All previous Youngwood Borough ordinances and resolutions which established or authorized the collection of taxes on the privilege of engaging in an occupation in the Borough of Youngwood are repealed, effective December 31, 2007, except for the limited purpose of collecting those taxes for the years for which they were imposed from persons who are delinquent or who have not paid those taxes.
[Adopted 12-17-2007 by Ord. No. 495[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Art. III, Emergency and Municipal Services Tax, adopted 3-6-1967 by Ord. No. 67-3, as amended.
Beginning and effective as of January 1, 2008, and remaining in effect for all calendar years thereafter until or unless repealed or amended, the Borough of Youngwood's tax on the privilege of engaging in an occupation within the Borough is hereby enacted and will be heretofore designated and described as a local services tax in accordance with Act 7 of 2007.
A.
Beginning and effective as of January 1, 2008, and for all calendar years thereafter until or unless repealed or amended, an annual tax is levied on the privilege of engaging in an occupation with a primary place of employment within the Borough during each tax year. Each natural person who exercises such privilege for any length of time during any tax year shall pay the tax for that year in the amount of $52, assessed on a pro rata basis, in accordance with the provisions of this article. This tax may be used solely for the following purposes as the same may be allocated by the Borough Council of Youngwood Borough from time to time for:
(1)
Emergency services, which shall include emergency medical services, police services and/or fire services;
(2)
Road construction and/or maintenance;
(3)
Reduction of property taxes;
(4)
Property tax relief through implementation of a homestead and farmstead exclusion in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S.A. Ch. 85, Subch. F (relating to homestead property exclusions).
B.
The Borough shall use no less than 25% of the funds derived from the tax for emergency services. This tax is in addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature heretofore levied by the Borough of Youngwood. The tax shall be no more than $52 per person for each calendar year, irrespective of the number of political subdivisions within which a person may be employed.
A.
Any person whose total earned income and net profits from all sources within the Borough is less than $12,000 for any calendar year in which the tax is levied is exempt from the payment of the tax for that calendar year. In addition, the following persons are exempt from payment of the tax:
(1)
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 duty if, 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 disability.
(2)
Any person who serves as a member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States and is called to active duty at any time during the taxable year. For the purposes of this subsection, "reserve component of the armed forces" shall mean the United States Army Reserve, United States Navy Reserve, United States Marine Corp Reserve, United States Coast Guard Reserve, United States Air Force Reserve, The Pennsylvania Army National Guard or the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.
B.
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services tax must annually file an exemption application with the Borough of Youngwood or its designated or appointed Collector of said taxes and with the person's employer on a form adopted by the Borough. A person seeking to claim a refund for erroneously withheld or paid local services taxes shall do so only in accordance with the procedure or procedures established by the Borough and it's Collector; which procedure or procedures shall be in accordance with applicable provisions of Pennsylvania Municipal Law relating to refunds of overpayments and interest on overpayments. Refunds made within 75 days of a valid refund request or 75 days after the last day the employer is required to remit the tax for the last quarter of the calendar year, whichever is later, shall not be subject to interest. No refunds shall be made for amounts overpaid in any calendar year that do not exceed $1. The Borough or it's Collector, as the case may be, shall determine eligibility for exemptions and provide refunds to exempt persons where applicable.
Each employer within the Borough of Youngwood, as well as those employers situated outside of the Borough but who engage in business within the Borough, are hereby charged with the duty of collecting the local services tax from each employee of said employer engaged by it or performing services for it within the Borough and making a return and payment thereof to the Borough or the Collector designated by the Borough for the collection of said taxes. Further, each employer is authorized and obligated to deduct this tax from each applicable employee, whether said employee is paid by salary, wage or commission, and whether or not all such services are performed within the Borough of Youngwood. Employers shall be required to remit the local services tax within 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter of a calendar year.
A person subject to the local services tax shall be assessed by the employer a pro rata share of the tax for each payroll period in which the person is engaging in an occupation. The pro rata share of the tax assessed on the person for a payroll period shall be determined by dividing the rate of the tax levied for the calendar year by the number of payroll periods established by the employer for the calendar year. For purposes of determining the pro rata share, an employer shall round down the amount of the tax collected each payroll period to the nearest one-hundredth of a dollar. Collection of the tax shall be made on a payroll-period basis for each payroll period in which the person is engaging in an occupation except as may be otherwise provided in this article.
Self-employed and other persons who are subject to the payment of the local services tax, as set forth herein, are hereby charged with the duty of paying and depositing said tax directly to or with the Tax Collector or Tax Receiver appointed or authorized by the Borough of Youngwood for this purpose.
For individuals engaged in more than one occupation or employed in more than one political subdivision, the situs of the tax shall be the place of employment on the first day the person becomes subject to the tax during each payroll period. In the event a person is engaged in more than one occupation, that is, concurrent employment, or an occupation which requires the person working in more than one political subdivision during a payroll period, the priority of claim to collect the local services tax shall be in the following order:
A.
First, the political subdivision in which a person maintains his or her principal office or is principally employed;
B.
Second, the political subdivision in which the person resides and works if the tax is levied by that political subdivision;
C.
Third, the political subdivision in which a person is employed and which imposes a tax nearest in miles to the person's home.
A.
The Borough of Youngwood shall have the authority to appoint, by resolution, the Collector or Receiver of the taxes herein designated as the local services tax, from time to time, in its discretion and as may be authorized by law. It shall be the duty of said Collector to accept and receive payments of this tax and to keep a record thereof showing the amount received from each employer or self-employed person, together with the date the tax was received.
B.
The Collector is charged with the administration and enforcement of this article and is empowered, subject to approval of the Borough of Youngwood, to prescribe, adopt and promulgate reasonable rules and regulations relating to said collection and to the enforcement of this ordinance. Any person aggrieved by any decision of the collector shall have the right to appeal to the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County as in other such cases.
C.
In enforcing and administering this article, the collector is authorized to examine the books and payroll records of any employer in order to verify the accuracy of any return or, if no return was made, to ascertain the tax due. Each employer is hereby directed and required to give the collector the means, facilities and opportunity for such examinations.
In the event that any tax under this article remains due or unpaid 30 days after the due dates set forth herein, the collector, or the Borough of Youngwood, may institute appropriate legal action for the recovery of any such tax due or unpaid, together with interest and penalties. If for any reason the tax is not paid when due, interest at the rate of 6% on the amount of such tax shall be calculated beginning with the due date of the tax and a penalty of 5% shall be added to the flat rate of such tax for nonpayment thereof. Where suit is brought for the recovery of this tax or other appropriate remedies are undertaken, the individual liable therefor shall, in addition, be reasonable and liable for the costs of collection.
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement on any return required by this article, or whoever refuses inspection of any books, records or accounts in his or her custody and control or whoever fails or refuses to file any return required herein shall be guilty of a violation and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600 in costs of prosecution, and, in default of payment of such fine and costs, to imprisonment for not more than 30 days. Such fines and penalties shall be in addition to the principal taxes, interest and penalties due. The action to enforce the penalties herein prescribed may be instituted against the employer or any person in charge of the business of any employer, or any self-employed person, who shall have failed or who refuses to file a return required by this article.
The Youngwood Borough local services tax, as levied, assessed, authorized and enacted by this article, is in addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature heretofore levied, assessed, authorized and enacted by the Borough of Youngwood which are not specifically repealed or amended herein.
All other provisions or prior ordinances or resolutions which levied, assessed, or authorized the imposition and collection of occupational privilege taxes including, but not limited to, Ordinance Number 67-3, adopted March 6, 1967, Ordinance Number 221, adopted July 22, 1973, and Ordinance Number 489, adopted December 5, 2005, are hereby repealed except to the limited extent as may be necessary to collect any delinquencies due.
This article is enacted under the authority of Act 7 of 2007 and shall take on January 1, 2008, and shall be in effect for the calendar year of 2008 and shall remain in effect for each calendar year thereafter until or unless revised, revoked, repealed, amended or changed in any way by action of the Youngwood Borough Council.