[Adopted 12-14-2005 by Ord. No. 5550; amended in its entirety 11-14-2007 by Ord. No.
5573]
The following words and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context or language clearly indicates or requires a different
meaning:
The area within the corporate limits of the City of Altoona.
An individual, partnership, association, corporation, governmental
body, agency or other entity employing one or more persons on a salary,
wage, commission or other compensation basis, including a self-employed
person.
A calendar year beginning January 1 and ending December 31,
and subsequent calendar years thereafter.
Indicates the singular and plural number as well as male,
female and neuter gender.
Any person, male or female, engaged in any occupation, trade
or profession within the corporate limits of the City of Altoona.
Any trade, profession, business, or undertaking of any type,
kind or character, including services, domestic or other, carried
on or performed within the corporate limits of the City of Altoona
for which compensation is charged or received, whether by means of
salary, wages, commissions or fees for services rendered.
Local services tax in the amount of $52 levied by this article.
A.
Subject to Subsection B of this section, a local services tax for funding 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. Ch. 85 Subch. F (relating to homestead property exclusion) (as may be determined in the discretion of the City of Altoona), in the amount of $52, is hereby imposed upon the privilege of engaging in an occupation within the City of Altoona in the year 2007 after the effective date of this article and in each following calendar year. The amount of the said tax imposed hereby shall be with regard to any such similar tax amount imposed by a school district. Each natural person who exercises such privilege for any length of time in any calendar year beginning with the year 2007 after the effective date of this article, shall pay the tax in accordance with the provisions hereof.
B.
Exemptions from payment of tax. The following persons shall be exempt
from the payment of a local services tax:
(1)
Any person whose total earned income and/or net profits from all
sources within the City of Altoona is less than $12,000 for the calendar
year in which the local services tax is levied.
(2)
Any person who 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, 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.
(3)
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. For purposes of this subsection, "reserve component of the armed
forces" shall mean 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 Nation Guard.
(4)
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services tax may annually file an exemption certificate with the City of Altoona and with the person's employer affirming that the person reasonably expects to receive earned income and net profits from all sources within the City of Altoona 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 of the employee's last pay stubs or W-2 forms from employment within the City of Altoona 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 the City of Altoona or except as required by Subsection B(5) hereof, 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 are readily available to employees at all times and shall furnish each new employee with a form, as prepared and provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, at the time of hiring.
(5)
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 the City of Altoona that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within that political subdivision 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 that political subdivision 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 pursuant to Subsection B(6) hereof.
(6)
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 B(5), 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 B(5), 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 section, plus the per-payroll amount due for that first payroll period. The amount of tax withheld per payroll 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 City of Altoona may pursue collection pursuant to applicable law.
Beginning the first day of January, each occupation, as hereinabove defined, engaged in within the City of Altoona shall be subject to a local services tax in the amount of $52 per year, subject to the exemption as defined and set forth in § 646-64 of this article.
A.
Each employer shall register with the Tax Collector the employer's
name, address and other information the Tax Collector may require
within 15 days after the effective date of this article or within
15 days after first becoming an employer.
B.
Each employer shall prorate and deduct the tax from each payroll
period in which the taxpayer is engaging in an occupation. The pro
rata share of the tax assessed on the taxpayer for a payroll period
shall be determined by dividing the combined rate of the local services
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 1/100 dollar.
Collection of the local services tax levied hereunder shall be made
on a payroll-period basis for each payroll period in which the person
is engaging in an occupation. For each taxpayer for whom no prior
deduction has been made who is employed after the effective date of
this article but for less than a calendar year, each employer shall
deduct the full amount of the local services tax on a pro rata basis
from the payroll periods remaining in the calendar year, as required
herein, from compensation payable to the taxpayer; file a return on
a form prescribed by the Tax Collector; and pay said Collector the
full amount of all taxes deducted within 30 days after the end of
each quarter of the calendar year during which the taxpayer is employed.
C.
In the case of concurrent employment, an employer shall refrain from
withholding the local services tax if the taxpayer 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 taxpayer that
the pay statement is from the employee's principal employer and that
the taxpayer will notify other employers of a change in principal
place of employment within two weeks of its occurrence.
Each employer shall prepare and file a return showing a computation
of the tax on forms to be supplied by the City of Altoona, Pennsylvania,
or other tax office so designated. It is further provided that, if
the employer fails to file said return and pay said tax, whether or
not he or she makes collection thereof from the salary, wages or commissions
paid by him or her to said employee, the employer shall be responsible
for the payment of the tax in full without deducting a commission
and as though the tax had originally been levied against him.
Each employer shall use his or her employment records from the
first day of January to the 31st day of March for determining the
number of employees from whom said tax shall be deducted and paid
over to the City Manager or his or her duly authorized representative
or agent on or before April 30th. Supplemental reports shall be made
by each employer on or before July 31st and October 31st of the current
year and January 31st of the following year on new employees, as reflected
on employer employment records from May 1st through June 30th; from
July 1st through September 30th; and from October 1st through December
31st. Payments on these supplemental reports shall be made on or before
July 31st and October 31st of the current calendar year and on or
before January 31st of the following calendar year, respectively.
All self-employed individuals who perform services of any type
or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within the City
of Altoona shall be required to comply with this article and pay the
tax to the City Manager or his or her duly authorized representative
or agent on April 30th or as soon thereafter as he or she engages
in an occupation.
All employers and self-employed individuals residing or having
their place of business outside the City of Altoona, but who perform
services of any type or kind or engage in any occupation or profession
within the City of Altoona do, by virtue thereof, agree to be bound
by and subject themselves to the provisions, penalties and regulations
promulgated under this article with the same force and effect as though
they were residents of the City of Altoona. Further, any individual
engaged in an occupation within the City of Altoona and an employee
of a nonresident employer may, for the purposes of this article, be
considered a self-employed person, and in the event this tax is not
paid, the City shall have the option of proceeding against either
the employer or employee for the collection of this tax as hereinafter
provided.
A.
It shall be the duty of the City Manager or his or her duly authorized
representative or agent 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 City Manager is hereby charged with the administration and enforcement
of this article and is hereby charged and empowered to prescribe,
adopt, promulgate rules and regulations relating to any matter pertaining
to the administration and enforcement of this article, including provisions
upon resolution of City Council for the examination of the payroll
records of any employer subject to this article, the examination and
correction of any return made in compliance with this article and
any payment alleged or found to be incorrect or as to which overpayment
is claimed or found to have occurred. However, refunds shall only
be made for amounts overpaid in a calendar year that exceed $1. Any
person aggrieved by any decision of the City Manager or his or her
duly authorized representative or agent shall have the right to appeal
under the provisions of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (Act 50).[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 8421 et seq.
C.
The City Manager or his or her duly authorized representative or
agent is hereby authorized to examine the books and payroll records
of any employer in order to verify the accuracy of any return made
by an employer or, if no return was made, to ascertain the tax due.
Each employer is hereby directed and required to give the City Manager
or his or her duly authorized representative or agent the means, facilities
and opportunity for such examination.
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due, interest at
the rate of 6% per year and a penalty of 6% per year shall be assessed
against and added to the unpaid balance of the tax due for each month
or fraction of mouth during which the tax remains unpaid. Where suit
or wage attachment is brought for the recovery of this tax, the individual
or employer liable therefor shall, in addition, be responsible and
liable for the costs of collection.
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement on any return required
by this article, or who refuses inspection of his, her or their books,
records or accounts in his, her or their custody and control setting
forth the number of employees subject to this tax who are in his,
her or their employment, or whoever fails or refuses to file any return
required by this article, shall, upon conviction before any Magisterial
District Judge, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100 nor
more than $1,000 or imprisonment for a term not to exceed 90 days,
or both, for each offense. It is further provided that the action
to enforce the fine and penalty provisions herein provided may be
instituted against any person in charge of the business of any employer
who has failed or refuses to file a return required by this article.
A.
Nothing
contained in this article shall be construed to empower the City of
Altoona to levy and collect the tax hereby imposed on any occupation
not within the taxing power of the City under the Constitution of
the United States and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
B.
If the
tax hereby imposed under the provisions of this article 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 said tax or the validity of
the tax so imposed on other persons or individuals as herein provided.
The tax hereby imposed shall be effective January 1, 2007, and
shall continue in force on a calendar-year basis without annual reenactment,
pursuant to the provisions of "the Local Tax Enabling Act," as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 6924.101 et seq.
This article shall be known and cited as the "City of Altoona
Local Services Tax."
Ordinance No. 5550 is derived from Ordinance No. 3865, adopted
12-29-1965, which was known as the "Occupational Privilege Tax," said
Ordinance No. 3865 having been subsequently amended by Ordinance No.
3933, and reenacted by Ordinance No. 3974 on 12-29-1967, which was
then amended by Ordinance No. 5132 enacted on 11-14-1989. Ordinance
No. 5550 was enacted on 12-14-2005 and changed the "occupational privilege
tax" to the "emergency and municipal services tax," due to changes
in Pennsylvania legislation. Due to changes in such legislation, this
amendment to the prior ordinances is now necessary.
