[Ord. 2008-01, 1/21/2008, Art. 2, § 201]
1.
Beginning on the effective date hereof, Lower Mount Bethel Township
hereby levies and imposes on each occupation engaged in by individuals
within its corporate limits during the fiscal year of 2008, and each
fiscal year thereafter a local services tax in the amount of $52 per
annum. Each individual who engages in an occupation shall pay the
tax in the amount of $52 for the fiscal year in which the individual
has engaged in the occupation, in accordance with the provisions of
this Part. This tax is in addition to all other taxes of any kind
or nature previously or currently levied by the Township. This tax
shall continue in force on a calendar year basis, without annual reenactment,
unless the rate of the tax is subsequently changed or this Part is
repealed or amended.
2.
All persons deriving less than $12,000 per year in earned income
and net profits from all sources within the Township are hereby exempt
from such local services tax. A person seeking to claim an exemption
from the local services tax shall execute a Low Income Exemption Certificate
annually and file it with Lower Mount Bethel Township and the person's
employer. The exemption certificate shall have 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 an exemption. Upon receipt of the exemption
certificate and until otherwise instructed by the Township, 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 have exemption certificate forms available
at all times and shall provide them to new employees at the time of
hiring.
3.
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 shall be exempt from paying the
local services tax 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 100% permanent disability.
4.
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 shall be exempt from paying the local services tax.
[Ord. 2008-01, 1/21/2008, Art. 2, § 202]
1.
Each employer who engages in business within the Township is hereby
charged with the duty of collecting from each of his employees engaged
by him and performing any party of his occupation within the Township
the tax of $52 per annum on a payroll based deduction basis and making
a return and payment thereof to the Collector.
2.
If the employer fails to file the return provided for elsewhere in
this Part and pay the tax, whether or not he makes collection thereof
from the salary, wages or commissions paid by him to the employee,
the employer shall be responsible for payment of the tax in full without
deducting a commission and as though the tax had originally been levied
against the employer.
[Ord. 2008-01, 1/21/2008, Art. 2, § 203]
1.
Each employer in the Township is hereby required to deduct this tax
from each employee in his employ, whether the employee is paid by
salary, wages or commission and whether or not part or all of such
services are performed within the Township.
2.
Taxes deducted from wages by an employer shall at all times be and
remain the property of the Township and shall constitute a trust fund
in the employer's hands until remitted to the Collector. Deduction
of taxes from wages shall, as between the employee and the Township,
constitute payment of the tax by the employee, regardless of any insolvency
or failure to remit on the employer's part.
3.
Each employer shall prepare and file a return showing a computation
of the tax on forms to be supplied by the Collector.
4.
Each employer shall assess a pro rata share of the local services
tax for each payroll period in which the person is engaging in occupation
in the Township. 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 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, an employer
shall round down the amount of the tax collected each payroll period
to the nearest one-hundredth of a dollar. Collection of the local
services tax shall be made on a payroll period basis for each payroll
period in which the person is engaging in an occupation in the Township.
5.
Employers shall be required to remit the local services taxes to
the Township within 30 days of the end of each quarter of a calendar
year.
6.
Employers who withhold the local services tax shall deliver to an
individual employed in more than one jurisdiction evidence of deductions
on a form to be furnished to the employer by the Collector which form
shall be evidence of deductions having been made and when presented
to any other employer shall be authority for such employer to not
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 address of the employer who deducted this tax.
[Ord. 2008-01, 1/21/2008, Art. 2, § 204]
Each individual who shall have more than one occupation shall
be subject to the payment of this tax in only one jurisdiction per
payroll period. If an individual works in more than one taxing area,
the priority of the claim to collect the local services tax shall
be in the following order: first, the municipality in which a person
maintains the person's principal occupation or is principally
employed; second, the municipality in which the person resides and
works, if the tax is levied by that municipality; third, the municipality
in which a person is employed and which imposes the tax nearest in
miles to the person's home. Employers who withhold the local
services tax shall deliver to an individual employed in more than
one jurisdiction evidence of deductions on a form to be furnished
to the employer by the Collector which form shall be evidence of deductions
having been made and when presented to any other employer shall be
authority for such employer to not 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 address of the employer who deducted
this tax.
[Ord. 2008-01, 1/21/2008, Art. 2, § 205]
All self-employed individuals who perform services of any type
or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within the Township
shall be required to comply with this Part within 30 days of the end
of each quarter of a calendar year.
[Ord. 2008-01, 1/21/2008, Art. 2, § 206]
[Ord. 2008-01, 1/21/2008, Art. 2, § 207]
1.
In the event that any tax under this Part remains due or unpaid 30
days after the due dates set forth in this Part, the Township or Collector
may sue for the recovery of any such tax due or unpaid under this
Part together with interest and penalty.
2.
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due, interest at the rate
of 6% per annum on the amount of the tax shall be calculated beginning
with the due date of the tax, and an additional penalty of 1/2% of
the amount of the unpaid tax shall be added and collected for each
month or fraction thereof during which the tax remains unpaid. Where
suit is brought for the recovery of this tax, the individual liable
therefore shall, in addition, be responsible and liable for the costs
of collection, including reasonable attorneys' fees.
[Ord. 2008-01, 1/21/2008, Art. 2, § 208]
All employers and self-employed individuals residing or having
their place of business outside the Township but who perform services
of any type or kind, or engage in any occupation or profession within
the Township do by virtue thereof agree to be bound by and subject
themselves to the provisions, penalties and regulations promulgated
under this Part with the same force and effect as though they were
residents of the Township. Any individual engaged in an occupation
within the Township and an employee of a nonresident employer may,
for the purpose of this Part, be considered a self-employed person
and in the event this tax is not paid, the Township shall have the
option of proceeding against either the employer or employee for the
collection of this tax as hereinafter provided.
