[Adopted 1-28-2019]
[1]
Editor’s Note: This ordinance also repealed former Art.
II, Emergency and Municipal Services Tax, adopted 12-13-1999, as amended.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the Mahoning
Township Local Services Tax Ordinance. This article is enacted under
the authority of The Local Tax Enabling Act, 53 P.S. § 6901
et seq., and continues and redesignates the Emergency and Municipal
Services Tax as the Local Services Tax pursuant to Act No. 7 of 2007.
The following words and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context or language clearly indicates or requires a different
meaning.
The area within the corporate limits of the Township of Mahoning.
The person or agency appointed from time to time by the Board
of Supervisors for the Township of Mahoning to assess and collect
the tax imposed under, and to administer the provisions of, this article.
An individual, partnership, association, corporation, governmental
body, agency or other entity employing one or more persons on a salary,
wage, commission or other compensation basis, including a self-employed
person.
The twelve-month period beginning January 1 and ending December
31.
Indicate the singular and plural number as well as male,
female and neuter gender.
Any person, male or female, engaged in any occupation, trade
or profession within the corporate limits of the Township of Mahoning.
Any trade, profession, business, or undertaking of any type,
kind or character, including services, domestic or other, carried
on or performed within the corporate limits of the Township of Mahoning
for which compensation is charged or received whether by means of
salary, wages, commissions or fees for services rendered.
The local services tax, which was previously referred to
in this article as the emergency and municipal services tax.
A.
The Township of Mahoning hereby levies and imposes on each occupation
engaged in by individuals within its corporate limits during each
fiscal year of a local services tax. For the fiscal year 2019, said tax
shall be in the amount of $52 per annum and shall remain at said amount
unless altered by resolution of the Board of Supervisors for a subsequent
fiscal year or years. This tax does not include any occupational privilege
tax or local services tax levied and collected separately by the Danville
Area School District and shall be collected for the sole benefit of
the Township of Mahoning.
B.
This tax is in addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature
heretofore levied by the Township, and this tax shall continue in
force, without annual reenactment, unless the rate of the tax is subsequently
changed or this article is repealed.
A.
Any individual deriving less than $12,000 during a calendar year
from all sources is hereby exempt from such tax and may secure a refund
at the end of the year by filing a claim therefore on forms to be
supplied by the Township or file an exemption form at the start of
the fiscal year of employment. Said exemption shall remain at this
amount unless altered by resolution of the Board of Supervisors for
a subsequent fiscal year or years.
B.
Any individual who either is: (1) a member of a reserve component
of the Armed Forces called to duty; or (2) an honorably discharged
veteran who served in any war or armed conflict who is blind, paraplegic,
or a double or quadruple amputee as a result of military services;
or (3) 100% disabled from service-connected disability.
A.
Each employer who engages in business within the Township of Mahoning
is hereby charged with the duty of collecting from each of his employees
engaged by him and performing for him within the Township of Mahoning
this tax and making a return and payment thereof to the Collector.
A.
Each employer is hereby authorized to deduct this tax from each employee
in his employ, whether said employee is salary, wages or commission
and whether or not part or all of such services are performed within
the Township. The employer shall pro-rate the amount of the tax based
upon the number of pay periods remaining in the fiscal year and deduct
equal amounts from each pay period. If an employee shall leave employment
before the end of the fiscal year, the employee is obligated to pay
the remaining unpaid amount of the tax to the Township within 30 days
of the end of the employee's employment.·
B.
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.
Each employer shall remit, within 30 days of each calendar quarter,
all amounts withheld from employees for said tax to the Collector.
Each employer shall prepare and file a return showing a computation
of the tax on forms to be supplied by the Collector.
Each individual who shall have more than one occupation within
the 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 Township 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.
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 article on July 30 of the fiscal
year or as soon thereafter as he engages in an occupation.
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 article with 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 article, 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.
A.
It shall be the duty of the Collector 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.
B.
The Collector is hereby charged with the administration and enforcement
of this article and is hereby charged and empowered to 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 this article, the examination and correction
of any return made in compliance with this 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 Collector shall have the right to appeal to the Court of Common
Pleas of Montour County as in other cases provided.
A.
In the event that any tax under this article remains due or unpaid
30 days after the due dates above set forth, the 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% per annum on the amount of said tax shall be calculated beginning
with the due date of said tax, and an additional penalty of 5% 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
therefor shall, in addition, be responsible and liable for the costs
of collection, including attorney's fees.
C.
The Collector or his duly authorized representative or agent 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 collector or his duly
authorized representative or agent the means, facilities and opportunity
for such examinations.
Any person who makes any false or untrue statement on any return
required by this article, or who refuses inspection of his books,
records or accounts in his custody and control setting forth the number
of employees subject to this tax who are in his employment, or whoever
fails or refuses to file any return required by this article, commits
a violation of this article. If Township Board of Supervisors or the
Collector determines that a person has committed or permitted the
commission of a violation of this article, the Township may institute
summary criminal proceedings and/or may seek equitable relief. In
the event summary criminal proceedings are instituted, the fine for
the first offense shall be no less than $100 and not more than $600.
The fine for a second offense shall not be less than $300 and not
more than $600. The fine for a third or greater offense shall not
be less than $500 and not more than $600. Each day or portion thereof
in which a violation exists shall be considered a separate violation
of this article. Each section of this article which is violated shall
be considered a separate violation. The amount of any fine imposed
by a District Magistrate or a Court shall be in addition to any other
fine which may be imposed under any other provisions of the Code of
Ordinances of the Township or under any statute. In default of payment
of any fine, such person shall be liable to imprisonment for not more
than 30 days. The action to enforce the article may be instituted
against any person in charge of the business of any employer who shall
have failed or refused to file a return required by this article.
A.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to empower the
Township to levy and collect the tax hereby imposed on any occupation
not within the taxing power of the Township under the Constitution
of the United States and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
B.
If the tax hereby imposed under the provisions of this article shall
be held in violation of the Constitution of the United Sates or of
the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as to any individual,
such decision shall not affect or impair the right to impose or collect
said tax, or the validity of the tax so imposed, on the other persons
or individuals as herein provided.
The Township shall use at least 25% of all funds collected pursuant
to the LST for emergency services. The Township may use the remainder
of the LST funds for emergency services, road construction or maintenance,
reduction of property taxes, property tax relief through the implementation
of a homestead and farmstead exclusion and any other purpose authorized
by law.
