[Adopted 4-3-2006 by Ord. No. 481;
amended in its entirety 12-3-2007 by Ord. No. 493]
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 person, public employee or private agency designated by the political
subdivision to collect and administer the tax herein imposed.
The Department of Community and Economic Development of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
Compensation as this term is defined in § 13 (relating
to earned income taxes) of the Local Tax Enabling Act, the Act of Dec. 31,
1965, P.L. 1257, § 13, as amended, 53 P.S. § 6913, as
amended.
An individual, partnership, association, limited-liability corporation,
limited-liability partnership, 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.
Indicates the singular and plural number, as well as the male, female
and neuter genders.
Any person, male or female, engaged in any occupation, trade or profession
within the corporate limits of the political subdivision.
The net income from the operation of a business, profession, or other
activity, as this term is defined in § 13 (relating to earned income
taxes) of the Local Tax Enabling Act, the Act of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1251,
§ 13, as amended, 53 P.S. § 6913, as amended.
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 political subdivision for which compensation
is charged or received; whether by means of salary, wages, commission or fees
for services rendered.
The area within the corporate limits of the Borough.
The local services tax at the rate fixed in § 230-22 of this article.
The period from January 1 until December 31 in any year; a calendar
year.
A.
For specific revenue purposes, an annual tax is hereby
levied and assessed, commencing January 1, 2008, upon the privilege of engaging
in an occupation with a primary place of employment within the Borough during
the tax year. Each natural person who exercises such privilege for any length
of time during any tax year shall pay the tax for that year in the amount
of $42, assessed on a pro-rata basis in accordance with the provisions of
this article.
B.
This tax may be used solely for the following purposes
as the same may be allocated by the Borough from time to time:
(1)
Emergency services, which shall include emergency medical
services, police services and/or fire services;
(2)
Road construction and/or maintenance;
(3)
Reduction of property taxes; or
(4)
Property tax relief through implementation of a homestead
and farmstead exclusion in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S.A. Chapter 85, Subchapter
F (relating to homestead property exclusion).
C.
The political subdivision shall use no less than 25%
of the funds derived from the tax for emergency services.
D.
This tax is in addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature
heretofore levied by the political subdivision. The tax shall be no more than
$42 on each person for each calendar year, irrespective of the number of political
subdivisions within which a person may be employed.
A.
Exemption. Any person whose total earned income and net
profits from all sources within the political subdivision is less than $12,000
for any calendar year in which the tax is levied is exempt from the payment
of the tax for that calendar year. In addition, the following persons are
exempt from payment of the 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 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. For the 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.
B.
Procedure to claim exemption.
(1)
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services tax may annually file an exemption certificate with the Borough and with the person's employer, affirming that the person reasonably expects to receive earned income and net profits from all sources within the Borough of less than $12,000 in the calendar year for which the exemption certificate is filed. In the event the Borough utilizes a tax collection officer, it 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 Borough for the year prior to the fiscal year for which the employee is requesting to be exempted from the tax. Upon receipt of the exemption certificate and until otherwise instructed by the political subdivision or except as required by Subsection B(2), 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. The exemption certificate form shall be the uniform form provided by the political subdivision.
(2)
With respect to a person who claimed an exemption from the tax for a given calendar year, upon notification to an employer by the person or by the Borough that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within the Borough 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 Borough 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 B(3).
(3)
If a person who claimed an exemption from the tax for a given calendar year becomes subject to the tax for the calendar year under Subsection B(2), 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 under Subsection B(2), 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 withholding of the tax under this subsection is subsequently severed in that calendar year, the person shall be liable for any outstanding balance of tax due, and the political subdivision may pursue collection under this article.
C.
Refunds. The Borough, in consultation with the Collector
and DCED, shall establish procedures for the processing of refund claims for
any tax paid by any person who is eligible for exemption, which procedures
shall be in accord with provisions of the general municipal law relating to
refunds of overpayments and interest on overpayments. Refunds made within
75 days of a refund request or 75 days after the last day the employer is
required to remit the tax for the last quarter of the calendar year, whichever
is later, shall not be subject to interest. No refunds shall be made for amounts
overpaid in a calendar year that do not exceed $1. The Borough or the Collector
shall determine eligibility for exemption and provide refunds to exempt persons.
A.
Each employer within the Borough, as well as any employer
situated outside the Borough but who engages in business within the Borough,
is hereby charged with the duty of collecting the tax from each of his employees
engaged by him or performing for him within the Borough and making a return
and payment thereof to the Collector. Further, each employer is hereby authorized
to deduct this tax for each employee in his or her employ, whether said employee
is paid by salary, wage or commission and whether or not all such services
are performed within the Borough.
B.
A person subject to the tax shall be assessed by the employer 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 rate of the 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 1/100 of a dollar. Collection of the tax 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 D of this section. For purposes of this subsection, combined rate shall mean the aggregate annual rate of the tax levied by the Wilmington Area School District and the Borough.
C.
No person shall be subject to the payment of the local
services tax by more than one political subdivision during each payroll period.
D.
In the case of concurrent employment, an employer shall
refrain from withholding the 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 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 employee's
statement shall be provided on the form approved by DCED.
E.
The 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. The Borough shall provide a taxpayer a receipt
of payment upon request by the taxpayer.
F.
No employer shall be held liable for failure to withhold the tax or for the payment of the withheld tax money to the political subdivision if the failure to withhold taxes arises from incorrect information submitted by the employee as to the employee's place or places of employment, the employee's principal office or where the employee is principally employed. Further, an employer shall not be liable for payment of the local services tax in an amount exceeding the amount withheld by the employer if the employer complies with the provisions of § 230-22.1B of this article and this section and remits the amount so withheld in accordance with this article.
G.
Employers shall be required to remit the local services
taxes 30 days after the end of each quarter of a calendar year.
Each employer shall prepare and file a return showing a computation
of the tax on forms to be supplied to the employer by the Collector. If an
employer fails to file the return and pay the tax, whether or not the employer
makes collection thereof from the salary, wages or commissions paid by him
or her to an employee, except as provided hereafter in this article, the employer
shall be responsible for the payment of the tax in full as though the tax
had been originally levied against the employer.
In each tax year, each employer shall use his or her employment records
to determine the number of employees from whom such tax shall be deducted
and paid over to the Collector on or before the 30th day following the end
of each calendar quarter of each such tax year.
Each self-employed individual who performs services of any type or kind
or engages in any occupation or profession within a primary place of employment
within the political subdivision shall be required to comply with this article
and pay the pro-rata portion of the tax due to the Collector on or before
the 30th day following the end of each quarter.
A.
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. 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 claim to collect the local services tax shall be in the following order:
(1)
First, the political subdivision in which a person maintains
his or her principal office or is principally employed;
(2)
Second, the political subdivision in which the person
resides and works if the tax is levied by that political subdivision;
(3)
Third, the political subdivision in which a person is
employed and which imposes the tax nearest in miles to the person's home.
B.
In case of dispute, a tax receipt of the taxing authority
for that calendar year declaring that the taxpayer has made prior payment
constitutes prima facie certification of payment to all other political subdivisions.
All employers and self-employed individuals residing or having their
places of business outside of the Borough but who perform services of any
type or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within the Borough
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 Borough. Further,
any individual engaged in an occupation within the Borough and an employee
of a nonresidential employer may, for the purpose of this article, be considered
a self-employed person, and in the event his or her tax is not paid, the Borough
shall have the option of proceeding against either the employer or employee
for the collection of this tax as hereinafter provided.
A.
The Collector shall be appointed by resolution of the
Borough. 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, subject
to municipal approval, 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 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 Lawrence County as in
other cases provided.
C.
The Collector 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 the
means, facilities and opportunity for such examination.
A.
In the event that any tax under this article remains
due or unpaid 30 days after the due dates above set forth, the Collector may
sue for the recovery of any such tax due or unpaid under this article, together
with interest and penalty, costs and reasonable attorneys fees.
B.
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due, interest
at the rate of 6% on the amount of such tax shall be calculated beginning
with the due date of the tax, and a penalty of 5% shall be added to the flat
rate of such tax for nonpayment thereof. Where suit is brought for the recovery
of this tax or other appropriate remedy undertaken, the individual liable
therefor shall, in addition, be responsible and liable for the costs of collection,
including reasonable attorneys' fees.
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement on any return required by
this article, or whoever refuses inspection of the books, records or accounts
in his or her custody and control setting forth the number of employees subject
to this tax who are in his or her employment, or whoever fails or refuses
to file any return required by this article shall be guilty of a violation
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more
than $600 and costs of prosecution and, in default of payment of such fine
and costs, to imprisonment for not more than 30 days. The action to enforce
the penalty herein prescribed may be instituted against any person in charge
of the business or any employer who shall have failed or who refuses to file
a return required by this article.
A.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed
to empower the political subdivision to levy and collect the tax hereby imposed
on any occupation not within the taxing power of the political subdivision
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 by any court of competent jurisdiction to be in violation
of the Constitution of the United States or of the laws of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania as to any individual, the decision of the court shall not
affect or impair the right to impose or collect said tax or the validity of
the tax so imposed on other persons or individuals as herein provided.
C.
The provisions of this article shall be severable, and
if any of the provisions hereof shall be held unconstitutional, void or otherwise
unenforceable, such shall not affect the validity of any of the remaining
provisions of this article.
