This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Local Services
Tax Ordinance."
This article is enacted under the authority of Act 511 of 1965,
as amended, known as "The Local Tax Enabling Act."
As used in this article, unless the context clearly indicates
a different meaning, the following words shall have the meanings set
forth below:
CALENDAR YEAR
The twelve-month period beginning January 1 and ending December
31.
COLLECTOR
Person, public employee, public agency, or private agency
designated by governing body of the Jersey Shore Borough to collect
and administer the tax.
EARNED INCOME
"Compensation" as determined under Section 303 of the Act of March 4, 1971 (P.L. 6, No. 2), known as the "Tax Reform Code of 1971," and regulations in 61 Pa. Code Pt. I Subpt. B Art.
V (relating to personal income tax); not including, however, wages or compensation paid to individuals on active military service. Employee business expenses are allowable deductions as determined under Article
III of the Tax Reform Code of 1971. The amount of any housing allowance provided to a member of the clergy shall not be taxable as earned income.
EMPLOYER
A person, partnership, association, corporation, institution,
governmental body or unit or agency, or any other entity employing
one or more persons for a salary, wage, commission or other compensation,
including self-employed individuals.
EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE
An exemption certificate substantially in the form of the
uniform certificate prescribed by the Pennsylvania Department of Community
and Economic Development affirming that the person reasonably expects
to receive earned income and/or net profits from all sources within
the municipality of less than $12,000 in the calendar year for which
the exemption certificate is filed, which exemption certificate has
attached to it a copy of all the employee's last pay stubs or W-2
forms from employment within the municipality for the year prior to
the calendar year for which the employee is requesting to be exempted
from the tax. In addition to the income exemptions, provision has
been made for certain military exemptions.
LOCAL SERVICES
Emergency 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.
Subch.F.
NET PROFITS
The net income from the operation of a business, profession, or other activity, except corporations, determined under Section 303 of the act of March 4, 1971 (P.L. 6, No. 2), known as the "Tax Reform Code of 1971," and regulations in 61 Pa. Code Pt. I, Subpt. B, Art.
V (relating to personal income tax). The term does not include income which is not paid for services provided and which is in the nature of earnings from an investment. For taxpayers engaged in the business, profession or activity of farming, the term shall not include:
A.
Any interest earnings generated from any monetary accounts or
investment instruments of the farming business;
B.
Any gain on the sale of farm machinery;
C.
Any gain on the sale of livestock held 12 months or more for
draft, breeding or dairy purposes.
D.
Any gain on the sale of other capital assets of the farm (def.
amended December 9, 2002, P.L. 1364, No. 166).
NONRESIDENT
A person, partnership, association or other entity domiciled
outside the municipality.
OCCUPATION
Any livelihood, job, trade, profession, business or enterprises
of any kind, including services, domestic or otherwise, for which
any earned income and/or net profits are charged and received from
sources within the municipality.
POLITICAL SUBDIVISION
Any county, city, borough, incorporated town, township, school
district, vocational school district and county institutional district.
TAX
The tax imposed by §
272-28 of this article.
TAXPAYER
Any natural person liable for the tax levied by §
272-28 of this article.
The municipality hereby levies and imposes on every individual
engaging in an occupation within the jurisdictional limits of the
municipality a tax in the amount of $52 per annum, beginning the first
day of January 2008 and continuing on a calendar basis annually thereafter,
until modified or repealed by a subsequent ordinance. This tax is
in addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature heretofore levied
by the municipality.
The tax levied by §
272-28 shall not be imposed upon the following persons:
A. Any person who served in any war or armed conflict in which the United
States was engaged and is honorably discharged or released under honorably
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.
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 calendar
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 National
Guard or the Pennsylvania National Air Guard.
C. Any person whose total earned income and/or net profits from all
sources within the municipality is less than $12,000 for the calendar
year in which the local services tax is levied.
Every taxpayer who is self-employed and has not filed an exemption certification with the Collector, or whose tax for any other reason is not collected under §
272-30 of this article, shall file a return on a form prescribed by the Collector and shall pay a pro rata share of the tax directly to the Collector within 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter. The pro rata share of the tax assessed on a taxpayer for a calendar quarter shall be determined by dividing the rate of the tax levied ($52) for the calendar year by four.
Both resident and nonresident taxpayers shall, by virtue of
engaging in an occupation within the municipality, be subject to the
tax and the provisions of this article.
The Collector, on behalf of the municipality, shall collect
and receive the taxes, interest, fines and penalties imposed by this
article, and shall maintain records showing interest, fines and penalties
imposed by this article, and shall maintain records showing the amounts
received and the dates such amounts were received. The Collector shall
prescribe and issue all forms necessary for the administration of
the tax and shall enforce regulations adopted by the governing body
relating to any matter pertaining to the administration of this article,
including, but not limited to, requirements for collection through
employers, requirements for evidence and records, and provisions for
the examination and correction of returns. The Collector and any designated
agents may examine the records of any employer or supposed employer
or of any taxpayer or supposed taxpayer in order to ascertain the
tax due or verify the accuracy of any return. Every employer or supposed
employer and every taxpayer or supposed taxpayer shall give the Collector
and any designated agent all means, facilities and opportunity for
the examinations hereby authorized. Any such examination shall be
conducted within this municipality or at the office where the tax
return is processed.
The municipality or it's Collector of the tax may collect unpaid
taxes from the taxpayer or employer owing such taxes by suit as provided
for by Act 511 of 1965, as amended, known as "The Local Tax Enabling
Act."
The Collector shall provide a taxpayer a receipt of payment
of the tax upon request by the taxpayer. A stamped self-addressed
envelope shall be furnished by the taxpayer if a receipt via return
mail is desired.
The tax shall not apply to any subject of tax or person not
within the taxing power of the municipality under the Constitution
of the United States and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
This article shall continue in force from one calendar year
to another without annual reenactment.