Second, the political subdivision in which the person resides and works if the tax is levied by that political subdivision;
(3) 
Third, the political subdivision in which a person is employed and which imposes the tax nearest in miles to the person's home.
B. 
In case of dispute, a tax receipt of the taxing authority for that calendar year declaring that the taxpayer has made prior payment constitutes prima facie certification of payment to all other political subdivisions.