This article is enacted under authority of the Local Tax Enabling
Act of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1257, § 13, as amended, 53
P.S. § 6913, as amended, as may be hereafter amended, supplemented,
modified or reenacted by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania (collectively,
the "Act").
As used in this article, the following words and phrases shall
have meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context
or language clearly indicates or requires a different meaning:
COMPENSATION
As that term is defined in Section 13 (relating to earned
income taxes) of the Act.
DCED
The Department of Community and Economic Development of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
EMPLOYER
Any person, partnership, association, limited liability company,
limited liability partnership, corporation, governmental body, agency
or other entity engaged in business or situated in the Township employing
one or more employees engaged in any occupation.
NET PROFITS
The net income from the operation of a business, profession
or other activity as this term is defined in Section 13 of the Act.
OCCUPATION
Any livelihood, job, trade, profession, business, enterprise
or undertaking of any type, kind or character, including services,
domestic or other, earned on or performed within the corporate limits
of the Township for which compensation is charged or received, whether
by means of salary, wages, commission or fees for services rendered.
RESERVE COMPONENT OF THE ARMED FORCES
The United States Army Reserve, United States Navy Reserve,
United States Marine Corps Reserve, United States Coast Guard Reserve,
United States Air Force Reserve, the Pennsylvania Army National Guard
or the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.
TAX
The local services tax at the rate set forth in §
119-30 of this article.
TAXPAYER
Any natural person engaged in any occupation, trade or profession
within the corporate limits of the Township.
TAX YEAR
The period from January 1 until December 31 in any year;
a calendar year.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Washington, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
A local services tax for emergency services, which shall include emergency medical services, police services, and/or fire services, road construction and/or maintenance, reduction of property taxes, and property tax relief through implementation of a homestead and farmstead exclusion in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S.A. Chapter
85, Subchapter F (relating to homestead property exclusion), in the amount of $52, is hereby levied and assessed upon a taxpayer for the privilege of engaging in an occupation within the Township during the 2012 tax year and in each succeeding tax year in which the tax is in effect, assessed on a pro rata basis, in accordance with the provisions of this article. The Township shall use no less than 25% of the funds derived from the tax for emergency services. The tax is in addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature heretofore levied by the Township. The tax shall be no more than $52, on each person for each tax year, irrespective of the number of political subdivisions within which a person may be employed. In accordance with the Local Tax Enabling Act and resolution of the Boyertown School District, the tax is a combined rate tax, and the school district's levy of a five-dollar local services tax is included within the total collected tax of $52. The Township collects the entire tax and forwards to the school district the appropriate share on a quarterly basis.
All employers and self-employed persons residing or having their
places of business outside of the Township but who perform services
of any type or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within
the Township shall be subject to the provisions, penalties and regulations
promulgated under this article with the same force and effect as though
they were residents of the Township. Any individual engaged in an
occupation within the Township and an employee of a nonresidential
employer may, for the purpose of this article, be considered a self-employed
person, and in the event his or her tax is not paid, the Township
shall have the option of proceeding against either the employer or
employee for the collection of the tax.
All taxpayers whose total compensation and net profits from
all sources within the Township is less than $12,000 for any tax year
in which the tax is levied is exempt from the payment of the tax for
that tax year. In addition, the following persons are exempt from
payment of the tax:
A. Any person who has served in any war or armed conflict in which the
United States was engaged and is honorably discharged or released
under honorable circumstances from active service if, and as a result
of military service, the person is blind, paraplegic or a double or
quadruple amputee or has a service-connected disability declared by
the United States Veterans' Administration, or its successor,
to be a total, one-hundred-percent permanent disability.
B. Any person who serves as a member of a reserve component of the armed
forces and is called to active duty at any time during the taxable
year.
All requests for the refund of overpaid tax shall be made in
writing to the Tax Collector and shall contain sufficient written
evidence, including copies of pay stubs, to establish to the Tax Collector
that an overpayment has occurred. The Tax Collector shall make a determination
on the request for a refund within 75 days of the request. All refunds
shall be made within 75 days of the request. Any appeal of the Tax
Collector's determination shall be made directly to the Board
of Supervisors of the Township within 30 days of the Tax Collector's
decision. Refunds made within 75 days of a refund request or 75 days
after the last day the employer is required to remit the tax for the
last quarter of the tax year, whichever is later, shall not be subject
to interest. No refunds shall be made for amounts overpaid in a tax
year that do not exceed the sum of $1. The Tax Collector shall determine
eligibility for exemption and provide and provide refunds to exempt
persons.
Each taxpayer who is self-employed or whose tax for any other reason is not collected under §
119-35 of this article shall file a return on a form prescribed by the Tax Collector and shall pay the tax directly to the Tax Collector. Each such taxpayer who first becomes subject to the tax after the effective date of this article shall file a return on a form prescribed by the Tax Collector and pay to the Tax Collector the amount of tax due and owing on a quarterly basis as follows: April 30, July 30, October 30 and January 30 for the preceding quarter of the current tax year.
The Tax Collector shall collect and receive the tax, interest,
fines and penalties imposed by this article and shall maintain records
showing the amounts received from each employer and taxpayer and the
dates such amounts were received. The Tax Collector shall prescribe
and issue all forms necessary for the administration of the tax and
may adopt and enforce regulations relating to any matter pertaining
to the administration of this article. The Tax Collector and agents
designated by the Tax Collector may examine the records of any employer
and/or supposed employer or of any 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 any agent designated by the Tax Collector all
means, facilities and opportunities for the examination hereby authorized.
The Tax Collector shall collect, by suit or otherwise, all taxes,
interest, costs, fines and penalties due under this article and unpaid.
If for any reason any tax is not paid when due, a penalty at the rate
of 6% per year on the amount of unpaid taxes, and additional interest
of 1/2 of 1% of the amount of the unpaid tax for each month or fraction
of month during which the tax remains unpaid, shall be added and collected.
Whenever suit is brought for the recovery of unpaid tax, the taxpayer
shall, in addition, be liable for the cost of collection as well as
for interest and penalties. The Tax Collector may accept payment under
protest of the tax claimed by the Township in any case where any person
disputes the Township's claim for the tax. If a court of competent
jurisdiction thereafter decides that there has been overpayment to
the Tax Collector, the Tax Collector shall refund the amount of the
overpayment to the person who paid under protest. Any action instituted
for such judicial determination shall be instituted within two years
of the last day of the period for which the tax is disputed or a claim
was made. All refunds shall be made in conformity with the procedure
prescribed by the Board of Supervisors of the Township.
If the tax shall be held by any court of competent jurisdiction
to be in violation of the Constitution of the United States or of
the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as to any individual,
the decision of the court shall not affect or impair the right to
impose or collect the tax or the validity of the tax on other persons
or individuals as herein provided.
The provisions of this article are severable. If any sentence,
clause, provision or section of this article is for any reason found
to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such decision shall not
affect the validity of any of the remaining sentences, clauses, provisions
and sections of this article. It is hereby declared as a legislative
intent that this article would have been adopted had such unconstitutional,
illegal or invalid provision been included herein.