[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 1]
This Part shall be known as the "Hopewell Township Local Services
Tax Ordinance."
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 2]
For purposes of this Part, the following definitions shall apply:
ACT
The Local Tax Enabling Act, 53 P.S. § 6901 et seq.,
as amended by Act 7 of 2007.
COLLECTION AGENT
The person or entity appointed or designated by the Township
to collect the local services tax pursuant to this Part.
COMBINED RATE
The aggregate annual rate of the local services tax levied
by both the Township and the South Eastern School District.
DCED
The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
EARNED INCOME
This term shall have the same meaning as is given in Division
I of § 13 of the Act.
EMPLOYEE
Any person who, as a result of his or her employment or occupation,
is subject to this tax or to an exemption.
NET PROFITS
This term shall have the same meaning as is given in Division
I of § 13 of the Act.
PERSON
Any employee or other person who is subject to, or exempt
from, the tax imposed by this Part.
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT
The place in which the person maintains his or her principal
office or is principally employed, as determined pursuant to the Local
Tax Enabling Act, 53 P.S. § 6901 et seq., which shall be
determined as of the day the taxpayer first becomes subject to the
tax during any calendar year.
TAX
The local services tax adopted and levied by this Part.
TAXPAYER
Any person who is subject to the tax imposed by this Part.
TOWNSHIP
Hopewell Township, York County, Pennsylvania.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 3]
The Board of Supervisors of the Township hereby enacts and levies
the tax in the amount of $42 per year on each person whose place of
employment is within the Township.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 4]
This tax shall be imposed on a calendar year basis.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 5]
In the event that any person is engaged in more than one occupation,
that is, concurrent employment, or in an occupation which requires
him or her to work in more than one political subdivision during the
calendar year, then the priority of claims to collect this tax shall
be in the following order: First, the political subdivision in which
the person maintains his or her principal office or is principally
employed; second, the political subdivision in which the person resides
and works, if such a tax is levied by that political subdivision;
and third the political subdivision in which the person is employed
and which imposes the tax nearest in miles to the person's home.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 6]
1. It is the intent of this Part that no person shall pay more than
$42 on this tax in any calendar year, excluding any such tax paid
to the South Eastern School District or other school district. In
the event that, prior to his or her employment in the Township in
any calendar year, an employee has previously paid a local services
tax in any other political subdivision, then the employer shall refrain
from withholding the tax, so long as the employee provides a recent
pay statement from a principal employer whether within or outside
of the commonwealth 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 that the employee will notify other
employers of a change in the principal place of employment within
two weeks of its occurrence. Forms for such notification shall be
the same as those prepared by DCED, as required by § 2(f)(9)(v)
of the Act. It shall be the responsibility of the employer and the
employee to provide such form properly completed to the Township or
its collection agent.
2. In the event that a person's employer within the Township withholds
this tax, and the person has previously paid a local services tax
in another political subdivision pursuant to this section, then, upon
written request of the Taxpayer, pursuant to regulations adopted by
the Township pursuant to § 2(f)(9)(vii) of the Act, the
Township or its collection agent shall refund such overpayment, except
that the Township shall only be required to provide refunds for overpaid
amounts that exceed $1. Refunds made within 75 days of the refund
request or within 75 days after the last day the employer is required
to remit the tax for the last quarter of the calendar year, whichever
is last, shall not be subject to interest. The amount of the refund
shall be limited to the amount any local services tax paid by the
taxpayer in another political subdivision, but in no event shall exceed
the tax as fixed by the Township for the calendar year in which the
refund was sought.
3. In the event that a person has in any calendar year previously paid
a local services tax in another political subdivision, but such tax
was less than $42, then the taxpayer shall be liable for the difference
between the tax actually paid in the other political subdivision and
the amount due for this tax to the Township.
4. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any local services
tax paid to the South Eastern School District.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 7]
1. The following persons shall be exempt from the tax:
A. Any person whose total earned income and net profits from all sources
within the Township is less than $12,000 in the calendar year in which
the tax is levied.
B. 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 triple amputee,
or has a service-connected disability declared by the United States
Veterans' Administration or its successor to be a 100% permanent disability.
C. 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.
2. A person seeking exemption from the tax pursuant to this section
may annually file an exemption certificate with the Township and with
his or her employer affirming that he or she reasonably expects to
receive earned income and net profits from all sources within the
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 of the employee's last pay stubs or W-2 forms
from employment within the Township for the year prior to the year
for which the exemption is requested. Upon receipt of the exemption
certificate and until notified otherwise by the Township, the employer
shall not withhold the tax from the person for the calendar year,
or the remainder of the calendar year, for which the exemption certificate
applies. The exemption certificate shall be on a form prepared by
DCED, pursuant to § 2(e)(1) of the Act.
3. For any person who claims an exemption pursuant to this section,
upon notification to an employer by the person or by the 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
exemption for that calendar year, or upon an employer's payment to
the person of earned income within the Township of $12,000 or more
in that calendar year, the employer shall withhold the tax from the
person for the remainder of the calendar year, and shall withhold
from the person, for the first payroll period after receipt of the
notification or after the person equals or exceed $12,000 in earned
income, a lump sum equal to the amount of the tax not previously withheld
in the current calendar year due to the exemption, 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 the calendar
year shall be the same amount withheld for other employees.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 8]
It shall be the duty of every employer within the Township,
or every employer of a person whose place of employment as defined
in this Part is the Township, to collect this tax from and on behalf
of each such person whose place of employment is the Township from
the employee in the manner set forth in § 2(f)9(i) of the
Act, which is by a pro rata share of the tax for each payroll period
in which the employee is engaging in an occupation. The pro rata share
of the tax assessed on a person shall be determined by dividing the
combined rate of the tax levied for the calendar year by the number
of payroll periods established by the employer for the calendar year,
or, in the case of a person who becomes employed after the beginning
of the calendar year, by the number of payroll periods remaining in
the calendar year. In the event that the employment of a person is
subsequently severed, the person shall be liable for any outstanding
balance of the tax due to the Township for that calendar year, which
the Township may collect as permitted by law.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 9]
The Township hereby designates the York Adams Tax Bureau (YATB)
as its collection agent for this Tax. YATB's current mailing address
is: 1415 North Duke Street, P.O. Box 15627, York, PA 17405-0156.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 10]
Both the amount of this tax as set in §
24-203, and the designated collection agent as set forth in §
24-209, may be amended by the Township from time to time by resolution, including, but not limited to, the Township's annual tax resolution which fixes and sets taxes for the next calendar year.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 11]
1. It shall be the responsibility of every employer of every taxpayer
whose place of employment is in the Township to collect and remit
said taxes to the Township's collection agent by no later than 30
days after the end of each quarter of a calendar year. Nothing in
this section or this Part is intended, or shall be construed, to relieve
any taxpayer whose place of employment is the Township from the responsibility
and liability for the payment of this tax. In the event that and such
taxpayer's employer fails to collect or remit such tax to the Township
or its collection agent, then it shall be the responsibility of the
taxpayer to do so.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Part, no employer shall be
held liable for failure to withhold the tax or for the payment of
the withheld tax money to the Township if the failure to withhold
the tax arises from incorrect information submitted by the employee
as to the employee's place or places of employment, the employee's
principal office, or where the employee is principally employed. An
employer shall also not be liable for payment of the tax in an amount
exceeding the amount withheld by the employer if the employer complies
with the provisions of §§ 2, 2(e) and 2(f)(9) of the
Act.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 12]
1. The Township's Board of Supervisors shall, in their sole discretion,
determine the use of the revenues generated by this tax, except that
the use shall be limited to one or more of the following purposes
and amounts:
A. Emergency services, which shall include emergency medical, police
and/or fire services; provided that at least 25% of the funds derived
from the tax shall be used for this purpose.
B. Road construction and/or maintenance.
C. Reduction of property taxes.
D. Property tax relief in the event that the Township implements a homestead
and farmstead exclusion in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S.A., Chapter 85,
Subchapter F (relating to homestead property exclusion), and § 22.6
of the Act.
E. Any other uses permitted by law.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 13; as amended by Ord.
2016-1, 1/4/2016]
1. Subject to the limitations of §
24-211, and of the Act, any person, partnership or corporation who or which has violated or permitted the violation of any provision of this Part, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Township, shall pay a judgment of not more than $600 plus all court costs. No judgment shall commence or be imposed, levied or payable until the date of the determination of a violation by a magisterial district judge. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable rules of civil procedure, at which time, in addition to any penalties, the violator shall be liable for any attorney's fees and costs incurred by the Township. Each day that a violation continues or each section of this Part which shall be found to have been violated shall constitute a separate violation.
2. In addition to the penalties in Subsection
1, the Township and its collection agent shall be entitled to any and all civil remedies available by law for the collection of such tax, and shall be entitled to all costs of collection, as approved by the Township from time to time by resolution. The Township and its collection agent are further authorized to collect this tax by any other lawful means available to them, whether in law or equity.
3. The Township specifically authorizes its collection agent to act on its behalf and as its agent to collect all such taxes pursuant to this section and this Part, and to initiate and prosecute on its behalf any summary criminal actions pursuant to Subsection
1, and any other legal actions or remedies as authorized in Subsection
2.
[Ord. 2007-4, 11/1/2007, § 14; as amended by Ord.
2016-1, 1/4/2016]
The Township specifically adopts for purposes of this Part the
costs and fees associated with the collection of delinquent taxes
as approved by the Board of Supervisors by resolution from time to
time.