[Ord. 2007-07, 12/18/2007]
The Plumstead Township Board of Supervisors, for the purpose
of providing revenue for emergency services, road maintenance and
construction, reductions in property taxes and property tax relief,
does hereby impose on each adult resident and nonresident employed
and/or engaged in an occupation within the jurisdiction of Plumstead
Township a local services tax at a flat rate, which said tax shall
be in addition to all other taxes levied and assessed by the Township
pursuant to any other laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
[Ord. 2007-07, 12/18/2007]
Beginning on the effective date of this Part,[1] each adult resident or nonresident employed within the
boundaries of Plumstead Township shall be required to pay an annual
local services tax in an amount of $52.
[1]
Editor's Note: The effective date of this Part is January
1, 2008.
[Ord. 2007-07, 12/18/2007]
The local services tax shall not be subject to the imposition
of the Local Tax Enabling Act discount and penalty provisions in regard
to the levy and collection of this local services tax.
[Ord. 2007-07, 12/18/2007]
1.
The tax imposed by this Part shall be collected by the duly elected
or appointed Tax Collector of Plumstead Township (as directed by the
Board of Supervisors) in accordance with state and local regulations
and in the same manner as other Township taxes. It shall be the duty
of each adult employed within Plumstead Township to pay the local
services tax in accordance with 53 P.S. § 6924.301.1. Each
individual covered under this Part and required to pay the local services
tax shall be assessed a pro rata share of the tax for each payroll
period in which the individual is engaged in an occupation within
the Township. The pro rata share of the tax assessed on the individual
for a payroll period shall be determined by dividing the combined
rate of the local services tax levied for the calendar year ($52)
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. The collection of
the local services tax shall be made on a payroll-period-basis for
each payroll period in which the person is engaged in an occupation,
except as otherwise provided for within 53 P.S. § 6924.301.1.
[Amended by A.O.]
2.
Each employer within Plumstead Township, as well as those employers
situated outside Plumstead Township but who engage in business within
Plumstead Township, shall withhold this local services tax from the
compensation of his/her employees who are subject to the tax. This
local services tax shall be withheld from each employee that is subject
to the local services tax, and said tax shall be collected by the
duly elected or appointed Tax Collector of Plumstead Township (as
directed by the Board of Supervisors) in accordance with state and
local regulations and in the same manner as other Township taxes.
[Ord. 2007-07, 12/18/2007]
The entry of the tax in the tax duplicate and the issuance of
the said duplicate to the Tax Collector shall constitute his warrant
for the collection of the tax as hereby assessed. Each employer within
Plumstead Township shall cooperate with the Township in identifying
those people employed within the Township.
[Ord. 2007-07, 12/18/2007]
The following persons shall be exempt from the local services
tax:
1.
Any person who served in any war or armed conflict in which the United
States was engaged and was 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 100%
permanent disability.
2.
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.
3.
Any person who earns less than $12,000 in earned income and net profits
from all sources within Plumstead Township for the calendar year in
which the local services tax is levied.
A.
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services tax
may annually file an exemption certificate with Plumstead Township,
the Township Tax Collector and with the person's employer affirming
that the person reasonably expects to receive earned income and net
profits from all sources within Plumstead Township of less than $12,000
in the calendar year for which the exemption certificate is filed.
The exemption certificate shall have attached to it a copy of all
the employee's last paystubs or W-2 forms from employment within Plumstead
Township for the year prior to the fiscal year for which the employee
is requesting to be exempted from the local services tax. Upon receipt
of the exemption certificate and until otherwise instructed by Plumstead
Township, the employer shall not withhold the tax from the person
during the calendar year or the remainder of the calendar year for
which the exemption certificate applies. Employers shall ensure that
the exemption certificate forms, which are provided by the Department
of Community and Economic Development, are readily available to employees
at all times and shall furnish each new employee with a form at the
time of hiring. For purposes of this section, "earned income" and
"net profits" shall have the same meanings as in 53 P.S. § 6924.501,
as amended.
[Amended by A.O.]
B.
With respect to a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the local services tax, upon notification to an employer by the person or by Plumstead Township that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within the Township equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year or that the person is otherwise ineligible for the tax exemption for that calendar year, or upon an employer's payment to the person of earned income within the Township in an amount equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year, an employer shall withhold the local services tax from the person under Subsection 3C below.
C.
If a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the local services tax becomes subject to the tax for the calendar year under Subsection 3B above, the employer shall withhold the tax for the remainder of that calendar year. The employer shall withhold from the person, for the first payroll period after receipt of the notification under Subsection 3B, a lump sum equal to the amount of tax that was not withheld from the person due to the exemption claimed by the person under this subsection, plus the per-payroll amount due for that first payroll period. The amount of tax withheld per payroll period for the remaining payroll periods in that calendar year shall be the same amount withheld for other employees. In the event the employment of a person subject to withholding of the tax under this subsection is subsequently severed in that calendar year, the person shall be liable for any outstanding balance of tax due, and the Township may pursue collection under this Part.
[Ord. 2007-07, 12/18/2007]
1.
No person shall be subject to the payment of the local services tax
by more than one political subdivision during each payroll period.
2.
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.
3.
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: first, the political subdivision in which a person
maintains the person's principal office or is principally employed;
second, the political subdivision in which the person resides and
works, if the tax is levied by that political subdivision; and third,
the political subdivision in which a person is employed and which
imposes the tax nearest in miles to the person's home.
4.
In the case of concurrent employment, an employer shall refrain from
withholding the local services tax if the employee provides a recent
pay statement from a principal employer that includes the name of
the employer, the length of the payroll period and the amount of the
local services tax withheld and a statement from the employee that
the pay statement is from the employee's principal employer and the
employee will notify other employers of a change in principal place
of employment within two weeks of its occurrence.
[Ord. 2007-07, 12/18/2007]
A person claiming the right to a refund for the local services
tax shall follow the regulations governing refunds in accordance with
53 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 8425 and 8426, as amended, and/or any
Township ordinance or resolution governing said refunds.
[Ord. 2007-07, 12/18/2007; amended by A.O.]
Any resident or nonresident who fails or refuses to pay the
local services tax or to render accurate information to an assessor
concerning the status of his/her employment or age shall, upon conviction
in a summary proceeding brought before a Magisterial District Judge
under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, be guilty of a
summary offense and shall be punishable by a fine of not more than
$1,000, plus costs of prosecution. In default of payment thereof,
the defendant may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
90 days. Each day or portion thereof that such violation continues
or is permitted to continue shall constitute a separate offense, and
each section of this Part that is violated shall also constitute a
separate offense. The Tax Collector and Township may also proceed
with all other available remedies, including but not limited to filing
an action for the recovery of any tax due or unpaid under this Part,
together with interest and penalty.
