[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
This Part is enacted under authority of the Local Tax Enabling
Act, P.L. 1257, No. 511, December 31, 1965, as hereafter amended,
supplemented, modified or reenacted by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
As used in this Part, the following terms shall have meanings
indicated, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:
Salaries, wages, commissions, tips, bonuses, fees or any
other earned income and net profits.
Any person, partnership, limited partnership, unincorporated
association, institution, trust, corporation, governmental agency
or any other body engaged in business or situated in the Township
of Amity, Berks County, Pennsylvania, employing one or more employees
engaged in any occupation.
Berks Earned Income Tax Bureau.
Any livelihood, job, trade, profession, business or enterprise
of any kind, including services, domestic or other, for which monetary
compensation is received or charged.
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 National Guard.
Any natural person liable for the tax levied by this Part.
The Township of Amity, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
A local services tax for 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. Chapter 85, Subchapter
F, in the amount of $52, is hereby imposed upon a taxpayer engaging
in an occupation within the Township, in the year 2008 and in each
succeeding calendar year in which this tax is in effect. Each natural
person who exercises such privilege for any length of time in any
calendar year beginning with the year 2008 shall pay the tax in accordance
with the provisions hereof.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
Both residents and nonresident taxpayers shall, by virtue of
engaging in an occupation within the Township, be subject to the tax
and the provisions of this Part.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
The following persons may apply and shall be eligible for an
exemption from the imposition of the local services tax:
(a)
All taxpayers whose total compensation from all sources is less than
$12,000 per annum.
(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 and 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.
(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.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
Taxpayers seeking to claim an exemption for the local services
tax shall annually file an exemption certificate with the Township
and with the employer.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
(a)
Each employer shall register with the Local Services Tax Collector
("Tax Collector") the employer's name, address and other information
the tax collector may require within 15 days after the effective date
of this Part or within 15 days after first becoming an employer.
(b)
Each employer shall assess each taxpayer a pro-rata share of the
tax for each payroll period. The pro-rata share shall be determined
by dividing the tax levied by the number of payroll periods established
by the employer for the calendar year.
(c)
For each taxpayer employed for any length of time after the effective
date of this Part, each employer shall deduct the tax from compensation
payable to the taxpayer, file a return on a form prescribed by the
Tax Collector and pay to such Tax Collector the amount of taxes deducted
on a quarterly basis as follows: April 30, July 30, October 30 and
January 30 for the preceding quarter of the current tax year. For
each taxpayer for whom no prior deduction has been made, who is employed
after the effective date of this Part, each employer shall withhold
from the taxpayer, for the first payroll period after employment,
a lump sum equal to the amount of tax that was not withheld from the
taxpayer, 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 taxpayer subject
to withholding of the tax under this Part is subsequently severed
in that calendar year, the taxpayer shall be liable for any outstanding
balance of tax due and the Township may pursue collection under this
Part and the Act.
(d)
As to taxpayers who present official receipts evidencing prior payment
of the tax imposed hereby either directly or by collection though
employers, the employer shall not deduct that pro-rata share of the
tax but the employer shall withhold from the taxpayer, for the first
payroll period, a lump sum equal to the amount of tax that was not
withheld from the taxpayer to equal the necessary amount due from
that taxpayer to date to equal what all other employees have paid,
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.
(e)
If a taxpayer who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year
from the tax levied under this Part becomes subject to the tax for
the calendar year under this Part, the employer shall withhold the
tax for the remainder of that calendar year. The employer shall withhold
from the taxpayer, for the first payroll period after receipt of the
notification, a lump sum equal to the amount of tax that was not withheld
from the taxpayer due to the exemption claimed by the taxpayer, 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.
(f)
Any employer who discontinues business or ceases operation before
December 31 of any year during which this tax is in effect, shall
file the return hereinabove required and pay the tax to the Tax Collector,
within 15 days after discontinuing business or ceasing operations.
(g)
The failure of any employer to deduct the tax as required in this
section shall not relieve the taxpayer from the duty to file a return
and pay the tax. Any employer who fails to deduct the tax as required
by this section, or who fails to pay such tax to the Tax Collector,
shall be liable for such tax in full, without deduction of the commission
hereinafter provided, as though the tax had originally been levied
against such employer.
(h)
Each employer may deduct and retain a commission equal to 2% of the
total amount of tax collected through the employer pursuant to this
section.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
Every taxpayer who is self-employed or whose tax for any other reason is not collected under § 29-405 of this Part shall file a return on a form prescribed by the Tax Collector and shall pay the tax directly to such collector. Each such taxpayer who first becomes subject to the tax after the effective date of this Part, shall file a return on a form prescribed by the Tax Collector and pay to such Tax Collector the amount of taxes due and owing on a quarterly basis as follows: April 30, July 30, October 30 and January 30 for the preceding quarter of the current tax year.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
The Tax Collector shall collect and receive the taxes, interest,
fines and penalties imposed by this Part and shall maintain records
showing the amounts received and the dates such amounts were received.
The Tax Collector shall prescribe and issue all forms necessary for
the administration of the tax and may adopt and enforce regulations
relating to any matter pertaining to the administration of this Part.
The Tax Collector and agents designated by him/her may examine the
records of any employer and/or supposed employer or of any 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 Tax Collector and any agent designated by
him/her all means, facilities and opportunities for the examination
hereby authorized.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
The Tax Collector shall collect by suit or otherwise, all taxes,
interest, costs, fines and penalties due under this Part and unpaid.
If for any reason, any tax is not paid when due, penalty at the rate
of 6% per year on the amount of unpaid taxes and additional interest
of 1/2 of 1% of the amount of the unpaid tax, for each month or fraction
of month during which the tax remains unpaid shall be added and collected.
Whenever suit is brought for the recovery of unpaid tax, the taxpayer
shall, in addition, be liable for the cost of collection as well as
for interest and penalties. The Tax Collector may accept payment under
protest of the tax claimed by the Township, in any case where any
person disputes the Township's claim for the tax. If a court of competent
jurisdiction thereafter decides that there has been overpayment to
the Tax Collector, such tax collector shall refund the amount of the
overpayment to the person who paid under protest. Any action instituted
for such judicial determination shall be instituted within two years
of the last day of the period for which the tax is disputed or claim
made. All refunds shall be made in conformity with the procedure prescribed
by the Board of Supervisors of the Township.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
All requests for the refund of overpaid local services tax shall
be made in writing to the Tax Collector and shall contain sufficient
written evidence, including copies of paystubs, to establish to the
Tax Collector that an overpayment has occurred. The Tax Collector
shall make a determination on the request for a refund within 75 days
of the request. All refunds shall be made within 75 days of the request.
Any appeal of the Tax Collectors determination shall be made directly
to the Board of Supervisors of the Township within 30 days of the
tax Collectors decision.
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
(a)
Any person who fails, neglects or refuses to make any declaration
or return required by this Part, as amended, any employer who fails,
neglects or refuses to register or to pay the tax deducted from his
employees, or fails, neglects or refuses to deduct or withhold the
tax from his employees, any person who refuses to permit the officer
or any agent designated by him to examine his books, records and papers,
and any person who knowingly makes any incomplete, false or fraudulent
return or attempts to do anything whatsoever to avoid the full disclosure
of the amount of his net profits or earned income in order to avoid
the payment of the whole or any part of the tax imposed by this Part,
as amended, shall, upon conviction thereof before any district justice
or court of competent jurisdiction in Berks County, Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $500 for
each offense, and costs, and in default of payment of said fine and
costs to be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 30 days.
(b)
The failure of any person to receive or procure forms required for
making the declaration or returns required by this Part, as amended,
shall not excuse him from making such declaration or return."
[Ord. No. 241, 11/7/2007]
If any sentence, clause, section or part of this Part is for
any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such
unconstitutionality, illegality or invalidity shall not affect or
impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, sections
or parts of this Part. It is hereby declared as the intent of the
Board of Supervisors of the Township that this Part would have been
adopted had such unconstitutional, illegal or invalid sentence, clause,
section or part thereof not been included herein.
