The tax enacted hereunder shall be known as the "mercantile
license tax."
The following words and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates a different meaning:
COLLECTOR
The Collector of business privilege and mercantile license
taxes of the Township of Lower Moreland.
GROSS RECEIPTS
Includes both cash and credit transactions as provided by
law.
LICENSE TAX YEAR
The twelve-month period beginning the first day of January
and ending the last day of December; provided, nevertheless, that,
in 1981, "tax year" shall mean the period beginning on May 1, 1981,
and ending the last day of December 1981.
PERSON
A.
An individual, partnership, limited partnership, association
or corporation or any other legal entity which engages in a taxable
activity.
B.
This term, as hereinbefore defined, shall not include the following:
employees, agencies of the government of the United States or of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or nonprofit corporations or associations
organized solely and exclusively for religious, educational or charitable
purposes and not conducting any regular or established business competing
commercially with any other person, subject to the tax herein imposed,
or any person vending or disposing of articles of his own manufacture
for shipment or delivery from the place of the manufacture thereof
or any farmer vending or disposing of his own produce or other transaction
exempted by law or those persons, entities, transactions and other
matters exempted by the provisions of the Local Tax Enabling Act or other applicable
law.
RETAIL DEALER or RETAIL VENDOR
A.
Any person who is a dealer in or a vendor of goods, wares and
merchandise who is not a wholesale dealer or vendor or wholesale and
retail dealer or vendor as hereinafter defined.
B.
This term, as hereinbefore defined, shall not include the following:
employees, agencies of the government of the United States or of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or nonprofit corporations or associations
organized solely and exclusively for religious, educational or charitable
purposes and not conducting any regular or established business competing
commercially with any other person, subject to the tax herein imposed,
or any person vending or disposing of articles of his own manufacture
for shipment or delivery from the place of the manufacture thereof
or any farmer vending or disposing of his own produce or other transaction
exempted by law or those persons, entities, transactions and other
matters exempted by the provisions of the Local Tax Enabling Act or other applicable
law.
SECRETARY
The Secretary of the Township of Lower Moreland.
SERVICE
Any act or instance of helping or benefiting another for
a consideration.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Lower Moreland.
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL DEALER or WHOLESALE AND RETAIL VENDOR
A.
Any person who sells to dealers in or vendors of goods, wares
and merchandise and to other persons.
B.
This term, as hereinbefore defined, shall not include the following:
employees, agencies of the government of the United States or of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or nonprofit corporations or associations
organized solely and exclusively for religious, educational or charitable
purposes and not conducting any regular or established business competing
commercially with any other person, subject to the tax herein imposed,
or any person vending or disposing of articles of his own manufacture
for shipment or delivery from the place of the manufacture thereof
or any farmer vending or disposing of his own produce or other transaction
exempted by law or those persons, entities, transactions and other
matters exempted by the provisions of the Local Tax Enabling Act or other applicable
law.
WHOLESALE DEALER or WHOLESALE VENDOR
A.
Any person who sells to dealers in, or vendors of goods, wares
and merchandise and to no other persons.
B.
This term, as hereinbefore defined, shall not include the following:
employees, agencies of the government of the United States or of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or nonprofit corporations or associations
organized solely and exclusively for religious, educational or charitable
purposes and not conducting any regular or established business competing
commercially with any other person, subject to the tax herein imposed,
or any person vending or disposing of articles of his own manufacture
for shipment or delivery from the place of the manufacture thereof
or any farmer vending or disposing of his own produce or other transaction
exempted by law or those persons, entities, transactions and other
matters exempted by the provisions of the Local Tax Enabling Act or other applicable
law.
In general, the gross receipts upon which the tax is imposed is the value of all cash, credits or property received by a person which is attributable to the carrying on of business in the Township, undiminished by any costs of doing business. A receipt generally will be considered attributable to the Township if any part of the transaction or service giving rise to the receipt takes place within the Township. The broad reach of this general rule is limited in certain situations by this article and by state and federal law as more fully explained in §
188-39.
A tax return may be filed on a cash basis or on an accrual basis,
but the return must be prepared in accordance with the method of accounting
regularly employed in keeping the books of the taxpayer. A person
who keeps his books on the cash basis will report his gross receipts
on the basis of amounts actually received during the period used as
the measure of the tax. A taxpayer who keeps his books on the accrual
basis will report the receipts from all sales made or services rendered
during the period used as the measure of the tax, irrespective of
the date when such moneys are collected from the customer. In either
case, the taxpayer must file on a calendar year basis beginning January
1 and ending December 31, regardless of the taxpayer's fiscal year;
provided, nevertheless, that, in 1981, the taxpayer must file on a
tax year beginning on May 1, 1981, and ending December 31, 1981.
This article excludes from the definition of gross receipts
the receipts from the sale of goods, wares and merchandise, wholesale
and retail, from a place of business regularly maintained outside
the Township by the taxpayer to a place of business regularly maintained
outside the Township by the customer, provided that such sales are
not made for the purpose of evading the tax. Sales or deliveries to
a residence located outside the Township do not qualify for this exclusion.
Also, this exclusion does not apply to factors or commission merchants
except with respect to sales of goods which they have taken title
to and sold for their own account.
Under certain circumstances, receipts from sales in interstate or foreign commerce may be exempt from tax in whole or in part, even though they are allocable to a place of business in the Township under §
188-34 above. Receipts are not automatically exempt from tax merely because the sale involves interstate or foreign commerce. The controlling principles in determining whether any such receipts are subject to tax are that there is some nexus between the business activity carried on in the Township and the imposition of the tax and that there is a fair method of allocation of receipts to the business carried on in the Township which will avoid an undue burden on interstate commerce. The burden is generally on the taxpayer to establish that the receipts are exempt from tax. Bearing these principles in mind, the following methods of allocation will be followed by the Township:
A. Receipts directly payable or paid to a place of business located
within the Township shall be considered allocable to the Township
and subject to tax.
B. If the Collector determines, either upon his own initiative or upon application by the taxpayer, that the receipts covered by Subsection
A above do not properly reflect all receipts attributable to the activity carried on in the Township, then, to the extent possible (bearing in mind the accounting system used by the taxpayer and any other information reasonably capable of being derived from the books and records of the taxpayer), a separate accounting shall be made with respect to each place of business in the Township and all receipts attributable to the place of business shall be considered allocable to the Township and subject to tax.
C. If the Collector determines, either on his own initiative or upon application by the taxpayer, that the provisions of Subsections
A and
B above do not properly reflect all receipts attributable to the activity carried on in the Township, a different method of allocation may be used, with due regard to the extent of the receipts, property and wages of the taxpayer within the Township, the nature of the business concerned, the number of jurisdictions in which the receipts may be taxed and such other factors as may be considered relevant.
D. All receipts from interstate commerce, whether taxable or nontaxable
under the foregoing rules, must be included on the return filed by
the taxpayer and a deduction for the nontaxable receipts shall be
allowed thereon.
A person who may engage in a business with gross receipts from wholesale or retail sales of merchandise or restaurant as well as receipts from services is not required to obtain both a mercantile license under this article and a registration certificate under Article
II, Business Privilege Tax. Either a mercantile license or a business privilege registration, whichever is appropriate to the majority of the taxpayer's gross receipts, shall be obtained.
Every person engaging in a wholesale, retail or wholesale and
retail business in the Township shall pay an annual mercantile license
tax for the tax year at the rate of 1 1/2 mills on his gross
receipts for retail and at the rate of one mill on his gross receipts
for wholesale; provided, however, that in no event shall the annual
mercantile license tax herein imposed be less than $10.
A return must be filed and an estimated tax must be paid for each tax year at the time set forth in §
188-45 below. The estimated tax is computed on the estimated gross receipts for the tax year, which is determined as described in §
188-46 below. At the end of each tax year, the actual gross receipts for the year must be determined and an appropriate adjustment made in the tax due. This adjustment will be shown on the final return for the tax year. The final return for the prior tax year will be combined with and thus filed at the same time as the estimated return for the current year and a single payment made in an amount equal to the estimated tax for the current year, increased or decreased by the adjustment for actual gross receipts for the prior year.
Every person subject to this article shall file a return as
follows:
A. If the person has commenced business prior to January 1 of a tax
year after 1981, the return shall be filed on or before May 1 of the
tax year; provided, nevertheless, that, in 1981, the return shall
be filed on or before July 1, 1981, for the 1981 tax year.
B. If the person commences business after the start of any tax year,
as defined above, the return shall be filed within 40 days from the
date of commencing business.
C. If the person is engaged in a business which is temporary, seasonal
or itinerant in its nature, the return shall be filed within seven
days of the completion of such business.
D. If the person discontinues, terminates or otherwise ceases business
activity at the registered location, the return shall be filed within
30 days of such cessation of business activity.
The estimated gross receipts for any tax year shall be determined
as follows:
A. If the taxpayer has been engaged in business in the Township for
a full year prior to January 1 of a tax year after 1981, the actual
gross receipts for that prior year shall be the estimated gross receipts
for the tax year; provided, nevertheless, that as to the tax year
1981 (May 1 through December 31, 1981), the actual gross receipts
for the period January 1, 1980, through December 31, 1980, multiplied
by 2/3 shall be the estimated gross receipts for tax year 1981.
B. If the taxpayer has been engaged in business in the Township prior
to January 1 of the tax year but for less than one full year, the
estimated gross receipts for any tax year after 1981 shall be the
average monthly gross receipts for the prior year multiplied by 12;
provided, nevertheless, that, as to tax year 1981 (May 1 through December
31, 1981), the estimated gross receipts shall be the average monthly
gross receipts for 1980 multiplied by eight in such case.
C. If the taxpayer commences business in the Township during the tax
year, the estimated gross receipts shall be determined by multiplying
the gross receipts for the first month of business by the number of
months remaining in the tax year.
D. In the case of a temporary, seasonal or itinerant business for which a return is filed as provided in §
188-45C above, no estimate is computed. Instead, the tax is imposed on the actual gross receipts during the period covered by the return.
E. Any person who engages in business with gross receipts from wholesale
or retail sales of merchandise or from a restaurant and from service
who registers under the mercantile tax requirements, as opposed to
the business privilege tax requirements, shall combine and report
gross receipts in a single return but at the rates applicable, respectively,
to gross receipts under the business privilege tax or mercantile license
taxes.
No assessment of any tax may be made more than five years after
the date on which such taxes should have been paid, unless a fraudulent
return or no return is filed, in which case there shall be no limitations.
Suits for recovery of taxes may be brought within six years of the
date of assessment of date due, whichever is later, by the Collector
or Township Solicitor as other debts due the Township are by law recoverable.
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due, interest at
the rate of 1% of the amount of unpaid tax for each month or fraction
thereof during which the tax remains unpaid shall be added to the
tax. A penalty in the amount of 10% of the tax due shall be added
if the taxpayer has neglected or refused to file a return or make
any payment.
[Amended 3-21-1990 by Ord. No. 392]
Any person who fails, refuses or neglects to comply with any
of the provisions of this article may be punishable by a fine of not
more than $600, plus costs of prosecution, upon conviction before
a District Justice. Examples of violations which may result in such
penalty are:
A. Failing or refusing to obtain a license.
B. Making any false or untrue statement on a return.
C. Failing or refusing to appear before the Collector, in person, with
his books, records or accounts for examination when required under
the provisions of this article to do so or to permit inspection of
the books, records or accounts of any business in the custody or control
of the person when the right to make such inspection by the Collector
is requested.
D. Failing or refusing to file a return required by the mercantile license
tax provisions of this article.