[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
Unless otherwise expressly stated, the following terms shall
have, for the purpose of this Part, the meaning herein indicated.
Moreover, a definition itself may contain words or phrases that are,
themselves, defined:
A partnership, limited partnership, or any other unincorporated
group of two or more persons.
An enterprise, activity, profession or any other undertaking
of any nature whether or not conducted for profit and whether by a
person, partnership, corporation, association, or any other entity.
The person or agency (whether public or private) designated
and appointed by the Township Board of Supervisors to collect the
local services tax levied herein and to administer the provisions
thereof.
A person who engaged in more than one occupation, employed
by more than one employer or is employed in more than one municipality
or political subdivision.
Any corporation, limited liability company or joint stock
association, organized under the laws of the United States, the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, or any other State, territory, foreign country or
dependency and whether for profit or nonprofit.
The place where one lives and has his permanent home and
to which he has the intention of returning whenever he is absent.
Actual residence is not necessarily domicile, for domicile is the
fixed place of abode which, in the intention of the taxpayer, is permanent
rather than transitory. Domicile is the voluntarily fixed place of
habitation of a person, not for a mere special or limited purpose,
but with the present intention of making a permanent home, until some
event occurs to induce him to adopt some other permanent home. In
the case of businesses, the domicile is that place considered as the
center of business affairs and the place where its primary functions
are discharged.
Any person, individual, partnership (including limited partnership),
limited liability company, association, corporation, institution,
governmental body, unit or agency or any other business or entity
who or that employs one or more persons on a salary, wage, commission,
or other remuneration or compensation basis and irrespective of whether
that employer operates on a profit or nonprofit basis.
The singular shall include the plural and the masculine shall
include the feminine and neuter.
See “salaries, wages, commissions and other compensation.”
Any enterprise, activity, trade, profession, or undertaking
of any nature conducted for profit or ordinarily conduct for profit,
whether by an individual, partnership, corporation, association, or
any other business or entity, whereby any wage, salary, commission
or other compensation or form of remuneration is earned or paid.
A natural person, partnership, association, corporation,
business, entity, or fiduciary. Whenever used in any clause prescribing
or imposing a penalty, the term “person” as applied to
partnership or associations shall mean the partners or members thereof
and, as applied to corporations, the officers thereof.
A person, partnership, association, corporation or other
business or entity domiciled in the Township of Smithfield.
Includes salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, incentive
payments, fees and tips and any form of income, profits or remuneration
that is/are paid or may accrue or be received by an individual for
services rendered, whether directly or through an agent and whether
in cash or in property. However, this does not include periodic payments
for sick or disability benefits, retirement pay, pensions paid to
persons retired from service after reaching a specific age or after
a stated period of employment, public assistance, unemployment compensation
payments, any wages or compensation paid by the United States to any
person for active military service for the United States and any bonus
or additional compensation paid by the United States or the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania or any other State for such military service.
The local services tax (LST).
A person, partnership, association, corporation, business,
entity or fiduciary required hereunder to file a return on salaries,
wages, profits, commissions or other compensation or to pay a tax
thereon.
The Township of Smithfield, Monroe County, PA.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
1.
Beginning
January 1, 2011 (and each and every succeeding year thereafter, unless
otherwise amended), a tax is levied at the maximum amount authorized
by the state legislature which is currently $52 per year for any of
the following purposes:
2.
No less
than 25% of the funds derived from this tax shall be used for emergency
services.
3.
The taxes
levied hereunder shall relate to and be imposed upon all persons who
hold, carry or engage in an occupation within the Township of Smithfield.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
1.
The following
shall be exempt from the local services tax:
A.
Any person
who has 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 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.
(1)
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 National Guard.
C.
Any person
whose total earned income and net profits from all sources within
the Township is less than $12,000 for the calendar year in which the
local services tax is levied.
D.
(1)
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services tax may annually file an exemption certificate with the Township levying 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 the Township of less than $12,000 in the calendar year for which the exemption certificate is filed. In the event the Township utilizes a tax collection officer or agency pursuant to this Part, the Township shall provide a copy of the exemption certificate to that officer or agency. 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 the 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 the Township levying the tax or except as required by Subsection 1D(2), 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 at the time of hiring. The PA Department of Community and Economic Development shall develop and make available to the Township and employers uniform exemption certificates required by this subsection.
(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 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 tax exemption for that calendar year, or upon an employer’s payment to the person of earned income or net profits 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 1D(3).
(3)
If a person claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the local services tax becomes subject to the tax for the calendar year under Subsection 1D(2), 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 1D(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 Part, 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 levying the tax may pursue collection under this Act.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
1.
Each employer
domiciled within the Township (as well as those employers domiciled
outside the Township but who engage in business within the Township)
is hereby charged with the duty of withholding (and remitting) from
each of his employees engaged in and performing work or services within
the Township the said tax of $52 per year and making a return and
payment thereof to the Tax Collector.
2.
Each employer
is hereby authorized to deduct this tax from each employee in his
employ, whether said employee is paid by salary, wages, commission,
profits or other form of compensation or remuneration and whether
or not part or all such services are performed within the Township.
3.
The local services tax shall be assessed a pro rata share of the tax for each payroll period in which the person is engaging in an occupation. The pro rata share of the tax assessed on the person 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 example, the $52 tax would be collected at a $1 per week for persons that are paid weekly.) 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. (For example, the $52 tax would be withheld at $4.33 per month for persons paid monthly.) Collection of the local services tax levied under this subsection shall be made on a payroll period basis for each payroll period in which the person is engaging in an occupation, except as provided in Subsection 4.
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. The PA Department of Community
and Economic Development shall develop a uniform employee statement
form.
5.
The local
services tax shall be no more than $52 on each person for each calendar
year, irrespective of the number of political subdivisions within
which a person may be employed. The Township (or the tax collector
or agency) shall provide a taxpayer a receipt of payment upon request
by the taxpayer.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
Each employer shall prepare and file a return showing a computation
of the tax either by certified letter or on forms to be supplied by
the Tax Collector to each employer. If the employer fails to file
said return and pay said tax, whether or not he makes collection thereof
from the salary, wages, commissions, profits or other compensation
paid by him to said employees, the employer shall be responsible for
the payment of the tax in full for all employees as though the tax
had originally been levied against the employer. However, no employer
shall be held liable for failure to withhold the local services tax
or for the payment of the withheld tax money to the Township if the
failure to withhold taxes 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. Provided: further that an employer shall not be liable for
payment of the local services tax in an amount exceeding the amount
withheld by the employer if the employer complies with the provisions
of this Part and remits the amount so withheld in accordance with
this Part; and, provided further, that employers shall be required
to remit and pay to the Tax Collector the local services tax 30 calendar
days after the end of each quarter of a calendar year.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
Each employer shall use his employment records for determining
the number of employees from whom said tax shall be deducted, withheld
and paid over said tax to the Tax Collector 30 calendar days after
the end of each quarter of the calendar year, i.e., 30 days after
March 31, 30 days after June 30, 30 days after September 30 and 30
days after December 31 of each year.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
The situs of the tax shall be the place of employment determined
as of the day the person first becomes subject to the tax during the
calendar year. In the event a person is engaged in concurrent employment
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. It is the intent of this provision (and ordinance)
that no person shall pay more than $52 is any calendar year as a local
services tax, irrespective of the number of political subdivisions
within which such individual may be employed within any given calendar
year. In case of dispute, a tax receipt of the taxing authority for
that calendar year declaring that the taxpayer has made prior payment
of the local services tax will constitute prima facie certification
of payment of tax to all other political subdivisions.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
The Township will adopt regulations (by resolution) for the
processing of refund claims for overpaid local services taxes for
any calendar year. The regulations shall be consistent with 53 Pa.C.S.A.
§ 8425 (relating to refunds of overpayments) and § 8426
(relating to interest on overpayment). Refunds made within 75 calendar
days of a written refund request or 75 calendar days after the last
day the employer is required to remit the local services tax for the
last quarter of the calendar year, whichever is later, shall not be
subject to interest imposed under 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 8426. The
Township is required to provide refunds only for amounts overpaid
in a calendar year that exceed $1.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
All self-employed individuals who perform labor or services
of any type or kind, engage in any occupation, trade, or profession
or is otherwise employed within the Township shall be required to
comply with this Part and pay the tax on a pro-rata quarterly basis
or as soon thereafter as he engages in such labor, services, employment,
occupation, trade or profession but no later, however, than December
31 of the year at which time the full amount of the tax shah have
been paid.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
All employers and self-employed individuals residing or having
their domicile or place of business outside of the Township, but who
perform labor or services of any type or kind, or engage in any trade,
occupation or profession within the Township do, by virtue thereof,
agree to be bound by and subject themselves to the provisions, penalties
and regulations promulgated under this Part with the same force and
effect as though they were residents of the Township. Further, any
individual engaged in an occupation within the Township and as employee
of a nonresident employer may, for the purposes of this Part, be considered
a self-employed person, and, in the event this tax is not paid, the
Township shall have the option of proceeding against either the employer
or employee for the collection of this tax as hereinafter provided.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
1.
The Tax
Collector is hereby charged with the enforcement of the provisions
of this Part and is authorized and empowered as follows:
A.
To administer
and enforce the provisions of this Part and all rules and regulations
prescribed, adopted, and promulgated by the Township Board of Supervisors
relating to the enforcement and administration hereof and, consistent
with such rules and regulations, shall have the power and authority
to re-examine and correct any and all returns filed hereunder, and
to compute, settle, resettle, refund and discharge all taxes hereby
levied.
B.
The Collector
(or any agent or employee of the Township, authorized in writing by
the Township Board of Supervisors) is hereby authorized and empowered
to examine the books, papers and records of any employer or person
in order to verify the accuracy of any return made or, if no return
was made, to ascertain the tax imposed by this Part. Every such employer
or person is hereby directed and required to give to the said Collector
(or a duly authorized agent or employee of the Township), the means,
facilities and opportunity for such examinations and investigations
as are hereby authorized. The Collector is hereby authorized to examine
any person under oath concerning any income which was or should have
been returned for taxation and, to this end, may compel (by subpoena
or otherwise) the production of books, papers and records and the
attendance of all persons before him/her/it, whether as parties or
witnesses, who he/she/it believes to have knowledge of such income.
C.
Any information
gained by the Collector (or any authorized agent or employee of the
Township) as a result of any returns, investigations, hearings or
verification required or authorized by this Part shall be considered
and kept confidential except for official purposes and except where
disclosure of the contents thereof is required by proper judicial
order or decree or as otherwise provided by law.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
The Township Board of Supervisors shall be empowered from time
to time to adopt by resolution additional rules and regulations pertaining
to this Part including changing the amount of the tax imposed as such
charges are administrative (and not legislative) in nature.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
The tax imposed by this Part remaining unpaid (after it becomes
due) shall bear interest at the rate of 6% per year for each month
or fraction of a month during which the tax remains due and unpaid;
and, the employers and/or persons upon whom said interest charges
are imposed shall be further liable to a penalty of 10% of the amount
of the unpaid tax.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
1.
In the
event that any tax under this Part remains due and unpaid 30 calendar
days after the due dates above set forth, the Tax Collector may sue
for the recovery of any such tax due or unpaid under this Part together
with interest and penalty noted above.
2.
Where
suit is brought for the recovery of this tax, the employer or individual
liable therefor shall, in addition, be responsible and liable for
all costs of collection including reasonable attorney’s fees
and witness fees.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement on any return required by this Part, or who refuses inspection of his books, records or accounts in his custody and control setting forth the number of employees subject to this tax who are in his employment, or whoever fails or refuses to file any return required by this Part or whoever fails to withhold or pay the tax imposed by this Part shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600 for each offense and, in default of payment of said fine, be imprisoned in Monroe County Prison for a period not exceeding 30 days for each offense; and, each day that a violation exists shall constitute a separate offense. It is further provided that the action to enforce the fine and penalty herein provided may be instituted against any person in charge of the business or in charge of any employer who has failed or refuses to withhold the tax, to file a return or to remit the tax required by this Part. This provision shall be in addition to the charges for interest and late penalty as per § 24-113 hereof and is also in addition to any other available remedy, whether at law or in equity.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
This Part and the tax herein levied shall be effective for the
calendar year 2011 (beginning January 1, 2011) and shall apply on
a continuing annual basis thereafter, unless the ordinance and/or
rate of said tax is subsequently amended or changed.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
The local services tax imposed herein is in addition to any
other taxes of any kind or nature levied by the Township.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
Act 7 of 2007 directs that the PA DCED shall provide suggested
forms and technical assistance to facilitate the administration of
the local services tax for political subdivisions and reduce the burden
of implementation, accounting and compliance for employers and taxpayers.
Nevertheless, the failure of PA DCED to provide such forms or assistance
shall not affect or impair the rights and obligations of the Township,
employers or persons hereunder; and, such local services tax is to
be withheld, remitted any paid notwithstanding such assistance by
or from PA DCED.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
The terms, conditions and provisions of this Part are severable.
If any such term, condition or provision 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
terms, conditions or provisions of this Part; and it is hereby declared
to be the intent of the Township that this Part would have been adopted
and enacted had such unconstitutional, illegal or invalid term, condition
or provision not been included herein.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
The terms, conditions and provisions of any other Township ordinance or resolution which are inconsistent herewith shall be deemed vacated and/or repealed (including the occupational privilege tax imposed by Chapter 24, § 24-101 et seq., of the Township Code of Ordinances); but, any other terms, conditions and provisions of those or any other Township ordinance or resolution which are not inconsistent herewith shall remain in full force and effect.
[Ord. 199, 11/9/2010]
1.
Nothing
contained in this Part shall be construed to empower the Township
to levy and collect the tax hereby imposed on any occupation not within
the taxing power of the Township or if prohibited under the Constitution
of the United States and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
2.
If the
tax hereby imposed under the provisions of this Part 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 person or employer, the decision of the court shall not
affect or impair the right of the Township to impose or collect said
tax, or the validity of the tax so imposed on other persons or employees
as herein provided.
