[Adopted 12-18-2007 by Ord. No. 309[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed
former Art. I, Emergency and Municipal Services Tax, adopted 7-19-2005
by Ord. No. 286.
This article shall be known and may be cited
as the "Whitpain Township Local Services Tax Ordinance."
A.Â
COLLECTOR or TAX COLLECTOR
CORPORATION
EMERGENCY SERVICES
EMPLOYER
EXEMPTION
NONRESIDENT
OCCUPATION
PERSON
RESIDENT
SALARIES, WAGES, COMMISSIONS AND OTHER COMPENSATION
TAXPAYER
Unless otherwise expressly stated, the following terms
shall have, for the purpose of this article, the meanings 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.
The funding of any activities or the purchase of any equipment
or services related to police, fire or emergency services, including
but not limited to the purchase and maintenance of any vehicles or
equipment utilized on and of the police, fire and emergency services
of Whitpain Township.
An individual, partnership, association, corporation, governmental
body, or unit or agency or other entity who or that employs one or
more persons on a salary, wage, commission or other compensation basis.
Any individual who is on active military duty, called to
active military duty at any time within the taxing year, anyone who
is currently or was formerly a member of the military who is a paraplegic,
double or quadruple amputee or who has any military-service-related
disability and declared by the Unites States Veterans Administration
to be 100% disabled, or who earns less than $12,000 in earned income
in that calendar year and completes a low income exemption certificate,
as prepared by the Department of Community and Economic Development,
shall be exempt from the tax.
An individual, fiduciary, partnership or other entity domiciled
outside Whitpain 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.
An individual, partnership, association or other entity domiciled
in Whitpain 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, nor public assistance or unemployment compensation payments,
nor any wages or compensation paid by the Untied States to any person
for active service in the Army, Navy or Air Force of the United States
nor any bonus or additional compensation paid by the United States
or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any other state for such services.
A person required hereunder to file a return on earnings
or net profits or to pay a tax thereon.
B.Â
The singular shall include the plural and the masculine
shall include the feminine and the neuter.
The following individuals shall be exempt from
payment of the local services tax:
A.Â
Any person who earns less than $12,000 in earned income
in that calendar year and completes a low income exemption certificate
as prepared by the Department of Community and Economic Development.
B.Â
Any person who is either on active military duty or
has been called to active military duty at any time during the taxing
year.
C.Â
Any current or former member of the military who is
paraplegic, double or quadruple amputee or has any military-service-related
disability as declared by the United States Veterans Administration
or its successor to be 100% disabled.
A.Â
Every self-employed person or 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 prior to April 1 of each
year and within 30 days from the date of hire for each employee hired
subsequent to April 1 of each calendar year.
B.Â
The tax shall be paid to the collector on a form furnished
and shall include the employee's home address and social security
number. Taxes are due by April 30 of the calendar year for all employees
hired or working on or before April 1 and within 30 days of the close
of the quarter in which they were hired. Quarterly due dates are April
30, July 31, October 31 and January 31 of the succeeding year.
The Board of Supervisors of Whitpain Township
shall designate a Tax Collector by resolution, and the compensation
of such Collector for the collection of the local services tax shall
be fixed by the Board by resolution. The Collector shall collect and
receive all taxes imposed by this article; furnish receipts for their
payment, 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.Â
To administer and enforce the provisions of this article
and all rules and regulations prescribed, adopted, and promulgated
by the Board of Supervisors of the Township relating to the enforcement
and administration hereof and consistent with such rules and regulations
shall have the power and authority to reexamine and correct any and
all returns filed hereunder and to compute, settle, resettle and discharge
any or all taxes hereby levied.
B.Â
The Collector or any agent or employee 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.Â
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 to exceed $600 and costs for each 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 Whitpain Township
shall be empowered 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 6%
per year and shall be payable by the employer (the party responsible
for collecting and/or paying the tax to the Collector) or by the taxpayer
if he is self-employed.
All taxes imposed by this article, together
with all interest accruing thereon, shall be recoverable by the Township
as other debts are recoverable.
Any violator of any provision of this article
shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding
$600 and costs and, in default of payment thereof, shall be subject
to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 30 days. 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 Whitpain
Township to impose the tax or duties herein provided.
If any sentence, clause or section of this article
is for any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal, or invalid,
such unconstitutionality, illegality or invalidity shall not affect
or impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses or sections
of this article. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the Township
that this article would have been adopted as if such unconstitutional,
illegal or invalid sentence, clause or section had not been included
herein.
This article and the tax herein levied shall
be effective for the year 2008 and on a continuing annual basis, unless
the rate of said tax is subsequently changed.