[Adopted 11-13-2007 by Ord. No. 1074[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance, which has an
effective date of 1-1-2008, superseded former Art. I, Emergency and
Municipal Services Tax, adopted 12-1-2005 by Ord. No. 1058.
It is hereby enacted by the Council of the Borough
of Punxsutawney, and this article shall be known and may be cited
as the local services tax.
The following words and phrases, when used in
this article, shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this section,
unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
The Tax Collector of the Borough of Punxsutawney.
An individual, partnership, association, corporation, governmental
body or other entity employing one or more persons on a salary, wages,
commission or other compensation basis, including a self-employed
person.
The twelve-month period beginning January 1 and ending December
31.
Shall mean 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 Punxsutawney.
Any trade, profession, business or undertaking of any type,
kind or character, including services, domestic or otherwise, carried
on or performed within the corporate limits of the Borough of Punxsutawney,
for which compensation is charged or received, whether by means of
salary, wages, commissions or fees for services rendered. This includes
self-employment.
The exercising or carrying on, by any means or manner, of
any occupation whatsoever as hereinabove defined.
The area of the corporate limits of the Borough of Punxsutawney.
A local services tax in the amount of $52 per year, levied
on each engagement in any occupation, as heretofore defined, within
the limits of the Borough of Punxsutawney, limited by any occupational
privilege tax collected by any school district with taxing authority.
Required for any employee who must apply for, obtain and
provide to his employer when the employee will not earn $12,000 during
the calendar year.
Beginning with the fiscal year 2008 and annually
thereafter, the Borough of Punxsutawney hereby imposes on each engagement
in an occupation from which an individual derives more than $12,000
per year from such occupation or occupations, to be paid by each individual
exercising the privilege of engaging in any such occupation within
the corporate limits of the Borough of Punxsutawney, an annual local
services tax in the manner and at the rate hereinafter set forth.
Beginning on January 1, 2008, each engagement in an occupation subject to this tax, as defined in § 213-2 hereof, shall be subject to the payment of the local services tax in the amount also set forth in § 213-2 hereof, to be paid by each individual exercising the privilege of engaging in any such occupation hereinbefore defined within the corporate limits of the Borough of Punxsutawney.
A.
Every employer shall, within 15 days after first becoming
an employer, register with the Tax Collector his name and address,
all his employees' names and addresses and such other information
as the Tax Collector may require. Every employer shall notify the
Tax Collector in the event he changes the address or location of his
business within 15 days of such change.
B.
The local services tax shall be assessed and collected
on a prorated basis determined by the number of payroll periods established
by an employer for a calendar year. The prorated share of the tax
assessed on each taxpayer for each payroll period is calculated by
dividing the rate of the local services tax by the number of payroll
periods established for the calendar year. When determining the prorated
share of the tax, the employer shall round down the calculation to
the nearest 1/100 of a dollar. For example, $1 per week would be collected
for taxpayers paid weekly or $4.33 per month for taxpayers paid monthly.
C.
An employer must remit withheld taxes to the Tax Collector
of the Borough of Punxsutawney within 30 days after the end of each
quarter, beginning with the first quarter of 2008.
D.
Any employer who discontinues business or ceases operation
shall, within 15 days after discontinuing business or ceasing operation,
file the return hereinabove required and pay the tax to the Tax Collector.
E.
The failure of any employer to deduct the local services
tax from the employee's compensation shall not relieve the employee
from the duty to file a return and pay the tax. However, any employer
who fails to deduct the tax as required by this section or who fails
to pay such tax to the Tax Collector shall be liable for such tax
in full as though the tax had originally been levied against such
employer.
F.
As to employees who present official receipts evidencing
prior payment of the tax, either directly or by collection through
other employers, the employer shall not deduct the tax but shall maintain
adequate records concerning such payment by the employees.
A.
An upfront exemption may be obtained by an employee
by filing with the Tax Collector an annual upfront exemption form
developed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the Tax Collector.
Following the submission of a completed and verified upfront exemption
form, the Tax Collector shall issue a local services tax exemption
certificate verifying that the employee reasonably expects to receive
earned income and/or net profits of less than $12,000 from all sources
of employment within the Borough during the calendar year for which
the exemption certificate is sought. A copy of the employee's last
pay stub or W-2 form from employment within the Borough for the year
prior to the calendar year for which the employee is requesting an
exemption must be attached to the employee's upfront exemption form.
Employers shall make upfront exemption forms available to employees
at all times and provide new employees with the form at the time of
hiring.
B.
Upon receipt of an upfront exemption certificate issued
to the employee by the Tax Collector, the employer shall not withhold
the local services tax for the specific calendar year for which the
exemption certificate complies.
C.
An employer shall begin withholding the local services
tax from an employee who obtains an exemption certificate in the event
he is:
D.
Whenever an employer begins to withhold the local
services tax from an employee who no longer qualifies for an exemption
during the calendar year for which it was obtained, the employee shall
pay a catch-up lump sum tax equal to the amount that was not withheld
from the employee as a result of the exemption and thereafter the
same amount per payroll period that is withheld from other employees.
Except for monitoring when an employee who has filed an exemption
certificate earns more than $12,000, the employer is not responsible
for investigating exemptions, monitoring tax exemption eligibility
or exempting an employee from the tax.
E.
Members of a military reserve component of the armed
forces of the United States of America on active duty and honorably
discharged veterans who served in any war or armed conflict who are
blind, paraplegic or a quadruple amputee as a result of military service,
or who are 100% disabled from a service-connected disability are exempt
from payment of the local services tax.
Each taxpayer who is self-employed or whose
tax, for any other reason, is not collected under the provisions of
this article shall file a return on a form prescribed by the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania or the Tax Collector and shall pay the tax directly
to the Tax Collector. A self-employed taxpayer who is subject to the
tax shall pay the tax on a quarterly basis, prorated as if the taxpayer's
payroll period is a calendar quarter. Self-employed taxpayers shall
pay the tax within 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter.
Both resident and nonresident taxpayers shall,
by virtue of engaging in an occupation within the Borough, be subject
to the tax and the provisions of this article.
Each individual who shall have more than one
occupation within the Borough of Punxsutawney shall be subject to
the payment of the annual local services tax fully upon the privilege
of engaging in his principal occupation, and his principal employer
shall deliver to him a certificate of payment and a form to be furnished
to the employer by the Tax Collector certifying to any other employer
of such individual that said tax has been paid by the employee to
the principal employer and, in turn, remitted by said principal employer
to the Tax Collector. Any employer receiving said certificate of payment
of the local services tax by another employer by deduction from said
individual shall not also deduct or collect the tax imposed by this
article. Upon request, the Tax Collector shall provide a taxpayer
with a receipt for payment of the tax.
A.
The Tax Collector, on behalf of the Borough, shall
collect and receive the taxes, interest, fines and penalties imposed
by this article and shall maintain records showing the amounts received
and the dates such amounts were received.
B.
The Tax Collector shall use the upfront exemption
form, employee statement of principal interest form and other forms
developed and provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and shall
have the authority to develop other forms deemed necessary for the
administration of the tax.
C.
The Tax Collector, with the approval of the Council,
may adopt and enforce regulations relating to any matter pertaining
to the administration of this article, including, but not limited
to, requirements for collection through employers, requirements for
deductions, requirements for evidence and records and provisions for
the examination and correction of returns.
D.
The Tax Collector, and/or agents designated by the
Tax Collector, may examine the records of any employer or supposed
employer or of any taxpayer or supposed taxpayer in order to ascertain
the tax due or verify the accuracy of any return. Every employer or
supposed employer and every taxpayer or supposed taxpayer shall give
the Tax Collector and/or any agent designated by him all means, facilities
and opportunities for the examinations of records as hereby authorized.
If, for any reason, the tax is not paid when
due, interest thereon shall accrue at the rate of 6% per annum on
the amount of such unpaid tax, calculated beginning with the date
on which payment of the tax was due, and a penalty of 10% shall be
added to the flat rate of said tax for nonpayment thereof. In addition,
where suit is brought for the recovery of this tax, the individual
liable therefor shall be responsible and liable for the cost of collection.
However, an employer is relieved of liability for the local services
tax if the employer fails to withhold the tax due to incorrect information
provided by the employee regarding the employee's principal employer.
Any employer or any agent of any employer who
makes any false or untrue statement on any return required by this
article or 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, shall, upon conviction
before the appropriate judicial authority, be sentenced to pay a fine
of not more than $300 for each offense and, in default of payment
of said fine and costs, be imprisoned in the Jefferson County Prison
for a period not exceeding 30 days for each offense.
Claims for refunds of overpayment of the local
services tax shall be in accordance with the Local Taxpayer Bill of
Rights (53 Pa.C.S.A. § 8425 et seq., as amended). A refund
shall not include interest on the overpaid tax if the request for
refund is made within 75 days of either a refund request or January
30 of the year after the tax is paid, whichever occurs later. The
Borough shall not provide a refund if it is less than $1.
A.
The situs of the tax imposed by this article shall
be the place of employment, but, in the event that a person is engaged
in more than one occupation or an occupation which requires his working
in more than one political subdivision during the calendar year, the
priority of claim to collect such local services tax shall be in the
following order:
(1)
First, the political subdivision in which a
person maintains his principal office or is principally employed;
(2)
Second, the political subdivision in which the
person resides and works, if such a tax is levied by that political
subdivision; and
(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.
The place of employment shall be determined as of
the day the taxpayer first becomes subject to the tax during the calendar
year. When two or more employers employ a taxpayer in a payroll period,
the secondary employer or employers are not required to withhold the
local services tax if the taxpayer provides a pay stub from his principal
employer accompanied by the employee's statement of principal employment
on a form provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
This article shall go into effect at midnight
on January 1, 2008, and shall remain in effect until repealed or amended.
