[Adopted 4-30-1981 by Ord. No. 81-1 (Ch. 24, Part 5, of the
1983 Code of Ordinances)]
This article shall be known as the "Business Privilege and Mercantile
Tax Ordinance."
This article and the business privilege tax it imposes is enacted
under the authority of the Local Tax Enabling Act, Act 511 of December
31, 1965, P.L. 1257 (53 P.S. § 6901 et seq.), and amendments
thereto. This article shall go into effect 30 days after enactment,
as provided by said Act.
[Amended 8-12-1999 by Ord. No. 99-4]
The following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed
to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates
a different meaning:
The Borough of Walnutport, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
Any activity carried on or exercised for gain or profit in
the Borough of Walnutport, County of Northampton, including, but not
limited to, the sale of merchandise or other tangible property or
the performance of services. Businesses shall include all those entities
having their principal place of business physically located within
the Borough of Walnutport.
The period January 1 to December 31, inclusive.
Any individual, partnership, limited partnership, association,
trust firm or corporation. Whenever used in any clause prescribing
or imposing a penalty, "person" as applied to associations, means
the partners or members thereof, and as applied to corporations, the
officers thereof.
The business or privilege tax imposed herein.
A person subject to the payment of the tax.
The calendar year for which the tax is due with the exception
of June 1, 1981, to December 31, 1981, which shall constitute the
tax year and calendar year for 1981.
Any person who sells to dealers in, or vendors of, goods,
wares and merchandise and to no other persons.
[Amended 12-19-1983 by Ord. No. 83-9]
There is hereby levied from January 1, 1984 and annually thereafter a tax for general revenue purposes on all persons for the privilege of doing business as herein defined in the Borough, and the rate of the tax on every dollar of the whole or gross volume of business or services transacted within the territorial limits of the Borough shall be 1 1/2 mills (1 1/2 mills means $1.50 per $1,000 of gross volume of business); and that rate of the tax on the whole or gross volume of business or services transacted by wholesale dealers or wholesale vendors within the territorial limits of the Borough will be one mill. The tax shall be payable by April 15 of the tax year based upon estimated gross business volume for the tax year computed according to § 408-29 of this article.
[Amended 2-13-1997 by Ord. No. 97-1]
A.
Every person subject to the tax shall compute his annual gross volume
of business upon the actual gross amount of business transacted by
him during the tax year.
B.
The collecting officer is hereby authorized to accept payment under
protest of the tax where the taxpayer disputes the validity or amount
of the tax. If it is thereafter judicially determined by a court of
competent jurisdiction that the tax has been overpaid, the amount
of the overpayment shall be refunded to the taxpayer.
C.
Upon request of designated Borough official, any business person
and/or entity subject to this article shall provide a true and correct
copy of Schedule C (Self-Employed), Schedule 1065, in the case of
partnership, or 1120 in the case of corporations, or Schedule E (Supplemental
Income and Loss) in the case of landlord or any other verification
of income as required by the Borough.
[Amended 7-1-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-08]
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 government of the United States
or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the business of any political
subdivision, or of any authority created or organized under and pursuant
to any act of assembly are exempt from the provisions of this article.
B.
No such 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 Court of Pennsylvania
to be the basis for exemption from the imposition of a business privilege
of mercantile tax by a municipality.
C.
Utilities. No such 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 such 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.
Production and manufacture. No such tax shall be assessed and collected
on goods, articles, and products, or on by-products of manufacture,
or on minerals, timber, natural resources, and farm products, manufactured,
produced, or grown in the Borough of Walnutport, County of Northampton,
or on the preparation or processing thereof for use or market, or
on any privilege, act or transaction related to the business of manufacturing,
the production, preparation or processing of minerals, timber and
natural resources or farm products, by manufacturers, by producers,
and by farmers with respect to the goods, articles and products of
their own manufacture, production or growth, or any privilege, act
or transaction relating to the business or processing by-products
of manufacturer, or on the transportation, loading, unloading, or
dumping or storage of such goods, articles, products, or by-products.
The gross volume of business upon which the tax is computed
shall include the gross consideration credited or received for or
on account of sales made or services rendered, or both, subject only
to the following deductions:
A.
Gross moneys derived from the resale of goods, wares and merchandise
taken as trade-in or as part payment for other goods, wares and merchandise
to the extent that the resale price does not exceed the trade-in allowance.
B.
Refunds, credits or allowances given on account of defects in goods,
wares or merchandise sold, or on account of goods, wares or merchandise
returned.
C.
Any commissions paid by a person to another similar person on account
of a purchase or sales contract initiated, executed or cleared with
such other person.
D.
Bad debts, where the deduction is also taken in the same year for
Federal Income Taxation purposes.
Where the gross or whole volume of business in its entirety
cannot be subjected to the tax imposed by this article by reason of
the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, or any provision
of law, the collecting officer under the direction of the Borough
Council shall establish rules and regulations and methods of allocation
and evaluation so that only that part of the gross or whole volume
of business which is attributable and allowable to doing business
in the Borough shall be taxed thereunder. If any person is liable
for the same tax on the same subject imposed under the Local Tax Enabling
Act to the Borough and one or more political subdivisions of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, the tax shall be apportioned by such percentage as
may be agreed upon by such political subdivisions, but the combined
taxes of both subdivisions shall not exceed the maximum rate of tax.
The taxpayer shall keep books and records of his business so
as to show clearly, accurately and separately the amount of such sales
and services which he is entitled to deduct from the gross volume
of business.
[Amended 3-21-1983 by Ord. No. 83-2]
A.
Every return shall be made upon a form furnished by the collecting
officer. Every person making a return shall certify the correctness
thereof by affidavit.
B.
Every person subject to the tax shall on or before the first day
of March of the year after the tax year file with the collecting officer
a return setting forth his name, business, business address and such
other information as may be necessary in arriving at the gross amount
of business transacted by him during the tax year, and the amount
of the tax due.
C.
For the tax year June 1, 1981, to December 31, 1981, every person
subject to the tax shall on or before the 15th day of April 1982,
file with the collecting officer a return setting forth his name,
business, business address and such other information as may be necessary
in arriving at the estimated gross amount of business transacted by
him and the amount of the tax due.
D.
Any person going out of or ceasing to do business shall, within 90
days from the date of ceasing to do business, file a return showing
the actual gross volume of business conducted and done by such person
during that tax year in which the person ceased doing business, and
pay any tax due as computed thereon at the rate herein provided for
at the time of filing the return. If such tax has been previously
paid based upon estimated gross receipts, the taxpayer shall be entitled
to a refund of any excess tax paid for the tax year in which the business
was terminated.
E.
All taxpayers subject to the payment of the taxes herein levied and
assessed shall be entitled to a discount of 2% of the amount of such
tax upon making payment of the whole amount thereof within two months
after the date of the tax notice. All taxpayers who fail to make payment
of any such taxes charged against them for a period of four months
after the date of the tax notice shall be charged a penalty of 10%,
plus recoverable cost of collection, which penalty shall be added
to the taxes by the Tax Collector and be collected by him.
F.
In the event any person, as defined in § 408-27, shall obtain an extension of time to file a federal income tax return such that a return shall not be available on or before the first day of March of the year after the tax year, said person shall notify the Borough in writing of the granting of the extension with supporting documentation and the date the tax return is due to be filed. Upon receipt of the tax return all persons shall thereafter comply with the requirements of this article and submit the information required to the Borough within 15 days of receipt of said tax return.
[Added 11-12-2015 by Ord.
No. 2015-02]
[Amended 3-9-1995 by Ord. No. 95-1; 12-13-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-08; 12-8-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-14; 2-9-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-04;[1] 7-9-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-04]
After the effective date of this article, any person desiring to conduct or continuing to conduct any business within the Borough shall file with the collection officer an application for a business privilege license and shall pay a fee of $25 for the initial license and be conspicuously posted in the place of business for which the license is issued, and shall remain in effect one year from the date of issue. In cases where more than one place of business is conducted, a separate license shall be issued for each place of business. Any taxpayer who is in default in payment of tax due hereunder shall be refused a license until such tax is paid in full. Licenses may be revoked for Borough ordinance violations. A business privilege license shall be required to be obtained by a commercial rental business for each commercial rental unit which is engaged in a separate business as defined under this article. For any person who shall not provide information requested in § 408-34 within the time periods required, said person shall be subject to a late fee in the amount of $30 which shall be paid along with the license fee before the business license shall be issued by the Borough.
A.
The collection officer is charged with the duties of collecting and
receiving the taxes, 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 Borough Council shall appoint the collection officer and may appoint
deputy collection officers.
B.
The collection officer is hereby authorized to prescribe, adopt and promulgate forms and regulations relating to any matter pertaining to the administration and enforcement of this article with the exception of the direction of the Borough Council to be given pursuant to § 408-32 of this article.
C.
If a taxpayer neglects or refuses to make a return, the collection
officer or his duly appointed deputies may assess the person such
an amount of gross volume of business as the collection officer or
his deputies deem reasonable and appropriate. In all cases of assessment,
the collection officer or his duly appointed deputies shall give the
parties assessed a notice in which shall be stated the amount of tax
levied.
D.
The collection officer or his deputies are hereby authorized to examine
the books, papers and records of any person subject to the tax in
order to verify the accuracy of the return made, or if no return was
made, ascertain the tax due. All returns shall be confidential, unless
subject to court proceedings.
E.
Any person aggrieved by a decision of the collection officer shall
have the right to appeal to the Court of Common Pleas, as in other
cases.
The collection officer 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.
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.
[Amended 3-21-1983 by Ord. No. 83-2]
Any person who conducts, transacts, or engages in any of the
businesses subject to the tax imposed by this article, without having
first secured a business privilege license for the year, or any person
who fails to file a tax return as required by the provisions of this
article, or any person who willfully files a false return, shall,
upon summary conviction before Magisterial District Judge, be fined
not more than $300 for any one offense, recoverable with costs, or
imprisonment not exceeding 30 days. Each day on which any person violates
any provision of this article may be considered as a separate offense
and punishable as such.
