[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance supersedes former
Art. IV, Occupational Privilege Tax, adopted 3-12-1975 by Ord. No.
5-1975.
A.
EMPLOYER
HE, HIS OR HIM
INDIVIDUAL
OCCUPATION
TAX
TAX RECEIVER
TAX YEAR
TREASURER
WEST CHESTER BOROUGH
The following words and phrases, when used in this
article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section,
except where the context or language clearly indicates or requires
a different meaning:
An individual, partnership, association, corporation, governmental
body, agency or other entity employing one or more persons on a salary,
wage, commission or other compensation basis, including a self-employed
person.
Indicates the singular and plural number as well as the male,
female and neuter gender.
Any person, male or female, engaged in any occupation, trade
or profession within the corporate limits of the Borough of West Chester.
Any trade, profession, business or undertaking of any type,
kind or character, including services, domestic or other, carried
on or performed within the corporate limits of the Borough of West
Chester for which compensation is charged or received, whether by
means of salary, wages, commissions or fees.
The local services tax in the amount of $52 levied by this
article.
The person designated by the Borough of West Chester for
the collection of the emergency and municipal services tax.
The period between January 1 and December 31 in any calendar
year.
The Treasurer of West Chester Borough.
The area within the corporate limits of the Borough of West
Chester.
A.
The Borough of West Chester hereby levies and imposes
a local services tax on each individual engaged in an occupation within
the corporate limits of the Borough of West Chester during each and
every tax year, beginning in 2008. This tax is in addition to all
other taxes of any kind or nature levied by the Borough of West Chester.
B.
Individuals whose total income from all sources is
less than $12,000 per year shall be exempt from the payment of this
tax.
C.
Additionally, the following persons shall be exempt
from the local services tax:
(1)
Any person who has served in any war or armed conflict
in which the United States of America 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,
a double or quadruple amputee or has a service-connected disability
that has been declared by the Veterans Administration or its successor
to be a total, one-hundred-percent-permanent disability; and
(2)
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.
D.
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local
services tax may annually file an exemption certificate with the Borough
and with the person’s employer affirming that the person reasonably
expects to receive earned income and net profits from all sources
within the Borough of less than $12,000 in the calendar year for which
the exemption certificate is filed. The Borough shall provide a copy
of the tax exemption certificate to the Tax Collector. Upon receipt
of the exemption certificate and until otherwise instructed by the
person or the Borough, 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.
E.
If a person claims an exemption from the local services tax for a given calendar year, upon notification to an employer by the person or by the Borough that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within the Borough 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 within the Borough 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 pursuant to the procedure specified in Subsection F below.
F.
If a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar
year from the local services tax thereafter becomes subject to the
tax for that calendar year, 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
that the person is subject to the tax, a lump sum equal to the amount
of tax that was not withheld from the person due to the claim of 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 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 clause is subsequently severed in
that calendar year, the person shall be liable for any outstanding
balance of tax due.
Beginning with the tax year 2008, each occupation
engaged in within the corporate limits of the Borough of West Chester
is subject to the local services tax in the amount of $52 per annum,
said tax to be paid by the individual so engaged.
Each employer within the Borough of West Chester,
as well as those employers situate outside the Borough of West Chester
but who engage in business within the Borough of West Chester, is
hereby charged with the duty of collecting from each of his employees
engaged by him and performing for him within the Borough of West Chester
the tax of $52 per annum and making a return and payment thereof to
the Tax Receiver, unless another political subdivision of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania is entitled to receive said payment under the provisions
of Act No. 511 of 1965,[1] as amended and revised. If such other political subdivision
is entitled to receive such payment, pursuant to the priority provisions
contained in Act No. 511 of 1965, as amended and revised, proof of
payment to such other subdivision must be furnished to the Tax Receiver
in lieu of the tax payment levied hereby. Further, each employer is
hereby authorized to deduct this tax from the compensation of each
employee in his employ, whether said employee is paid by salary, wages
or commission, and whether or not all services by the employee are
performed within the Borough of West Chester. The deduction shall
be made at a maximum rate of $1 per week, with the employer being
required to withhold the tax on the frequency of the employee's payroll
schedule, with payments made to the Tax Receiver on a quarterly basis.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 6901
et seq.
Each employer shall prepare and file a return,
showing a computation of the tax, on forms to be supplied to him by
the Treasurer. It is further provided that if the employer fails to
file said return and pay said tax, whether or not he makes collection
thereof from the salary, wages or commissions paid by him to said
employees, the employer shall be responsible for the payment of the
tax in full as though the tax had originally been levied against him.
Each employer shall use his employee income
records from the first day of January of each fiscal year for determining
the number of individuals from whom said tax shall be deducted and
paid over to the Tax Receiver on or before April 30 of the same year.
Supplemental reports and payment of taxes collected shall be made
by each employer on the following schedule:
Each individual who shall have more than one
occupation within the Borough of West Chester shall be subject to
the payment of this tax on his principal occupation, and his principal
employer shall deduct this tax and deliver to him evidence of deductions
on a form to be furnished to the employer by the Treasurer, which
form shall be evidence of deduction having been made and when presented
to any other employer shall be authority for such employer to not
deduct this tax from the employee's wages, but to include such employee
on his return by setting forth his name, address and the name and
account number of the employer who deducted this tax.
All self-employed individuals who perform services of any type or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within the Borough of West Chester shall be required to comply with this article and pay the tax to the Tax Receiver on or before June 15 of each tax year, or thereafter in accordance with § 99-34 above.
All employers and self-employed individuals
residing or having their place of business outside the Borough of
West Chester but who themselves or whose employees perform services
of any type or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within
the Borough of West Chester are by virtue thereof bound by and subject
to the provisions, penalties and regulations promulgated under this
article with the same force and effect as though they were residents
of the Borough of West Chester. Further, any individual engaged in
any occupation within the Borough of West Chester who is an employee
of a nonresident employer may, for the purpose of this article, be
considered a self-employed person, and in the event this tax is not
paid, the Borough shall have the option of proceeding against either
the employer or employee for the collection of this tax as hereinafter
provided.
A.
It shall be the duty of the Tax Receiver to accept
and receive payments of this tax and to keep a record thereof showing
the amount received by him from each employer or self-employed person
together with the date the tax was received. Payments received by
the Tax Receiver shall be turned over to the Treasurer in the manner
as regulated by law.
B.
The Treasurer is hereby charged with the administration
and enforcement of this article and is hereby charged and empowered
to adopt rules and regulations relating to any matter pertaining to
the administration and enforcement of this article. Any person aggrieved
by any decision of the Treasurer shall have the right to appeal to
the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County as in other cases provided.
C.
The Treasurer is hereby authorized to examine the
books and payroll records of any employer in order to verify the accuracy
of any return made by an employer or, if no return was made, to ascertain
the tax due. Each employer is hereby directed and required to give
the Treasurer the means, facilities and opportunity for such examination.
A.
In the event that any tax under this article remains
due or unpaid 30 days after the due dates above set forth, the Tax
Receiver or Treasurer may sue for the recovery of any such tax due
or unpaid under this article, together with interest and penalty.
B.
If for any reason the tax is not paid or proper proof
of payment elsewhere supplied, when due, interest at the rate of 6%
on the amount of said tax shall be calculated beginning with the due
date of said tax, and a penalty of 5% shall be added to the flat rate
of said tax for nonpayment thereof 90 days after the due date. Where
suit is brought for the recovery of this tax, the individual liable
therefor shall, in addition, be responsible and liable for the cost
of collection.
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement
on any return required by this article 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 article
shall, upon conviction before the appropriate judiciary, be sentenced
to pay a fine of not more than $300 for each offense, and in default
of payment of said fine be imprisoned in the Chester County Prison
for a period not exceeding 30 days for each offense. The action to
enforce the fine and penalty herein provided may be instituted against
any person in charge of the business of any employer who has failed
or refused to file a return required by this article.
The Borough shall utilize the funds received
from the tax imposed by this article for the following purposes only:
police, fire and/or medical emergency services, road construction
and/or maintenance, real estate tax reduction or property tax relief
through the implementation of a homestead and farmstead exclusion.
A.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed
to empower the Borough of West Chester to levy and collect that tax
hereby imposed on any occupation not within the taxing power of the
Borough under the Constitution of the United States and Constitution
and laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
B.
If the tax hereby imposed under the provisions of
this article shall be held by any court of competent jurisdiction
to be in violation of the Constitution of the United States or of
the Constitution or laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as to
any individual or period of time, the decision of the court shall
not affect or impair the right to impose or collect said tax or the
validity of the tax so imposed on other persons or individuals, as
herein provided or for the balance of the period of time set forth
herein.
