[Adopted 10-4-2005 by Ord. No. 129-H-05; amended in its entirety 10-16-2007 by Ord. No. 129-B-07]
This article shall be known as the "East Goshen
Township Local Services Tax Ordinance."
A.
COLLECTOR or TAX COLLECTOR
CORPORATION
EMPLOYER
NONRESIDENT
OCCUPATION
PERSON
RESIDENT
SALARIES, WAGES, COMMISSIONS AND OTHER COMPENSATION
TAXPAYER
TOWNSHIP
Unless otherwise expressly stated, the following terms
shall have, for the purpose of this article, the meaning herein indicated:
The person appointed by the Board of Supervisors to collect
the local services tax levied by this article and to administer the
provisions thereof.
Any corporation or joint-stock association organized under
the laws of the United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or
any other state, territory, or foreign country or dependency.
Any individual, partnership, association, corporation, governmental
body or unit or agency or any other entity who or that employs one
or more persons on a salary, wage, commission, or other compensation
basis, including a self-employed person.
An individual, fiduciary, partnership or other entity domiciled
outside East Goshen Township.
Any enterprise, activity, profession, or undertaking of any
nature conducted for profit or ordinarily conducted for profit, whether
by an individual, association, or any other entity, whereby any wage,
salary, commission or other remuneration is earned.
A natural person, partnership, association, corporation or
fiduciary. Whenever used in any clause prescribing or imposing a penalty,
the term "person" as applied to associations shall mean the partners
or members thereof and, as applied to corporations, the officers thereof.
A person, partnership, association or other entity domiciled
in East Goshen Township.
Includes salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, incentive
payments, fees and tips that may accrue or be received by an individual
for services rendered, whether directly or through an agent and whether
in cash or in property, but shall not include periodic payments for
sick or disability benefits and those commonly recognized as old age
benefits; retirement pay or pensions paid to persons retired from
service after reaching a specific age or after a stated period of
employment; not public assistance or unemployment compensation payments,
nor any wages or compensation paid by the United States to any person
for active service in the Army, Navy or Air Force of the United States;
not any bonus or additional compensation paid by the United States
or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any other state for such service.
A person required hereunder to file a return on earnings
or net profits or to pay a tax thereon.
East Goshen Township.
B.
The singular shall include the plural and the masculine
should include the feminine and the neuter.
A.
Any and all individuals earning less than $12,000
per year from all sources shall be exempt from payment of the local
services tax.
B.
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local
services tax may annually file an exemption certificate with the Township
and with the person's employer affirming that the person reasonably
expects to receive earned income and net profits from all sources
within the Township of less than $12,000 in the calendar year for
which the exemption certificate is filed. The Township shall provide
a copy of the tax exemption certificate to the Tax Collector. Upon
receipt of the exemption certificate and until otherwise instructed
by the person or 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.
C.
If a person claims an exemption from the local services tax for a given calendar year, upon notification to an employer by the person or by the Township that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within the 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 the 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 pursuant to the procedure specified in Subsection D below.
D.
If a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar
year from the local services tax thereafter becomes subject to the
tax for that calendar year, 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
that the person is subject to the tax, a lump sum equal to the amount
of tax that was not withheld from the person due to the claim of exemption
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 clause is subsequently severed in
that calendar year, the person shall be liable for any outstanding
balance of tax due.
E.
Any individual who has paid a local services tax for
a calendar year may, between January 1 and April 15 of the next succeeding
calendar year, file an application for a rebate, and said individual
shall be entitled to a rebate, provided that an application is timely
filed and provided that it is proven to the satisfaction of the Tax
Collector that the individual earned income in the calendar year for
which the rebate is sought in an amount less than $12,000.
F.
Additionally, the following persons shall be exempt
from the local services tax:
(1)
Any person who has served in any war or armed conflict
in which the United States of America was engaged and who is honorably
discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active service
if, as a result of military service, the person is blind, paraplegic,
is a double or quadruple amputee or has a service-connected disability
that has been declared by the Veteran's Administration or its successor
to be a total, one-hundred-percent-permanent disability; and
(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.
Every employer who employs one or more persons
on a salary, wage, commission or other compensation basis whose earnings
are subject to the tax imposed by this article shall deduct the amount
of tax levied by this article from the salaries, wages or compensation
paid to the employee, which deduction shall be made at a maximum rate
of $1 per week, with the employer being required to withhold the tax
on the frequency of the employee's payroll schedule, with payments
made to the Tax Collector on a quarterly basis.
Each employer shall prepare and file a return
showing a computation of the tax on forms to be supplied to him by
the Tax Collector. If the employer fails to file said return and pay
said tax, whether or not he makes collection thereof from the salary,
wages or commissions paid by him from his employees, the employer
shall be responsible for the payment of the tax in full as though
the tax had originally been levied against him.
Each employer shall use his employment records
from the first day of January of each fiscal year for determining
the number of employees from whom said tax shall be deducted and paid
over to the Tax Collector on or before April 30 of each year. Supplemental
reports and payment of taxes collected shall be made by each employer
on the following schedule:
A.
For employees hired April 1 through June 30: pay tax
and file report by July 31.
B.
For employees hired July 1 through September 30: pay
tax and file report before October 31.
C.
For employees hired October 1 through December 31:
pay tax and file report on or before January 31 of the following year.
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 Tax Collector, which form shall
be evidence of deduction 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 account
number of the employer who deducted this tax.
All self-employed individuals who perform services
of any type or kind or are engaged in any occupation or profession
within the Township shall be required to comply with this article
and pay the tax to the Tax Collector on April 30 of each year or as
soon thereafter as he engages in an occupation or profession within
the Township.
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 the same force and
effect as though they were residents of the Township. Further, 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.
The Board of Supervisors of East Goshen Township
shall designate a Tax Collector by resolution, and the compensation
of such Tax Collector shall be fixed by the Board of Supervisors by
resolution. The Collector shall collect and receive all taxes imposed
by this article; furnish receipts for their payments; keep records
showing amounts received by him from all taxpayers and the dates of
such receipts; and keep such other records as may be from time to
time required by the Board of Supervisors.
The Tax Collector is hereby charged with the
enforcement of the provisions of this article and is authorized and
empowered as follows:
A.
To administer and enforce the provisions of this article
and all rules and regulations prescribed, adopted, and promulgated
by the Board of Supervisors of East Goshen Township relating to the
enforcement and administration hereof. Consistent with such rules
and regulations, the Collector shall have the power and authority
to reexamine and correct any and all returns filed hereunder, and
to compute, settle, resettle and discharge all taxes hereby levied.
B.
The Collector, or any agent of the Township, authorized
in writing by the Collector, is hereby authorized and empowered to
examine the books, papers and records of any employer or taxpayer
in order to verify the accuracy of any return made or, if no return
was made, to ascertain the tax imposed by this article. Every such
employer or taxpayer is hereby directed and required to give to the
said Collector or a duly authorized agent or employee of the Township,
the means, facilities and opportunity for such examinations and investigations
as are hereby authorized. The Collector is hereby authorized to examine
any person under oath concerning any income which was or should have
been returned for taxation and, to this end, may compel the production
of books, papers and records and the attendance of all persons before
him, whether as parties or witnesses, who he believes to have knowledge
of such income.
C.
Any information gained by the Collector or any authorized
agent or employee of the Township, as a result of any returns, investigations,
hearings or verification, required or authorized by this article shall
be confidential except for official purposes and except where disclosure
of the contents thereof is required by proper judicial order or decree,
or as otherwise provided by law, and any person or agent who divulges
any information so obtained shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject
to a fine or penalty not exceeding $600 and costs for such offense,
or to undergo imprisonment for not more than 30 days for the nonpayment
of such fine or penalty and costs.
The Board of Supervisors of East Goshen Township
shall be empowered from time to time to adopt by resolution additional
rules and regulations pertaining to this article.
All taxes imposed by this article remaining
unpaid after they become due shall bear interest at the rate of 10%
per year beginning with the due date for said tax, and the persons
upon whom said taxes are imposed shall be further liable to pay a
penalty of 10% of the amount of the unpaid tax for each month or fraction
of a month during which the tax remains unpaid.
All taxes imposed by this article, together
with all interest and penalties accruing thereon, shall be recoverable
by the Township as other debts of like amounts are recoverable.
Any violator of any provision of this article
shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding
commenced by the Township, pay a judgment of not more than $600, plus
all court costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by
the Township as a result thereof. In the event that any person against
whom a judgment has been rendered by the District Justice neither
pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township may enforce the
judgment pursuant to the applicable Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure.
Each day that a violation of this article continues shall constitute
a separate offense.
The tax imposed by this article shall not apply
to any person as to whom it is beyond the legal power of the Township
to impose a tax or duties herein provided.
This article and the tax herein levied shall
be effective January 1, 2008, and on a continuing annual basis, unless
the rate of said tax is subsequently changed.
