[Adopted 11-15-1965 by Ord. No. 22]
[Amended 1-2-1967 by Ord. No. 24]
This article shall be known and may be cited
as the "Township of Washington Earned Income Tax Ordinance of 1967."
[Amended 1-2-1967 by Ord. No. 24; 4-2-2007 by Ord. No. 210]
An annual tax for general revenue purposes of
the Township of Washington in the amount of 1% is hereby imposed on:
A.
Earned income of all persons, individuals, partnerships,
associations and businesses, who are residents of the Township of
Washington on and after January 1, 1966, and of nonresidents of the
Township of Washington for work done, services performed or businesses
conducted within the Township of Washington on and after May 2, 2007.
B.
Net profits of all persons, individuals, partnerships,
associations and businesses, who are residents of the Township of
Washington on and after January 1, 1966, and of nonresidents of the
Township of Washington for work done, services performed or businesses
conducted within the Township of Washington on and after May 2, 2007.
D.
The taxes imposed under this section shall continue
in force on a calendar-year or taxpayer-fiscal-year basis without
annual reenactment.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Is a qualified and approved (by the Bureau) natural person,
partnership, association, corporation, governmental body or unit or
agency, or any other entity reporting and/or paying tax for persons
subject to tax.
The Waynesboro Area Tax Bureau, an agency organized and operated
jointly by the Township of Washington and other school districts and
political subdivisions to collect and receive earned income taxes
and administer earned income tax resolutions of the school district
members and the earned income tax ordinances of the political subdivision
members.
Wages and net profits.
A natural person employed by an employer on a salary, wage,
commission or other compensation basis.
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.
[1]The governing body of the Bureau.
The chief administrative officer of the Bureau.
Income from an individual, fiduciary, partnership or joint
venture, as owner or proprietor of a business profession, activity
or enterprise carried on for purposes of profit, after deducting from
gross income all reasonable costs and expenses (other than taxes based
on income) depreciation and losses paid or accrued (in accordance
with the accounting method used) in the conduct thereof.
Any individual who resides outside of the Township of Washington
and either receives wages or net profits from businesses conducted
within the Township of Washington.
[Added 4-2-2007 by Ord. No. 210]
An individual who lives in, inhabits and has a place of abode
in the Township of Washington, as evidenced, among other things by
one or more of the following:
A.
By his customarily being physically present, sleeping
and eating there;
B.
By his maintaining religious, civic and club affiliations
there;
C.
By his holding himself out as residing there, i.e.,
giving addresses in registration for licenses, payment of per capita,
personal property or income taxes;
D.
By his spouse and minor children living there;
A.
The Township of Washington hereby designates Waynesboro
Area Tax Bureau (an unincorporated agency organized and operated jointly
by the Township of Washington and other school districts and political
subdivisions) as its agent to collect and receive all taxes imposed
by this article, and to do all things needful for the efficient administration
and enforcement of all provisions of this article. Without limiting
the generality of the foregoing, the Bureau shall have the power to
issue receipts on behalf of the Township of Washington; to prepare
and distribute forms and to require the filing by taxpayers and employers
of reports and returns to examine books, papers and records of any
taxpayer or employer in order to verify the accuracy of any report
or return; to correct or supply any inaccurate, incomplete or missing
return from the best information available and to assess and collect
tax due thereon; to examine any person under oath concerning income
returned, or which should have been returned, for taxation hereunder;
to compel production of books, papers and records and attendance of
persons (whether as parties or witnesses) before the Bureau; to refund
erroneous or excessive payments; to compromise disputed claims as
to amount of tax due; and to prescribe (subject to approval of all
participating political subdivisions) rules and regulations for administration,
interpretation and enforcement of this article, which regulations
may, among other things, provide for bulk returns and payment by qualified
and approved persons and the issuing by them of receipts on behalf
of this Township of Washington and the Bureau to individual taxpayers,
said bulk reporters to be qualified and approved by said Bureau; provided,
however, that the following persons inter alia are declared by the
intent of this article, to be qualified and therefore shall be approved
by said Bureau: all employers and all persons holding a current admission
to practice in any capacity before the United States Treasury Department
or the Department of Revenue of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
all CPAs and attorneys currently licensed to practice in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania and all notaries currently holding office in Pennsylvania
and all other persons as may be determined by the Bureau to be similarly
qualified, said Bureau to be the conclusive judge of such persons
qualifications; include provisions for change of accounting methods,
and accelerated return and payment dates for short taxable periods
resulting from a taxpayer's death, bankruptcy or removing from the
Township of Washington. Such rules and regulations shall be kept available
to public inspection at the Township office, 13013 Welty Road, Waynesboro,
Pennsylvania 17268.
[Amended 4-2-2007 by Ord. No. 210]
B.
Every individual resident and his employer, and every
individual nonresident and his employer in this Township and every
employer elsewhere who voluntarily deducts tax hereunder from wages
and every bulk reporter and payer, is hereby authorized to maintain
accurate books, papers and records showing the liability for tax hereunder
of such taxpayer, and of such bulk reporter and the taxpayer for whom
bulk report is being made, and to reveal the same to the Bureau or
its authorized representatives, on request.
[Amended 4-2-2007 by Ord. No. 210]
C.
All officers and employees of the Bureau handling
funds or countersigning checks therefor shall furnish fidelity bonds
for the full amount of funds in their control at any time, as determined
by the Bureau's Executive Committee, and the Bureau shall remit net
collections (after deduction of expenses and reserves determined by
said Executive Committee) to this Township at the times provided in
the Bureaus bylaws approved by this Township or as provided in future
amendments thereof, approved by all participating political subdivisions.
D.
Any information gained by an officer or employee of
the Bureau or of this Township as a result of any returns, investigations
or hearings required or authorized by this article shall be confidential,
except for official purposes in connection with administration or
enforcement of this article, and shall not be disclosed or made available
for disclosure for any other purpose, except upon judicial order.
A.
Every resident shall, on or before April 15, 1967,
and every nonresident on or before April 15, 2008, and each succeeding
year, make and file with the Bureau on a form prescribed and approved
by the Bureau, a return showing either no wages or net profits or
the amount of wages and net profits received during the prior annual
period. At the time of filing the return, the taxpayer shall pay the
balance of the tax due or shall make demand for refund or credit in
the case of overpayment. Where the return is made for a fiscal year,
different from a calendar year, the said return shall be made within
105 days from the end of the said fiscal year or other period.
[Amended 4-2-2007 by Ord. No. 210]
B.
Each such return shall also include wages and net
profits reportable, and each such payment shall also include tax payable
at the same above mentioned times under any ordinance of this Township
adopted in or for any other year, so that but one inclusive return
shall be filed and but one inclusive payment made for the same calendar
year or for the same fiscal year of the taxpayer, and so that taxpayers
records of wages and net income for Federal Income Tax on calendar
or fiscal year basis may be conveniently used for reporting taxes
due to this Township.
C.
Such return shall state the taxpayer's name, address,
place of employment or business, and/or the taxpayer's account number,
aggregate wages (before any deductions) or net profits subject to
tax, for the period of the return, the amount of tax due, the amount
of any credit claimed for tax withheld by an employer, and such other
information as may be required by the Bureau; provided, however, that
to the extent the return and payment of tax by taxpayers be made through
a qualified and approved bulk reporter and payer, the bulk reporters
return shall state the taxpayer's name, address, place of employment
or business and/or the taxpayers account numbers with the aggregate
wages (before any deduction) or the net profits subject to tax for
the period of the return for all the taxpayers for whom bulk report
is being made, the amount of tax due for all the taxpayers for whom
bulk report is being made, the amount of any credit claimed for tax
withheld by the employers for all the taxpayers for whom bulk report
is being made and such other information as may be required by the
Bureau, which return shall be accompanied by the net tax payable in
connection with said bulk return.
A.
Deduction from wages; payment schedule.
(1)
Every employer who resides or whose place of business is located within the Township of Washington and who employs a resident of the Township of Washington, or a nonresident of the Township of Washington, for wages shall deduct such wages at time of payment thereof, the tax imposed thereon by § 317-2 of this article and shall remit the same to the Bureau, accompanied by returns on forms provided by the Bureau, at the following times:
[Amended 4-2-2007 by Ord. No. 210]
|
For quarters comprising the following
months in which wages are paid
|
Payment due on or before
| |
|
January, February, March
|
April 30
| |
|
April, May, June
|
July 31
| |
|
July, August, September
|
October 31
| |
|
October, November, December
|
January 31
|
(2)
Employers' returns for each quarter shall state, with
respect to that quarter, the aggregate wages for which, and number
of employees from whom, reported tax was withheld, the aggregate amount
of tax withheld, the commission (if any) which the employer is entitled
to deduct, the net amount of tax remitted, and any other pertinent
information which may be required by the Bureau. The return due on
or before January 31, 1967, shall be accompanied by a report form
with respect to each employee from whose wages the employer had deducted
wage tax for this Township at any times during the preceding calendar
year, stating the full name and address of employer and employees,
the employee's social security number and/or account number and total
wages paid to the employee during the preceding calendar year; provided,
however, that if the employer be a qualified and approved bulk reporter
and payer, said report form shall show the full name and address of
the employer and the employees for whom bulk reporting and payment
is being made, said employees' social security numbers and/or account
numbers and the total wages paid to all of the employees during the
preceding calendar year for whom bulk reporting and payment is being
made, together with such other information and reconciliations of
quarterly reports as the Bureau may require. Any employer who discontinues
business (or his legal representatives) shall file a final quarterly-type
return and annual-type return and pay tax, covering periods not previously
reported, within 30 days following such discontinuance.
B.
Any nonresident employer beyond the limits of said
Township who desires, for the convenience and with the consent of
his employees residing in this Township to deduct tax hereunder from
such employees wages, shall be entitled to the commission hereafter
allowed, and shall become subject to all obligations of timely filing
of returns, reports and remittances and of maintaining and disclosing
records, and to all interest and penalties with respect to such tax
as he may actually deduct, in all respects and with the same incidents,
as though he were a resident employer. But no such deduction shall
obligate such employer to continue to make future deductions.
C.
Tax deducted from wages by any employer shall at all
times be and remain the property of this Township and shall constitute
a trust fund in the employer's hands until remitted to the Bureau;
and deduction of tax from wages shall, as between employee and this
Township, constitute payment of the tax by the employee, regardless
of any insolvency or failure to remit on the employers part.
D.
Every employer who shall deduct tax from wages and
remit it, together with all required returns and reports, to the Bureau,
within the times above specified, shall be entitled to deduct from
each such remittance a commission of 2% of the tax withheld as compensation
for services performed thereby for this Township.
A.
Disability and retirement benefits. Military bonuses
and pay, sickness, disability and retirement benefits paid by an employer
or former employer, bonuses paid by state or federal government for
past services in the armed forces, or compensation paid by the United
States for active personal services in the armed forces, shall not
be considered as "wages" under this article.
B.
Persons under 16 years of age. The Township Supervisors
find that minors of various age groups have traditionally, and with
judicial sanction, been considered as comprising separate classes
for many legislative purposes; and that minors under the age of 16
years are for the most part unemancipated and subject to compulsory
school attendance and child labor laws, and therefore, for the most
part so lacking in power to earn and to have legal control of money
or property, that enforcement of reporting and collection of tax hereunder
against them would yield inconsequential amounts and would be unduly
difficult, expensive and not in the public interest; and therefore,
persons under the age of 16 years are hereby exempted from all liability
for tax under this article.
C.
No withholding on domestic help. The Township Supervisors find that domestic employment in private homes has repeatedly, and with judicial sanction, been treated as constituting a special class of employment for many legislative purposes; and that such employment is generally of such brief and intermittent nature, and wages paid therefore so relatively inconsequential that the withholding of tax from such wages would involve reporting and remitting burdens on nonbusiness employers and auditing, accounting and enforcing burdens on the Bureau, disproportionate to the advantages to this Township of having such tax withheld; and therefore, persons employing domestic held (including "baby-sitters") are hereby exempted from all obligations under § 317-5 to withhold tax from wages of such help. This exemption does not exonerate recipients of such wages from duty to report and pay tax under § 317-3.
D.
Fiscal-year basis. Any taxpayer, for his convenience and subject to any adjustments required by the Bureau for previous or future returns made on the basis of a calendar year or different fiscal year, may elect to report and pay tax hereunder on the taxpayers fiscal-year basis instead of on the Township's calendar-year basis provided for in §§ 317-2 and 317-4. Such election shall be filed with the Bureau and shall contain a written agreement by the taxpayer that his earned income for such fiscal year shall be deemed in all respects to constitute and shall be a substitute for earned income of the tax year which is subjected to tax by this article. Such election shall be at the risk of the taxpayer with respect to any adjustments of tax paid to or claimed by other taxing districts with respect to the same income. A fiscal-year taxpayer shall report and pay tax in full, in one payment on or before the 105th day after the close of his fiscal year.
The failure of any person to receive or procure
forms required for making the declaration or returns required by this
article shall not excuse him from making such declaration or return.
A.
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due, interest
at the rate of 6% per annum on the amount of said tax, and an additional
penalty of 1/2 of 1% of the amount of the unpaid tax for each month
or fraction thereof during which the tax remains unpaid, shall be
added and collected. Where suit is brought for the recovery of any
such tax, the person liable therefor shall, in addition, be liable
for the costs of collection and the interest and penalties herein
imposed.[1]
B.
Any person who fails, neglects, or refuses to make
any declaration or return required by this article, 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 article, shall, upon conviction thereof before any
Magisterial District Judge or court of competent jurisdiction in Franklin
County, 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.[2]
C.
Any person who divulges any information which is confidential
under the provisions of this article, shall, upon conviction thereof
before any Magisterial District Judge or court of competent jurisdiction,
be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $500 for each offense,
and costs, and, in default of payment of said fines and costs, to
be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 30 days.[3]
E.
All taxes, penalties and interest imposed by this
article shall be recoverable either in the name of this Township or
in the name of the Bureau as its agent, in civil and/or penal actions,
as may be appropriate. Such actions shall be commenced no later than
six years after the date of violation or due date of the tax, payment,
report or return, except in case of a failure to file, or the filing
of a fraudulent report or return, in which case there shall be no
limitation of action hereunder.
G.
The Bureau shall allow credits to nonresidents of
Pennsylvania on the same basis as credits are given to nonresidents
of the Township of Washington who are residents of Pennsylvania.
[Added 4-2-2007 by Ord. No. 210]
This article shall not apply to any person or
property as to whom or which is beyond the legal power of this Township
to impose any tax or duty herein provided for.
All references throughout this article to persons,
residents, taxpayers or employers in the masculine, singular form
also includes the feminine, neuter and plural.
