[Adopted 12-27-2007 by Ord. No. 07-16]
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Local Services Tax Ordinance."
As used in this article, the following words shall have the following meanings:
EMPLOYER
Any person, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, association, institution, trust, corporation, governmental agency, or any other body engaged in business or situated in the Borough of Bellevue employing one or more employees in any occupation.
INCOME FROM ALL SOURCES or COMPENSATION
Salaries, wages, commissions, tips, bonuses, fees, gross receipts, or any other earned income.
OCCUPATION
Includes any livelihood, job, trade, profession, business or enterprise of any kind, including services, domestic or other, for which any compensation or income is received.
RATE
"Combined rate" shall mean the aggregate annual rate of the local services tax levied by a school district and a municipality located in whole or in part within the school district.
TAX
The tax levied by this article.
TAX COLLECTOR
The person or persons or public employee or firm or agency appointed by the Town Council of the Borough of Bellevue to collect and administer the local services tax levied by this article.
TAXPAYER
Any natural person liable for the tax levied by this article.
A tax for police, fire and emergency services, road construction and/or maintenance, or reduction of property taxes purposes in the amount of $52 is hereby levied upon the privilege of engaging in an occupation within the Borough of Bellevue for the period commencing January 1, 2008, and ending December 31, 2008, and for each subsequent year from the effective date of this article. Each natural person who exercises such privilege for any length of time in any year beginning with January 1, 2008, shall pay the tax in accordance with the provisions hereof.
A. 
Every employer not registered under the provisions of the Earned Income Tax Ordinance of the Borough of Bellevue[1] shall, within 15 days after the effective date of this article or within 15 days after first becoming an employer, register with the Tax Collector the employer's name, address and such other information as the Tax Collector shall require.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Articles I and IV of this chapter.
B. 
As to each taxpayer who is employed for any length of time in the Borough of Bellevue from January 1, 2008, to and including December 31, 2008, and for whom no prior deduction has been made, each employer shall deduct the tax from compensation payable to the taxpayer, file a return on a form prescribed by the Tax Collector, and pay to said Tax Collector the full amount of all taxes deducted for each such period, on or before April 30, 2009.
C. 
For the calendar year beginning January 1, 2008, and for succeeding years as long as this tax is in existence, as to each taxpayer employed for any length of time on or before April 30, each employer shall deduct the tax from compensation payable to the taxpayer, file a return on a form prescribed by the Tax Collector, and pay to said Collector the full amount of all such taxes on or before April 30. Thereafter, as to each taxpayer for whom no prior deduction has been made for the then current year, who is employed for any length of time in any of the three-month periods ending June 30, September 30, and December 31 of each such current year, each employer shall deduct the tax from compensation payable to the taxpayer, file a return on a form prescribed by the Tax Collector, and pay to said Tax Collector the full amount of all such taxes deducted for each such three-month period on or before July 31, October 31, and January 31 of the succeeding year, respectively.
(1) 
For the calendar year 2008, and every calendar year thereafter, a person subject to the local services tax shall be assessed a pro rata share of the tax for each payroll period in which the person is engaging in an occupation. The pro rata share of the tax assessed on the person for a payroll period shall be determined by dividing the combined rate of the local services tax 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, an employer shall round down the amount of the tax collected each payroll period to the nearest 1/100 of a dollar. Collection of the local services tax levied under this subsection shall be made on a payroll-period basis for each payroll period in which the person is engaging in an occupation, except as provided in Subsection C(2).
(2) 
If a school district levied an emergency and municipal services tax on the effective date of this subsection, the school district may continue to levy the local services tax in the same amount the school district collected on the effective date of this subsection. However, if a municipality located in whole or in part within the school district subsequently levies the local services tax, the school district may only collect $5 on persons employed within the municipality each calendar year. A school district that did not levy an emergency and municipal services tax on the effective date of this subsection shall be prohibited from levying the local services tax. If a school district and a municipality located in whole or in part within the school district both levy a local services tax at a combined rate exceeding $10, the school district's pro rata share of the aggregate local services taxes levied on persons employed within the municipality shall be collected by the municipality or its tax officer based on payroll periods as provided under Subsection C(1) and shall be paid to the school district on a quarterly basis within 60 days of receipt by the municipality or its tax officer.
(3) 
Except as provided in Subsection C(2), no person shall be subject to the payment of the local services tax by more than one political subdivision during each payroll period as established by Subsection C(4).
(4) 
With respect to a person subject to the local services tax at a combined rate exceeding $10, 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. With respect to a person subject to the local services tax at a combined rate of not more than $10, the situs of the tax shall be the place of employment determined as of the day the person first becomes subject to the tax during the calendar year. In the event a person is engaged in more than one occupation, that is, concurrent employment, or an occupation which requires the person working in more than one political subdivision during a payroll period, the priority of a claim to collect the local services tax shall be in the following order: first, the political subdivision in which a person maintains the person's principal office or is principally employed; second, the political subdivision in which the person resides and works, if the tax is levied by that political subdivision; and third, the political subdivision in which a person is employed and which imposes the tax nearest in miles to the person's home.
(5) 
In the case of concurrent employment, an employer shall refrain from withholding the local services tax 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 local services tax withheld, and a statement from the employee that the pay statement is from the employee's principal employer and the employee will notify other employers of a change in principal place of employment within two weeks of its occurrence. The Department of Community and Economic Development shall develop a uniform employee statement form.
(6) 
The local services 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 may be employed. A political subdivision shall provide a taxpayer a receipt of payment upon request by the taxpayer.
(7) 
Political subdivisions shall adopt regulations for the processing of refund claims for overpaid local services taxes for any calendar year. The regulations shall be consistent with 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 8425 (relating to refunds of overpayments) and 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 8426 (relating to interest on overpayment). Refunds made within 75 days of a refund request or 75 days after the last day the employer is required to remit the local services tax 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. Political subdivisions shall only provide refunds for amounts overpaid in a calendar year that exceed $1.
(8) 
The Department of Community and Economic Development shall provide suggested forms and technical assistance to facilitate the administration of the local services tax for political subdivisions and reduce the burden of implementation, accounting and compliance for employers and taxpayers.
D. 
Any employer who discontinues business or ceases operation before December 31 of any year during which the tax is in effect shall, within 15 days of discontinuing business or ceasing operation, file a return hereinabove required and pay the tax to the Tax Collector.
E. 
The failure of any employer to deduct the tax shall not relieve the employee from the duty to file a return and pay the tax. Any employer who fails to deduct the tax as required by this section or who fails to pay such tax to the Tax Collector shall be liable for such tax in full, without deduction of the fee hereinafter provided, as though the tax had originally been levied against such employer.
F. 
Each employer may deduct and retain a fee equal to 2% of the total amount of tax collected through the employer pursuant to this section.
A. 
Every taxpayer who is self-employed or whose tax for any other reason is not collected under the provisions of this article shall file a return on a form prescribed by the Tax Collector and shall pay the tax directly to the Tax Collector. Each such taxpayer who first becomes subject to the tax during the period from the effective date of this article to and including December 31, 2008, shall file the return and pay the tax on or before April 30, 2009.
B. 
For the calendar year 2008 and for succeeding years as long as this tax is in existence, each such taxpayer who first becomes subject to the tax on or before March 31 shall file the return and pay the tax on or before April 30, and each such taxpayer who first becomes subject to the tax on or before June 30 shall file the return and pay the tax on or before July 31, and each such taxpayer who first becomes subject to the tax on or before September 30 shall file the return and pay the tax on or before October 31, and each taxpayer who first becomes subject to the tax on or before December 31 shall file the return and pay the tax on or before January 31 of the ensuring year.
Every individual shall be subject to the payment of the tax on his/her principal occupation, and his/her principal employer shall deduct the tax. Evidence of the deduction must be furnished to the secondary employer, who shall not make any additional deduction but must notify the Tax Collector of the employee's name, address, account number and original deduction.
Both resident and nonresident taxpayers shall, by virtue of engaging in an occupation within the Borough of Bellevue, be subject to the tax.
A. 
Every person whose total earned income and net profit from all sources within the Borough of Bellevue is less than $12,000 for the calendar year in which the local services tax is levied is exempt from the payment of said tax.
B. 
The following persons are exempt from paying the said local services 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 permanent 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.
(3) 
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.
(4) 
The exemption set forth above in Subsection B(2) shall apply only for the period the exempt person is on active duty and not for any other time that said person is not on active duty.
C. 
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services tax may annually file an exemption certificate with the political subdivision levying the tax and with the person's employer, affirming that the person reasonably expects to receive earned income and net profits from all sources within the political subdivision of less than $12,000 in the calendar year for which the exemption certificate is filed. In the event the political subdivision utilizes a tax collection officer pursuant to § 240-83 of this article, the political subdivision shall provide a copy of the exemption certificate to that officer. 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 the political subdivision for the year prior to the fiscal year for which the employee is requesting to be exempted from the local services tax. (Upon receipt of the exemption certificate and until otherwise instructed by the political subdivision levying the tax or except as required by Subsection B, 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.
D. 
With respect to a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the said local services tax, upon notification to an employer by the person or by the political subdivision that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within that political subdivision equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year, or that 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 that political subdivision 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 Subsection E.
E. 
If a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the local services tax becomes subject to the tax for the calendar year under Subsection D, 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 the receipt of the notification under Subsection D, 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 the withholding of the tax under this section is subsequently severed in that calendar year, the person shall be liable for any outstanding balance of tax due, and the political subdivision levying the tax may pursue collection under this article.
F. 
Except as provided in Subsection D, it is the intent of this section that employers shall not be responsible for investigating exemption certificates, monitoring tax exemption eligibility or exempting any employee from a local services tax.
A. 
It shall be the duty of the Tax Collector to accept and receive payment of this tax and to keep a record thereof showing the amount received from each employer and self-employed individual, together with the date received. The Tax Collector shall make reports and accountings to the Borough of Bellevue monthly.
B. 
The Tax Collector shall prescribe and issue all forms necessary for the administration of the tax.
C. 
The Town Council of the Borough of Bellevue may adopt, promulgate and enforce rules and regulations relating to any matter pertaining to the administration of this article, including, but not limited to, refunds, examinations, corrections and investigations of returns, production of evidence and records.
D. 
The Tax Collector and agents designated by him are hereby authorized to examine the books and payroll records of any employer in order to verify the accuracy of any return or to ascertain the tax due if no return is made.
The Tax 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 including reasonable attorneys' fees, as well as for interest and penalties. The Tax Collector may accept payment under protest of the tax claimed by the Borough of Bellevue in any case where any person disputes the Borough of Bellevue's claim for tax. If a court of competent jurisdiction thereafter decides that there has been overpayment to the Tax Collector, the Tax Collector shall refund the amount of the overpayment to the person who paid under protest.
The Tax Collector, before entering upon his official duties, shall give and acknowledge a bond to the Borough of Bellevue in such an amount which the Town Council of the Borough of Bellevue may deem sufficient.
The Tax Collector shall receive such compensation for his services and expenses as shall be determined by the Town Council of the Borough of Bellevue from time to time.
Any person who violates any provision of this article or any regulation adopted pursuant to it shall, upon conviction thereof before any Magisterial District Judge, be subject to a fine of not more than $500 or, in default of payment of such fine, shall be subject to imprisonment in the Allegheny County Jail for a period not to exceed 30 days.
This tax shall not apply to any subject of tax or person not within the taxing power of the Borough of Bellevue, under the Constitution of the United States and the Laws and Constitution of Pennsylvania. If a final decision of a court of competent jurisdiction holds any provision of this article to be illegal or unconstitutional, the other provisions of this article shall remain in full force and effect. The intention of the Town Council of the Borough of Bellevue is that the provisions of this article shall be severable and that this article would have been adopted if any such illegal or unconstitutional provisions had not been included.
This article shall become effective January 1, 2008, and continue in force on a calendar-year basis thereafter without reenactment until such time as the Town Council of the Borough of Bellevue shall change the rate of the tax or by appropriate ordinance repeal said tax.