[Adopted 11-27-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-5[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance superseded former
Art. VIII, Emergency and Municipal Services Tax, adopted 12-31-2004
by Ord. No. 2004-8.
This article shall be known and may be cited
as the “Millersville Borough 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. 222 of 2004 and 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 Borough of Millersville.
The person or agency appointed from time to time by the Millersville
Borough Council 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, 2008, and ending
December 31, 2008, and each 12 months thereafter.
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 Borough of Millersville.
The Act of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1257, No. 511, as amended
and as may be amended in the future, 53 P.S. § 6901 et seq.
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 Borough of Millersville
for which compensation is charged or received, whether by means of
salary, wages, commissions or fees for services rendered. An occupation
also includes all earned income and all net profits, as those terms
are defined in the Local Tax Enabling Act, from all sources within
the Borough.
The local services tax in the amount of $52 per annum levied
by this article, which was previously referred to in this article
as an occupational privilege tax and as an emergency and municipal
services tax.
Beginning January 1, 2008, the Borough of Millersville
hereby levies and imposes on each occupation engaged in by individuals
within its corporate limits during the fiscal year of 2008 and each
year fiscal year thereafter an emergency and municipal services tax
in the amount of $52 per annum, said tax to be paid by the individuals
so engaged; provided; however, that all persons deriving less than
$12,000 per year from such occupation and all other persons whom the
Local Tax Enabling Act exempts from paying a local services tax shall
be exempted from the Millersville Borough local services tax. This
tax is in addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature heretofore
levied by the Borough, and 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 article is repealed. An individual may obtain a prospective
exemption by filing an exemption certificate, on a form provided by
the collector, with the collector and the individual's employer.
Each employer who engages in business within
the Borough of Millersville is hereby charged with the duty of collecting
from each of his employees engaged by him and performing for him within
the Borough of Millersville the said tax of $52 per annum and making
a return and payment thereof to the collector. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, no employer shall have an obligation to collect the local
services tax from an employee who presents such employer with an exemption
certificate meeting all requirements of the Local Tax Enabling Act,
unless such person who has presented the exemption certificate earns
in excess of $12,000 in a calendar year. If a person who claimed an
exemption for a given calendar year from the local services tax becomes
subject to the local services tax for such calendar year, the employer
shall withhold the tax in accordance with the requirements of the
Local Tax Enabling Act. If a person who is subject to the local services
tax ceases employment, such person shall make payment to the Borough
of the portion of the local services tax which the employer did not
withhold within 30 days after such person ceases to be employed by
such employer.
A.
Each employer is hereby authorized to deduct the local
services tax from each employee in his employ, whether said employee
is paid by salary, wages or commission and whether or not part or
all of such services are performed within the Borough.
B.
Local services taxes deducted from wages by an employer
shall at all times be and remain the property of this Borough 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 Borough, constitute payment of the tax by the
employee, regardless of any insolvency or failure to remit on the
employer's part.
A.
Each employer shall prepare and file a return showing
a computation of the tax on forms to be supplied by the collector.
B.
Each employer, in filing this return and making payment
of the tax withheld from his employees, shall be entitled to retain
a commission calculated at the rate of 2% of the gross tax due and
payable, provided that such tax is collected and paid over by the
employer on or before the dates hereinafter set forth. It is further
provided that, 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 to said 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 him.
Each employer shall remit the local services
tax withheld from employees within 30 days after the end of each quarter
of a calendar year. If the Local Tax Enabling Act is amended to require
a different schedule of remitting taxes withheld from employees, compliance
with the Local Tax Enabling Act shall be considered compliance with
this section.
Each individual who shall have more than one
occupation shall be subject to the payment of the local services tax
in accordance with the provisions of the Local Tax Enabling Act governing
payment of taxes by a person who has more than one employer.
All self-employed individuals who perform services
of any type or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within
the Borough shall be required to comply with this article on June
15 of the fiscal year or as soon thereafter as they engage in an occupation
and earn $12,000.
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 Lancaster 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 Borough
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 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 therefor shall, in addition, be responsible
and liable for the costs of collection, including attorneys' 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.
The Borough Manager is hereby authorized to
promulgate regulations for the processing of refund claims and all
other matters necessary for the administration of the Local Services
Tax, including but not limited to regulations governing all matters
for which the Local Tax Enabling Act requires the adoption of regulations.
The Borough shall use all revenue generated
by the local services tax for purposes authorized in the Local Tax
Enabling Act.
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,
or whoever fails to pay local services taxes payable by such person
commits a violation of this article. If the Borough Council or the
collector determines that a person has committed or permitted the
commission of a violation of this article, the Borough may institute
summary criminal proceedings and/or may seek equitable relief. In
the event that summary criminal proceedings are instituted, the fine
for the first offense shall be not 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 on 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 Magisterial District Judge or a court shall be in addition to
any other fine which may be imposed under any other provisions of
the Code of the Borough 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 Borough to levy and collect the tax hereby imposed
on any occupation not within the taxing power of the Borough 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 to be in violation of the Constitution
of the United States 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 other persons or individuals as herein provided.
C.
It is the intent of this article that the entire burden
of the tax imposed on an occupation by the Borough and the Penn Manor
School District (if the school district shall impose such tax) shall
not exceed the limitations prescribed in Sections 2 and 8 of the Local
Tax Enabling Act, 53 P.S. §§ 6902 and 6908, and therefore
the school district (if the school district shall impose such tax)
shall be entitled to its share of the tax in accordance with the provisions
of said Sections 2 and 8, Act 222 of 2004, and Act 7 of 2007.
