[Adopted 11-10-1986 by Ord. No. 86-1]
This article shall be known as the "Realty Transfer
Tax Ordinance of Warwick Township."
[Amended 10-2-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-5]
Warwick Township adopts the provisions of Article
XI-D of the Tax Reform Code of 1971 and imposes a realty transfer
tax as authorized under that article, subject to the rate limitations
therein. The tax imposed under this section shall be at the rate of
1%.
[Added 10-2-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-5]
The tax imposed under § 171-16, and all applicable interest and penalties, shall be administered, collected and enforced under the Act of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1257, No. 511, as amended, known as the "Local Tax Enabling Act";[1] provided that, if the correct amount of the tax is not
paid by the last date prescribed for timely payment, Warwick Township,
pursuant to Section 1102-D of the Tax Reform Code of 1971 (72 P.S.
§ 8102-D), authorizes and directs the Department of Revenue of
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to determine, collect and enforce
the tax, interest and penalties.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 6901
et seq.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
A partnership, limited partnership or any other form of unincorporated
enterprise owned or conducted by two or more persons other than a
private trust or decedent's estate.
A corporation, joint-stock association, business trust or
banking institution which is organized under the laws of this commonwealth,
the United States or any other state, territory, foreign country or
dependency.
Any deed, instrument or writing which conveys, transfers,
demises, vests, confirms or evidences any transfer or demise of title
to real estate but does not include wills, mortgages, deeds of trust
or other instruments of like character given as security for a debt
and deeds of release thereof to the debtor, land contracts whereby
the legal title does not pass to the grantee until the total consideration
specified in the contract has been paid or any cancellation thereof
unless the consideration is payable over a period of time exceeding
30 years or instruments which solely grant, vest or confirm a public
utility easement. "Document" shall also include a declaration of acquisition
required to be presented for recording under this article.
A corporation of which at least 75% of its assets are devoted
to the business of agriculture and at least 75% of each class of stock
of the corporation is continuously owned by members of the same family.
The business of agriculture shall not be deemed to include:
Recreational activities, such as but not limited
to hunting, fishing, camping, skiing, show competition or racing;
The raising, breeding or training of game animals
or game birds, fish, cats, dogs or pets or animals intended for use
in sporting or recreational activities;
Fur farming;
Stockyard and slaughterhouse operations; or
Manufacturing or processing operations of any
kind.
Any individual, such individual's brothers and sisters, the
brothers and sisters of such individual's parents and grandparents,
the ancestors and lineal descendents of any of the foregoing, a spouse
of any of the foregoing and the estate of any of the foregoing. Individuals
related by the half-blood or legal adoption shall be treated as if
they were related by the whole-blood.
Every natural person, association, or corporation, whenever
used in any clause prescribing and imposing a fine or imprisonment,
or both. The term "person," as applied to associations, shall include
the responsible members or general partners thereof, and as applied
to corporations, the officers thereof.
All lands, tenements or hereditaments within
Warwick Township, including, without limitation, buildings, structures,
fixtures, mines, minerals, oil, gas, quarries, spaces with or without
upper or lower boundaries, trees and other improvements, immovables
or interests which, by custom, usage or law, pass with a conveyance
or land, but excluding permanently attached machinery and equipment
in an industrial plant.
A condominium unit.
A tenant-stockholder's interest in a cooperative
housing corporation, trust or association under a proprietary lease
or occupancy agreement.
A corporation or association which is primarily engaged in
the business of holding, selling or leasing real estate, 90% or more
of the ownership interest in which is held by 35 or fewer persons
and which:
Derives 60% or more of its annual gross receipts
from the ownership or disposition of real estate; or
Holds real estate, the value of which comprises
90% or more of the value of its entire tangible asset holdings. exclusive
of tangible assets which are freely transferable and actively traded
on an established market.
Any interest in real estate which endures for
a period of time, the termination of which is not fixed or ascertained
by a specific number of years, including, without limitation, an estate
in fee simple, life estate or perpetual leasehold; or
Any interest in real estate enduring for a fixed
period of years but which, either by reason of the length of the term
or the grant of a right to extend the term by renewal or otherwise,
consists of a group of rights approximating those of an estate in
fee simple, life estate or perpetual leasehold, including, without
limitation, a leasehold interest or possessory interest under a lease
or occupancy agreement for a term of 30 years or more or a leasehold
interest or possessory interest in real estate in which the lessee
has equity.
Warwick Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a Township
of the second class under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The making, executing, delivering, accepting or presenting
for recording of a document.
In the case of any bona fide sale of real estate
at arm's length for actual monetary worth, the amount of the actual
consideration therefor, paid or to be paid, including liens or other
encumbrances thereon existing before the transfer and not removed
thereby, whether or not the underlying indebtedness is assumed, and
ground rents or a commensurate part thereof, where such liens or other
encumbrances and ground rents also encumber or are charged against
other real estate, provided that where such documents shall set forth
a nominal consideration, the value thereof shall be determined from
the price set forth in or actual consideration for the contract of
sale;
In the case of a gift, sale by execution upon
a judgment or upon the foreclosure of a mortgage by a judicial officer,
transactions without consideration or for consideration less than
the actual monetary worth of the real estate, a taxable lease, an
occupancy agreement, a leasehold or possessory interest, any exchange
of properties or the real estate of an acquire company, the actual
monetary worth of the real estate determined by adjusting the assessed
value of the real estate for local real estate tax purposes for the
common level ratio factor developed by the Pennsylvania Department
of Revenue for Pennsylvania realty transfer tax base calculations;
The actual consideration for or actual monetary
worth of any executory agreement for the construction of buildings,
structures or other permanent improvements to real estate between
the grantor and other persons existing before the transfer and not
removed thereby or between the grantor, the agent or principal of
the grantor of a related corporation, association or partnership and
the grantee existing before or effective with the transfer.
A.
Every person who makes, executes, delivers, accepts
or presents for recording any document or in whose behalf any document
is made, executed, delivered, accepted or presented for recording
shall be subject to pay for and in respect to the transaction or any
part thereof a tax at the rate of 1% of the value of the real estate
represented by such document, which tax shall be payable at the earlier
of the time the document is presented for recording or within 30 days
of acceptance of such document or within 30 days of becoming an acquired
company.
B.
The payment of the tax imposed herein shall be evidenced
by the affixing of an official stamp or writing by the Recorder whereon
the date of the payment of the tax, amount of the tax and the signature
of the collecting agent shall be set forth.
C.
It is the intent of this article that the entire burden
of the tax imposed herein on a person or transfer shall not exceed
the limitations prescribed in the Local Tax Enabling Act, Act of December
31, 1965, P.L. 1257, 53 P.S. § 6901 et seq., so that if
any other political subdivision shall impose or hereafter shall impose
such tax on the same person or transfer then the tax levied by Warwick
Township under the authority of that Act shall, during the time such
duplication of the tax exists, except as hereinafter otherwise provided,
be 1/2 of the rate, and such one-half rate shall become effective
without any action on the part of Warwick Township; provided, however,
that Warwick Township and any other political subdivision which imposes
such tax on the same person or transfer may agree that, instead of
limiting their respective rates to 1/2 of the rate herein provided,
they will impose respectively different rates, the total of which
shall not exceed the maximum rate permitted under the Local Tax Enabling
Act.
D.
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due, interest
at the rate in effect at the time the tax is due shall be added and
collected.
The United States, the commonwealth or any of
their instrumentalities, agencies or political subdivisions shall
be exempt from payment or the tax imposed by this article. The exemption
of such governmental bodies shall not, however, relieve any other
party to a transaction from liability for the tax.
The tax imposed by § 171-18 shall not be imposed upon:
A.
A transfer to the commonwealth or to any of its instrumentalities,
agencies or political subdivisions by gift, dedication or deed in
lieu of condemnation or deed of confirmation in connection with condemnation
proceedings or a reconveyance by the condemning body of the property
condemned to the owner of record at the time of condemnation, which
reconveyance may include property fine adjustments, provided that
said reconveyance is made within one year from the date of condemnation.
B.
A document which Warwick Township is prohibited from
taxing under the Constitution or statutes of the United States.
C.
A conveyance to a municipality, Township, school district
or county pursuant to acquisition by the municipality, Township, school
district or county of a tax-delinquent property at sheriff sale or
Tax Claim Bureau sale.
D.
A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
which corrects or confirms a transfer previously recorded but which
does not extend or limit existing record legal title or interest.
E.
A transfer of division in kind for no or nominal actual
consideration of property passed by testate or intestate succession
and held by cotenants; however, if any of the parties takes shares
greater in value than their undivided interest, tax is due on the
excess.
F.
A transfer between husband and wife, between persons
who were previously husband and wife who have since been divorced,
provided that the property or interest therein subject to such transfer
was acquired by the husband and wife or husband or wife prior to the
granting of the final decree in divorce, between parent and child
or the spouse of such child, between brother or sister or spouse of
a brother or sister and brother or sister or the spouse of a brother
or sister and between a grandparent and grandchild or the spouse of
such grandchild, except that a subsequent transfer by the grantee
within one year shall be subject to tax as if the grantor were making
such transfer.
G.
A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
of property passing by testate or intestate succession from a personal
representative of a decedent to the decedent's devisee or heir.
H.
A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
to a trustee of an ordinary trust where the transfer of the same property
would be exempt if the transfer was made directly from the grantor
to all of the possible beneficiaries, whether or not such beneficiaries
are contingent or specifically named. No such exemption shall be granted
unless the Recorder of Deeds is presented with a copy of the trust
instrument that clearly identifies the grantor and all possible beneficiaries.
I.
A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
from a trustee to a beneficiary of an ordinary trust.
J.
A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
from trustee to successor trustee.
K.
A transfer for no or nominal actual consideration
between principal and agent or straw party or from or to an agent
or straw party where, if the agent or straw party were his principal,
no tax would be imposed under this article. Where the document by
which title is acquired by a grantee or statement of value fails to
set forth that the property was acquired by the grantee from or for
the benefit of his principal, there is a rebuttable presumption that
the property is the property of the grantee in his individual capacity
if the grantee claims an exemption from taxation under this subsection.
L.
A transfer made pursuant to the statutory merger or
consolidation of a corporation or statutory division of a nonprofit
corporation, except where the department and/or Township reasonably
determines that the primary intent for such merger, consolidation
or division is avoidance of the tax imposed by this article.
M.
A transfer from a corporation or association of real
estate held of record in the name of the corporation or association
where the grantee owns stock of the corporation or an interest in
the association taxable. For the purposes of this article, corporations
and associations are entities separate from their members, partners,
stockholders or shareholders.
A.
A "real estate company" is an acquired company upon
a change in the ownership interest in the company, however effected,
if the change does not affect the continuity of the company and of
itself or together with prior changes has the effect of transferring,
directly or indirectly, 90% or more of the total ownership interest
in the company within a period of three years.
B.
With respect to real estate acquired after February
16, 1986, a "family farm corporation" is an acquired company when,
because of voluntary or involuntary dissolution, it ceases to be a
family farm corporation or when, because of issuance or transfer of
stock or because of issuance of transfer of stock or because of acquisition
or transfer of assets that are devoted to the business of agriculture,
it fails to meet the minimum requirements of a family farm corporation
under this article.
C.
Within 30 days after becoming an acquired company,
the company shall present a declaration of acquisition with the Recorder
of each county in which it holds real estate for the affixation of
documentary stamps and recording. Such declaration shall set forth
the value of real estate holdings of the acquired company in such
county. A copy of the Pennsylvania realty transfer tax declaration
of acquisition may be submitted for this purpose.
A.
Where there is a transfer of a residential property
by a licensed real estate broker, which property was transferred to
him within the preceding year as consideration for the purchase of
other residential property, a credit for the amount of tax paid at
the time of the transfer to him shall be given to him toward the amount
of the tax due upon the transfer.
B.
Where there is a transfer by a builder of residential
property which was transferred to the builder within the preceding
year as consideration for the purchase of new, previously unoccupied
residential property. a credit for the amount of the tax paid at the
time of the transfer to the builder shall be given to the builder
toward the amount of the tax due upon the transfer.
C.
Where there is a transfer of real estate which is
leased by the grantor, a credit for the amount of tax paid at the
time of the lease shall be given the grantor toward the tax due upon
the transfer.
D.
Where there is a conveyance by deed of real estate
which was previously sold under a land contract by the grantor, a
credit for the amount of tax paid at the time of the sale shall be
given the grantor toward the tax due upon the deed.
E.
If the tax due upon the transfer is greater than the
credit given under this section, the difference shall be paid. If
the credit allowed is greater than the amount or tax due, no refund
or carry-over credit shall be allowed.
Whenever the amount of tax due to the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania pursuant to 72 P.S. § 8101-C et seq., upon
final determination, redetermination or review by the Department of
Revenue, is more than the amount actually paid to the commonwealth
on account thereof, such amount, including all interest or penalties
thereon, shall be deemed to be the amount due and payable to the Township
pursuant to this article and shall be collectable by the Recorder
of Deeds upon rerecording as hereinafter provided. If the amount of
tax as finally determined is less than the amount actually paid, then
upon application to the Township, together with proof of payment and
final determination by the Department of Revenue, the Township shall
refund such portion of the overpayment that the Township actually
received. All applications for refunds must be received by the Township
within two years of the date of payment for which a refund is requested.
In determining the term of a lease, it shall
be presumed that a right or option to renew or extend a lease will
be exercised if the rental charge to the lessee is fixed or if a method
for calculating the rental charge is established.
The tax herein imposed shall be fully paid and
have priority out of the proceeds of any judicial sale of real estate
before any other obligation, claim, lien, judgment, estate or costs
of the sale and of the writ upon which the sale is made except the
state realty transfer tax, and the sheriff or other officer conducting
said sale shall pay the tax herein imposed out of the first moneys
paid to him in connection therewith. If the proceeds of the sale are
insufficient to pay the entire tax herein imposed, the purchaser shall
be liable for the remaining tax.
A.
As provided in 16 P.S. § 11011-6, as amended
by Act of July 7, 1983 (P.L. 40, No. 21), the Recorder of Deeds shall
be the collection agent for the local realty transfer tax, including
any amount payable to Warwick Township based on a redetermination
of the amount of tax due by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania of the
Pennsylvania realty transfer tax, without compensation from Warwick
Township.
B.
In order to ascertain the amount of taxes due when
the property is located in more than one political subdivision, the
Recorder shall not accept for recording such a deed unless it is accompanied
by a statement of value showing what taxes are due each municipality.
C.
On or before the 10th of each month, the Recorder
shall pay over to Warwick Township all local realty transfer taxes
collected, less 2% for use of the county, together with a report containing
the information as is required by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
in reporting collections of the Pennsylvania realty transfer tax.
The two-percent commission shall be paid to the county.
D.
Upon a redetermination of the amount of realty transfer
tax due by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Recorder shall rerecord
the deed or record the additional realty transfer tax form only when
both the state and local amounts and a rerecording or recording fee
have been tendered.
Every document lodged with or presented to the
Recorder of Deeds for recording shall set forth therein and as a part
of such document the true, full and complete value thereof or shall
be accompanied by a statement of value executed by a responsible person
connected with the transaction, showing such connection and setting
forth the true, full and complete value thereof or the reason, if
any, why such document is not subject to tax under this article. A
copy of the Pennsylvania realty transfer tax statement of value may
be submitted for this purpose. The provisions of this subsection shall
not apply to any excludable real estate transfers which are exempt
from taxation based on family relationship. Other documents presented
for the affixation of stamps shall be accompanied by a certified copy
of the document and statement of value executed by a responsible person
connected with the transaction showing such connection and setting
forth the true, full and complete value thereof or the reason, if
any, why such document is not subject to tax under this article.
A.
If any part of any underpayment of tax imposed by
this article is due to fraud, there shall be added to the tax an amount
equal to 50% of the underpayment.
B.
In the case of failure to record a declaration required
under this article on the date prescribed therefor, unless it is shown
that such failure is due to reasonable cause, there shall be added
to the tax 5% of the amount of such tax if the failure is for not
more than one month, with an additional 5% for each additional month
or fraction thereof during which such failure continues, not exceeding
50% in the aggregate.
The tax imposed by this article shall become
a lien upon the lands, tenements or hereditaments or any interest
therein lying or being situated, wholly or in part, within the boundaries
of Warwick Township, which lands, tenements, hereditaments or interest
therein are described in or conveyed by or transferred by the deed
which is the subject of the tax imposed, assessed and levied by this
article, said lien to begin at the time when the tax under this article
is due and payable and to continue until discharge by payment or in
accordance with the law, and the Solicitor is authorized to file a
municipal or tax claim in the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County,
in accordance with the provisions of the Municipal Claims and Liens
Act of 1923, 53 P.S. § 7101 et seq., its supplements and
amendments.
[Added 10-2-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-5]
Any tax imposed under § 171-16 that is not paid by the date the tax is due shall bear interest as prescribed for interest on delinquent municipal claims under the Act of May 16, 1923, P.L. 207, No. 153 (53 P.S. § 7101 et seq.), as amended, known as the "Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act." The interest rate shall be the lesser of the interest rate imposed upon delinquent commonwealth taxes as provided in Section 806 of the Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, No. 176 (72 P.S. § 806), as amended, known as the "Fiscal Code," or the maximum interest rate permitted under the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act for tax claims.
All taxes imposed by this article, together
with interest and penalties prescribed herein, shall be recoverable
as other debts of like character are recovered.
The Board of Supervisors of Warwick Township
is charged with enforcement and collection of tax and is empowered
to promulgate and enforce reasonable regulations for enforcement and
collection of the tax. The regulations which have been promulgated
by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue under 72 P.S. § 8101-C
et seq., are incorporated into and made a part of this article.