[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article I]
This Part shall be known and may be cited as the "Business Privilege
Tax Ordinance."
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article II; as amended by Ord.
4-1994, -/-/1994, § 1]
The following words and phrases as used in this Part shall have
the meanings ascribed to them in this Section, unless the context
clearly indicates a different meaning:
The Borough of Conshohocken.
All businesses, trades, occupations and professions in which
there is offered any service or services to the general public or
a limited number thereof including, without limitation, those enterprises
engaged in by hotel operators, motel operators, apartment and rooming
house operators, parking lot and garage operators, warehouse operators,
lessors of real and tangible personal property, social workers, consultants,
teachers, nurses, health services, therapists, physicians and surgeons,
osteopaths, podiatrists, chiropractors, veterinarians, optometrists,
pharmacists, lawyers, dentists, engineers, architects, chemists, certified
public accountants, public accountants, funeral directors, promoters,
factors, commission merchants, agents, brokers, manufacturer's
representatives, advertising and public relations agencies, real estate
brokers, insurance brokers and agents, cable television operators,
operators of places of amusement providing either passive or active
recreation, vending machine operators, barbershop operators and beauty
shop operators, cleaning, pressing and dyeing establishment operators,
laundry operators, shoe repair shop operators, tailors, upholsterers,
electrical, plastering, bricklaying, carpentry, heat, ventilating,
plumbing and painting contractors engaged in the class of heavy building
or other construction of any kind or in the alteration, maintenance
of repair thereof, repairers of electrical, electronic and automotive
machinery and equipment or other machinery and equipment and other
wares and merchandise and other businesses, trades, occupations and
professions in which there is offered any service or services to the
general public or a limited number thereof.
A person appointed by the Borough Council to collect the
business privilege tax or a person or corporation engaged for this
purpose by contract with the Borough of Conshohocken.
In general, the gross receipts upon which the tax is imposed
is the value of all cash, credits or property received by a person
which is attributable to the carrying on of business in the Borough,
undiminished by any costs of doing business, including both services,
labor and materials entered into or becoming component parts of the
services performed within the Borough. A receipt generally will be
considered attributable to the Borough if any part of the transaction
or service giving rise to the receipt takes place within the Borough.
The broad reach of this general rule is limited in certain situations
by the Part and by State and Federal law as more fully explained hereinafter.
Any individual, partnership, limited partnership, association
or corporation.
The Secretary of the Borough of Conshohocken or, for the
purpose of this Part, the collector.
Any act or instance of helping or benefiting another for
a consideration.
The twelve-month period beginning the first day of January
except the tax year for 1986 shall be February 1, 1986, until December
31, 1986.
Any business that is conducted at one location for less than
60 consecutive calendar days.
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article III; as amended by Ord.
4-1994, -/-/1994; and by Ord. 9-2008, 12/17/2008]
For each tax year, every person desiring to continue to engage
in or hereafter to begin to engage in a business, trade, occupation
or profession at an actual place of business in the Borough shall
on or before April 15 of the tax year or within 30 days after commencing
business in such tax year, make application for registration and license
for each place of business within the Borough, and if such person
has no actual place of business within the Borough, then one registration
and license with the collector. Such registration shall be made by
the completion of an application furnished by the collector and payment
of a fee as established from time to time by resolution of Borough
Council. Each application for registration and license shall be signed
by the applicant, if a natural person, and in the case of and association
or partnership, by a member or partner thereof, and in the case of
a corporation, by an officer thereof. Each applicant shall receive
a license from the collector. Such license shall not be assignable
and shall be conspicuously posted at the place of business or the
places of business of every such person at all times. In the case
of loss, defacement or destruction of any license, the person to whom
the license was issued shall apply to the collector for a new license,
for which a fee as established from time to time by resolution of
Borough Council shall be charged. Any person who conducts both a service
business subject to the business privilege tax and a retail or wholesale
business subject to the mercantile tax from the same location need
only to pay for one license for each such place of business.
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article IV]
1.
Every person engaging in a business, trade, occupation or profession
in the Borough shall pay an annual business privilege tax for the
year beginning February 1, 1986, and each calendar tax year thereafter
at the rate of two mills on such person's gross receipts; provided,
however, that in the event the business privilege tax therein calculated
is less than $10, no tax shall be due.
2.
If a taxpayer has a place of business in the Borough and one or more
places of business outside the Borough, only those receipts properly
allocable to the place of business in the Borough are taxable. For
this purpose a person may be considered to have a place of business
outside the Borough if services are rendered at a fixed location outside
the Borough which are of such duration size and complexity that the
person would be considered doing business at such location.
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article V]
1.
All persons required to pay a business privilege tax under the provisions
of this Part shall be exempted from paying such tax upon the same
subject matter of taxation upon which such persons are required to
pay a mercantile license tax under the Mercantile License Tax Ordinance
[Part 3]. In addition, any portion of a taxpayer's gross receipts
which is subject to a gross receipts tax under any other Borough ordinance
may not be taxed under this Part.
2.
Persons and Businesses. Persons employed for a wage or salary, nonprofit
corporations or associations, or associations organized for religious,
charitable or educational purposes, agencies of the Government of
the United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the County of
Montgomery, and the Colonial School District and the business of any
political subdivision, or of any authority created or organized under
and pursuant to any act of assembly are exempt from the provisions
of this Part.
3.
No such tax shall be assessed and collected on the gross receipts
from utility service to any person or company whose rates of service
are fixed and regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission;
or on any privilege or transaction involving the rendering of any
such public utility service.
4.
Production and Manufacture. No such tax shall be assessed and collected
on goods, articles, and products, or on by-products of manufacture,
or on minerals, timber, natural resources and farm products, manufactured,
produced or grown in the Borough, or on the preparation or processing
thereof for use or market, or on any privilege, act or transaction
related to the business of manufacturing, the production, preparation
or processing of minerals, timber and natural resources, or farm products,
manufacturers, by producers and by farmers with respect to the goods,
articles and products of their own manufacture, production or growth,
or any privilege, act or transaction relating to the business of processing
by-products of manufacture, or on the transportation, loading, unloading
or dumping or storage of such goods, articles, products or by-products.
5.
Refunds, credits, or allowances given by a person to a customer on
account of defects in services rendered or in goods, wares and merchandise
sold or returned, may be deducted from the amount of the "gross receipts
of the person.
6.
Adjustments allowed to customers may be deducted from "gross receipts"
if they are deducted on the face of the invoice as a medium of adjusting
the price or fee for the service and if they are not reimbursed to
the person by his supplier or some other person.
7.
Federal, State and local taxes are not included in "gross receipts"
if they are collected from the customer and are separately stated
on the evidence of charges or sale, or the customer produces satisfactory
proof of payment of the Federal, State or local taxes.
8.
The Part excludes from the definition of gross receipts, the receipts
from services performed from a place of business regularly maintained
outside the Borough by the taxpayer to a place of business regularly
maintained outside the Borough by the customer; provided, that such
performance is not made for the purpose of evading the tax. Services
or deliveries to a residence located outside the Borough do not qualify
for this exclusion.
9.
Where the gross receipts of the taxpayer cannot in its entirety be
subjected to the tax imposed by this Part by reason of provisions
of the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any other provisions of law, the Borough
Secretary shall establish rules and regulations and methods of allocation
and evaluation so that only that part of the gross receipts which
is properly attributable to doing business in the Borough shall be
taxed by this Part.
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article VI]
The following subsections refer to the computation of the estimated
gross receipts:
A.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax hereby imposed who
has commenced business at least a full year prior to January 1 of
the tax year shall compute gross receipts upon such person's
actual gross receipts during the 12 months preceding such January
1.
B.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax who has commenced
business less than one full year prior to such January 1 shall compute
gross receipts by multiplying by 12 the monthly average of such person's
actual gross receipts during the months while engaged in business
prior to such January 1.
C.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax hereby imposed who
commences business subsequent to such January 1 shall compute gross
receipts for the tax year upon such person's gross receipts for
the first month of business multiplied by the number of months remaining
in the tax year.
D.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax hereby imposed who
engages in business which is temporary, seasonal or itinerant by its
nature shall compute gross receipts upon such person's actual
gross receipts during the tax year.
E.
At the end of the tax year and on or before April 15 of the following
year, every person subject to the tax hereby imposed shall make a
return to the Secretary of the Borough of the actual gross receipts
of the taxpayer during the period for which the taxpayer is subject
to the tax. Such final return shall state the amount of the gross
receipts as set forth in the first return, the amount of tax paid
at the time of filing the first return and the amount of tax due upon
the final computation.
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article VII]
1.
Every return as hereinafter required by this Section shall be made
upon a form furnished by the Secretary. Every person making such return
shall certify the correctness thereof under the penalties of perjury.
2.
Every person subject to the tax imposed by this Part who has commenced
business at least one full year prior to the beginning of the tax
year shall, on or before the 15th day of April following, file with
the collector a return setting forth such person's name, business
and business address and such other information as may be necessary
to compute the actual gross receipts of such person during the preceding
year and the amount of tax estimated to be due.
3.
Every person subject to the tax imposed by this Part who has commenced
business less than one full year prior to the beginning of the tax
year shall, on or before the April 15, following, file with the collector
a return setting forth such other information as may be necessary
to compute actual gross receipts of such person during the preceding
year and the amount of tax estimated to be due.
4.
Every person subject to the tax imposed by this Part who commences
business subsequent to the beginning of the tax year shall, within
60 days from the date of commencing such business, file with the collector
a return setting forth such person's name, business and business
address and such information as may be necessary to compute the actual
gross receipts of such person during the first month of business and
the amount of tax estimated to be due.
5.
Every person subject to the payment of the tax imposed by this Part
who engages in a business which is temporary, seasonal or itinerant
by its nature shall, within seven days from the date of completion
of such business, file with the Collector a return setting forth such
person's name, and business address and such information as may
be necessary in arriving at the actual gross receipts of such person
during such period and the amount of the tax due.
6.
On or before April 15 of the year following the tax year, every person
subject to the tax hereby imposed shall made a final return as required
by § 24-706(E).
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article VIII; as amended by Ord.
4-1994, -/-/1994, § 1]
1.
At the time of filing the first return, the person making the same
shall pay the amount of the tax estimated to be due.
2.
At the time of filing the final return, if the full amount of the
tax due by the taxpayer for the tax year has not been paid, the taxpayer
shall pay the remaining balance of the tax, which shall be the difference
between the amount of the tax paid at the time of making the first
return on the estimated computation and the amount of the tax finally
shown to be due.
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article IX]
1.
It shall be the duty of the collector to collect and receive the
fees, taxes, fines and penalties imposed by this Part. It shall also
be the duty of the collector to keep a record showing the amount of
the tax received and the date of payment. A receipt shall be given
to the person paying the tax.
2.
If the collector is not satisfied with the return and payment of
tax made by any taxpayer or supposed taxpayer under the provisions
of this Part, the collector is hereby authorized and empowered to
make a determination of the tax due by such person, based upon the
facts contained in the return or upon any information within the collector's
possession or that shall come into possession, and for this purpose
the collector or the deputy or authorized agent of the collector is
hereby authorized to examine the books, papers and records of any
such person to verify the accuracy of any return or payment made under
the provisions hereof or to ascertain whether the taxes imposed by
this Part have been paid. The collector is hereby authorized and directed
to make and keep such records, prepare such forms and take such other
measures as may be necessary or convenient to carry this Part into
effect, and may, in such officer's discretion, require reasonable
deposits to be made by persons who engage in a business which is temporary,
seasonal or itinerant by its nature.
3.
If any taxpayer or supposed taxpayer shall neglect or refuse to make
any return and payment of the tax required by this Part, or if, as
a result of an investigation by the collector a return is found to
be incorrect, the collector shall estimate the tax due by such person
and determine the amount due for taxes, penalties and interest thereon.
4.
The burden is hereby imposed upon any person, firm or corporation
claiming an exemption from the payment of the tax hereby imposed to
prove by clear and convincing evidence the legal right of such exemption
to the satisfaction of the collector.
5.
If the final return of the taxpayer shows an overpayment of the tax
by reason of the fact that the gross receipts as stated in the estimated
computation were more than the actual gross receipts of the taxpayer
for the year or by reason of the fact that the taxpayer did not continue
to engage in business throughout the year, the collector shall refund
to the taxpayer the amount of tax paid upon the filing of the first
return and the amount of the tax finally shown to be due.
6.
Any information contained on the returns of a taxpayer and any information
obtained as a result of the examination of the books and records of
the taxpayer shall be confidential except for official purposes and
except for purposes of judicial order.
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article X; as amended by Ord. 4-1994,
-/-/1994]
1.
All taxes due and unpaid under this Part shall be recoverable by
the Borough Solicitor, or his designee, as other debts due the Borough
are now by law recoverable. Where legal action is brought for the
recovery of this tax, the taxpayer thereafter shall, in addition,
be responsible and liable for collection costs including attorney
fees.
2.
All taxes due under this Part shall bear interest at the rate of
1% per month or fractional part of a month from the day they are due
and payable until paid. If any taxpayer shall neglect or refuse to
make any return or payment as herein required, an additional 10% of
the amount of the tax shall be added by the collector and collected.
3.
All taxes, interest and penalties received, collected or recovered
under the provisions of this Part shall be paid into the treasury
of the Borough for the use and benefit of the Borough.
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article XI]
Nothing contained in this Part shall be construed to empower
the Borough to levy and collect the taxes hereby imposed on any person
or any business or any portion of any business not within the taxing
power of the Borough under the Constitution of the United States and
the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article XIII; as amended by Ord.
9-2008, 12/17/2008]
Any person, as defined in this Part, or agent, servant or employee
thereof, who shall fail, neglect or refuse to comply with any of the
terms or provisions of this Part, shall, upon conviction thereof,
be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $600
plus costs and, in default of payment of said fine and costs, to a
term of imprisonment not to exceed 30 days. Each day that a violation
shall continue shall be deemed a separate offense.
[Ord. 6-1985, 12/30/1985, Article XIV]
1.
This Part has been enacted under the authority of the Local Tax Enabling
Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, approved
December 31, 1965, P.L. 125, as amended.
2.
The Borough Secretary is hereby authorized and directed to establish,
from time to time, such written regulations as may be necessary to
further explain the provisions of this Part and to assist the taxpayer
in understanding the Part. Such regulations shall be approved by Borough
Council prior to being promulgated.
