[Ord. 2009-14, 11/30/2009, § 159-50]
The Lower Macungie Township Board of Commissioners, for the
purpose of providing revenue for emergency services and road maintenance
and construction, does hereby impose on each adult resident and nonresident
employed and/or engaged in an occupation within the jurisdiction of
Lower Macungie 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. 2009-14, 11/30/2009, § 159-51]
Beginning on the effective date of this Part, each adult resident
or nonresident employed within the boundaries of Lower Macungie Township
shall be required to pay an annual local services tax in an amount
of $52.
[Ord. 2009-14, 11/30/2009, § 159-52]
The local services tax shall not be subject to the imposition
of the Local Tax Enabling Act, 53 P.S. § 6924.101 et seq.,
discount and penalty provisions in regard to the levy and collection
of this local services tax.
[Ord. 2009-14, 11/30/2009, § 159-53]
1. The tax imposed by this Part shall be collected by the Township,
an employee thereof, or any other individual or entity authorized
to do so from time to time by ordinance or resolution of the Board
of Commissioners 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 Lower Macungie Township to pay the local
services tax in accordance with Local Tax Enabling Act, 53 P.S. § 6924.101
et seq. (hereinafter the "Act"). 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 service 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 1/100 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
the Act.
2. Each employer within Lower Macungie Township, as well as those employers
situated outside Lower Macungie Township but who engage in business
within Lower Macungie Township, shall withhold this local services
tax from the compensation of their 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 Township or any other individual or entity authorized by the
Board of Commissioners to collect the tax in accordance with state
and local regulations and in the same manner as other Township taxes.
[Ord. 2009-14, 11/30/2009, § 159-54]
The notice of tax due from the Township or any other individual
or entity authorized by the Board of Commissioners to collect the
tax shall constitute the warrant for the collection of the tax as
hereby assessed. Each employer within Lower Macungie Township shall
cooperate with the Township in identifying those people employed within
the Township.
[Ord. 2009-14, 11/30/2009, § 159-55]
1. The following persons shall be exempt from the local services tax:
A. Any person who served in any war or armed conflict in which the United
States was engaged and 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.
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.
C. Any person who earns less than $12,000 in earned income and net profits
from all sources within Lower Macungie Township for the calendar year
in which the local services tax is levied.
(1)
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services
tax may annually file an exemption certificate with the Township,
any other individual or entity authorized by the Board of Commissioners
to collect the tax, and with the person's employer affirming that
the person reasonably expects to receive earned income and net profits
from all sources within Lower Macungie 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 pay stubs or W-2 forms from employment within
Lower Macungie 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 Lower Macungie 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 the Act.
(2)
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 Lower Macungie 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 1C(3) below.
(3)
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 1C(2) 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 1C(2), 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. 2009-14, 11/30/2009, § 159-56]
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 local services 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. 2009-14, 11/30/2009, § 159-57]
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. 2009-14, 11/30/2009, § 159-58; as amended
by Ord. 2011-12, 10/6/2011]
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 their employment or age, shall, upon conviction
thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600 per violation.
The Township and any other individual or entity authorized by the
Board of Commissioners to collect the Tax 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.