[Adopted 2-8-1988 by Ord. No. 11-1988 (Ch. 24, Part 6, of
the 2004 Code of Ordinances)]
The tax enacted hereunder shall be known as the "Business Privilege
Tax."
The following words and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Includes, but is not limited to, all businesses, trades, occupations,
professions and vocations in which there is offered any service or
services to the general public or a limited number thereof, including
those enterprises engaged in by hotel operators, motel operators,
parking lot and garage operators, warehousemen, lessors of real and
tangible property, physicians and surgeons, osteopaths, podiatrists,
chiropractors, veterinarians, optometrists, pharmacists, lawyers,
dentists, engineers, architects, chemists, certified public accountants,
public accountants, funeral directors, promoters, factors, commission
merchants, agents, brokers, manufacturers' representatives, advertising
and public relations agencies, real estate brokers, insurance brokers
and agents, cable television operators, operators of places of amusement
providing either passive or active recreation, vending machine operators,
barbershop operators and beauty shop operators, cleaning, pressing
and dyeing establishment operators, laundry operators, shoe repair,
shoe operators, tailors, upholsterers, electrical and painting contractors
engaged in the class of heavy building or other construction of any
kind or in the alteration, maintenance or repair thereof, repairs
or consultants of electrical, electronic and automotive machinery
or equipment or other machinery and equipment and other wares and
merchandise.
The terms as herein defined ("person" and "business, trades,
occupations, professions and vocations") shall not include the following:
employees, agencies of the government of the United States or associations
organized solely and exclusively for religious, educational or charitable
purposes and not conducting any regular or established business competing
commercially with any other person subject to the tax herein imposed.
The City of Nanticoke.
The Business Privilege Tax Collector, either a person or
agency properly appointed by resolution of City Council to collect
the tax imposed by this article.
Includes both cash and credit transactions made by a person
for service rendered, including both services, labor and any materials
entered into or becoming component parts of the services performed
within the City.
An individual, a partnership, a corporation or any other
legal entity which engages in a taxable activity.
The City Clerk of the City of Nanticoke.
Any act or instance of helping or benefitting another for
a consideration.
The twelve-month period beginning January 1 and ending the
last day of December.
Any business that is conducted at one location for less than
60 consecutive days.
A.
The registration and tax provision of this article apply to any person
engaging in any business, trade, occupation, profession or vocation
in which there is offered any service or services to the general public
or a limited number of the general public for a consideration, except
for persons who are wholesale or retail vendors or dealers in goods
or who conduct restaurants or other places where food or beverages
are sold and who are thus subject to the mercantile tax.
B.
This article applies not only to businesses in existence at the beginning
of the license year, but also to businesses begun during the tax year
or carried on in the City for any part of the tax year.
A.
If the taxpayer has a place of business in the City and one or more
places of business outside the City, only those receipts properly
allocable to the place of business in the City are taxable. For this
purpose, a person may be considered to have a place of business outside
the City if services are rendered at a fixed location outside the
City which are of such duration, size and complexity that the person
would be considered doing business at such location.
B.
Generally, receipts will be considered allocable to the place of business in the City if any significant aspect of the transaction occurs at or arises out of the place of business. For example, if a contract is made at the place of business in the City, the receipts arising from that contract may be allocable to the City even though all or part of the contract is to be performed outside the City. The fact that the receipts from any transaction may be subject to tax in a jurisdiction outside the City does not necessarily mean that those receipts are not allocable to the City and subject to this tax. However, in appropriate cases, the principles set out in § 463-25 below may be applied to allocate business within and without the City.
In general, the gross receipts upon which the tax is imposed
is the value of all cash, credits or property received by a person
which is attributable to the carrying on of business in the City,
undiminished by any costs of doing business. A receipt generally will
be considered attributable to the City if any part of the transaction
or service giving rise to the receipt takes place within the City.
The broad reach of this general rule is limited in certain situations
by this article and by state and federal law as more fully explained
hereinafter.
A tax return may be filed on a cash basis or on an accrual basis,
but the return must be prepared in accordance with the method of accounting
regularly employed in keeping the books of the taxpayer. A person
who keeps his books on the cash basis will report his gross receipts
on the basis of amounts actually received during the period used as
the measure of the tax. A taxpayer who keeps his books on the accrual
basis will report the receipts from all sales made or services rendered
during the period used as the measure of the tax, irrespective of
the date when such moneys are collected from the customer. In either
case, the taxpayer must file on a calendar-year basis beginning January
1 and ending December 31, regardless of the taxpayer's fiscal year.
A.
Refunds, credits or allowances given by a person to a customer on
account of defects in services rendered or in goods, wares and merchandise
sold or returned may be deducted from the amount of the "gross receipts"
of the person.
B.
Adjustments allowed to customers may be deducted from "gross receipts"
if they are deducted on the face of the invoice as a medium of adjusting
the price or fee for the service and if they are not reimbursed to
the person by his supplier or some other person.
C.
Federal, state and local taxes are not included in "gross receipts"
if they are collected from the customer and are separately stated
on the evidence of charge or sale.
This article excludes from the definition of gross receipts
the receipts from services performed from a place of business regularly
maintained outside the City by the taxpayer to a place of business
regularly maintained outside the City by the customer, provided that
such performance is not made for the purpose of evading the tax. Services
or deliveries to a residence located outside the City do not qualify
for this exclusion. Also, this exclusion does not apply to factors
or commission merchants except with respect to sales of goods which
they have taken title to and sold for their own account.
Under certain circumstances, receipts from sales in interstate or foreign commerce may be exempt from the tax in whole or in part, even though they are allocable to a place of business in the City under § 463-20 above. Receipts are not automatically exempt from tax merely because the sale involves interstate or foreign commerce. The controlling principles in determining whether any such receipts are subject to tax are that there be some nexus between the business activity carried on in the City and the imposition of the tax and that there is a fair method of allocation of receipts to the business carried on in the City which will avoid an undue burden on interstate commerce. Bearing these principles in mind, the following methods of allocation will be followed by the City:
A.
Receipts directly payable or paid to a place of business located
with the City shall be considered allocable to the City and subject
to tax.
B.
If the Collector determines, either upon his own initiative or upon application by the taxpayer, that the receipts covered by Subsection A above do not properly reflect all receipts attributable to the activity carried on in the City, then to the extent possible, bearing in mind the accounting system used by the taxpayer and any other information reasonably capable of being derived from the books and records of the taxpayer, a separate accounting shall be made with respect to each place of business in the City, and all receipts attributable to the place of business shall be considered allocable to the City and subject to tax.
C.
If the Collector determines, either on his own initiative or upon application by the taxpayer, that the provisions of Subsections A and B above do not properly reflect all receipts attributable to the activity carried on in the City, a different method of allocation may be used, with due regard to the extent of the receipts, property and wages of the taxpayer within the City, the nature of the business concerned, the number of jurisdictions in which the receipts may be taxed, and such other factors as may be considered relevant.
D.
All receipts from interstate commerce, whether taxable or nontaxable
under the foregoing rules, must be included on the return filed by
the taxpayer, and a deduction for the nontaxable receipts shall be
allowed thereon.
A person who may engage in a business with gross receipts from wholesale or retail sales of merchandise or restaurant as well as receipts from services is not required to obtain both a registration certificate under this article and a mercantile license under Article III of this chapter. Either a mercantile license or a business privilege registration, whichever is appropriate to the majority of the taxpayer's gross receipts, shall be obtained.
A separate certificate of registration must be obtained each
year for each place of business in the City. The certificate must
be obtained on or before May 1 of each tax year if the business was
begun prior to the tax year. If a business is begun or a new place
of business established during the tax year, the certificate must
be obtained prior to commencing business. The certificate shall be
valid for the location for which is was issued and the applicant only
and shall not be assignable.
The certificate is issued each tax year from January 1 to December
31 of each year. A certificate obtained at any time during the year
is valid only from the date of issue until the end of the year with
respect to which it is issued.
[Amended 12-1-2004 by Ord. No. 16-2004]
Before the issuance of a certificate, the applicant shall make
payment to the Collector of a registration fee for each place of business.
The fee shall be in an amount as established from time to time by
resolution of City Council.
All registration fees due under this article and not paid by
May 1 of the tax year shall bear interest at the rate of 1% per month
or fractional part of a month from the day they are due and payable
until paid. If any person shall neglect or refuse to obtain a registration
certificate as herein required, an additional penalty of 10% of the
registration fee shall be added by the Collector and collected.
A.
The application for certificate of registration forms shall be available
from the City License Clerk, 15 East Ridge Street, Nanticoke, Pennsylvania,
18634. Failure to obtain or receive the application form shall not
excuse any person from the obligation to file and obtain the registration
certificate or the business privilege tax return or payment of the
applicable tax hereunder.
B.
Each application for registration shall be signed by the applicant
if a natural person, and in the case of an association or a partnership,
by a member or partner thereof, and in the case of a corporation,
by an officer thereof.
C.
All applications for certificate of registration shall be filed with
the City License Clerk, 15 East Ridge Street, Nanticoke, Pennsylvania,
18634.
Every person engaging in a business, trade, occupation, profession
or vocation in the City shall pay an annual business privilege tax
for the year at the rate of 1 1/2 mills on his gross receipts;
provided, however, that in no event shall the annual business privilege
tax herein imposed be less than $10.
A return must be filed and an estimated tax must be paid for each tax year at the time set forth in § 463-34 below. The estimated tax is computed on the estimated gross receipts for the tax year. At the end of each tax year, the actual gross receipts for the year must be determined and an appropriate adjustment made in the tax due. This adjustment will be shown on the final return for the tax year. The final return for the prior tax year will be combined with and thus filed at the same time as the estimated return for the current year and a single payment made in an amount equal to the estimated tax for the current year, increased or decreased by the adjustment for actual gross receipts for the prior year.
Every person subject to this article shall file a return as
follows:
A.
If the person has commercial business prior to January 1 of the tax
year, the return shall be filed on or before May 15 of the tax year.
B.
If the person commences business after January 1 of the tax year,
the return shall be filed within 40 days from the date of commencing
business.
C.
If the person is engaged in a business which is temporary, seasonal
or itinerant in its nature, the return shall be filed within seven
days of the completion of such business.
D.
If the person discontinues, terminates or otherwise ceases business
activity at the registered location, the return shall be filed within
30 days of the termination.
