[Adopted 2-8-1971 by Ord. No. 911.3; amended
in its entirety 11-12-2007 by Ord. No. 1433]
This Article I shall be known and may be cited as the "Local Services Tax Ordinance."
The following words and phrases, when used in this Article I, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context or language clearly indicates or requires a different meaning:
The area within the corporate limits of the Borough of Ephrata.
The Lancaster County Tax Collection Bureau or such other
person or entity as shall be designated by the Ephrata Borough Council
from time to time.
Salaries, wages, commissions, tips, bonuses, fees, gross
receipts or other income derived from engaging in an occupation.
The same meaning as those terms are given in § 13
of the Local Tax Enabling Act, Act 511 of 1965 (53 P.S. § 6913).
Emergency services, which shall include emergency medical
services, police services and/or fire services.
An individual, partnership, limited partnership, unincorporated
association, association, corporation, institution, trust, governmental
body, agency or other entity employing one or more persons on a salary,
wage, commission or other compensation basis engaged in any occupation,
including a self-employed person.
An exemption certificate substantially in the form of the
uniform certificate prescribed by the Pennsylvania Department of Community
and Economic Development affirming that the person reasonably expects
to receive earned income and net profits from all sources within the
Borough of Ephrata of less than $12,000 in the calendar year for which
the exemption certificate is filed, which exemption certificate has
attached to it a copy of all of the employee's last pay stubs with
year-to-date information or W-2 forms from employment within the Borough
of Ephrata for the year prior to the fiscal year for which the employee
is requesting to be exempted from the tax.
Indicates the singular and plural number as well as 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 Ephrata.
Emergency 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.
Subch. F.
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 Ephrata
for which compensation is charged or received, whether by means of
salary, wages, commissions or fee for services rendered.
The tax imposed by § 287-3 of this article.
Any natural person liable for the tax levied by § 287-3 of this article.
For local services purposes, a tax is hereby levied upon the privilege of engaging in an occupation within the Borough of Ephrata. Each natural person who exercises such privilege for any length of time in any year shall be assessed and shall pay the tax in the amount equal to the pro rata share of the annual amount of $52 in accordance with the provisions of this Article I, subject to the exemptions set forth in § 287-4 of this article.
The tax levied by § 287-3 shall not be imposed upon the following persons:
A.
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 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 one-hundred-percent-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. 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 Core Reserve, United States
Coast Guard Reserve, United States Air Force Reserve, the Pennsylvania
Army National Guard or the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.
C.
Any natural person whose total earned income and net
profits from all sources within the Borough of Ephrata during the
taxable year is not in excess of $12,000.
A.
Every employer not otherwise registered under the provisions of Chapter 287 of the Borough of Ephrata shall, within 15 days after first becoming an employer, register with the Collector the employer's name, address and such other information as the Collector may require.
B.
As to each taxpayer employed for any length of time
during any payroll period of an employer during the calendar year,
each employer shall deduct a pro rata share of the tax from compensation
payable to the taxpayer with respect to such payroll period. The pro
rata share of the tax assessed on a taxpayer for a payroll period
shall be determined by dividing the rate of the tax levied for the
calendar year by the number of payroll periods established by the
employer for the calendar year. For purposes of determining the pro
rata share of the tax, an employer shall round down the amount of
tax deducted for each payroll period to the nearest one-hundredth
of a dollar. Each employer shall file a return on a form prescribed
by the Collector, and pay the Collector the full amount of all such
taxes deducted during a calendar quarter within 30 days after the
end of the calendar quarter.
C.
Any employer who discontinues business or ceases operation
before December 31 of any year, shall, within 15 days after discontinuing
business or ceasing operation, file the return hereinabove required
and pay the tax to the Collector.
D.
The failure of any employer to deduct the tax shall
not relieve the employee 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 Collector, shall be liable
for such tax in full, as though the tax had originally been levied
against such employer. No employer shall be liable for failure to
deduct the tax if the failure to deduct the tax 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.
E.
The employer shall not deduct the tax but shall maintain adequate records concerning employees in the cases described in Subsection E(1) and (2).
(1)
In the case of concurrent employment, 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 tax deducted, and a statement from the employee that
the pay statement is from the employee's principal employer and that
the employee will notify other employers of a change in the principal
place of employment within two weeks of its occurrence.
(2)
In the case of an employee claiming the exemption set forth at § 287-4C, if the employee has provided an exemption certificate to the Employer; the Collector has not otherwise instructed the employer; the employer has not received notification from the person who claimed the exemption or from the Collector that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within the Borough of Ephrata 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; and the employer has not paid to the person earned income within the Borough of Ephrata in an amount equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year.
F.
The employer shall file with the Collector a copy of each exemption certificate, including attachments, received by the employer no later than the end of the first payroll period as to which the employee claims the exemption set forth at § 287-4C.
G.
If a person has claimed the exemption under § 287-4C for a given calendar year from the tax but either a) the employer has received notification from the person who claimed the exemption or from the Collector that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within the Borough of Ephrata 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 b) the employer has paid to the person earned income within the Borough of Ephrata in an amount equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year, then the employer shall withhold the tax for the remainder of that calendar year and the employer shall withhold from the person, for the first payroll period after receipt of the notification described in clause (a) above or for the first payroll period after payments described in clause (b) above have been made, a lump sum equal to the amount of tax that was not withheld from the person due to the exemption claimed by the person, 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 Collector may pursue collection under this article.
H.
Each employer shall ensure that exemption certificate
forms are readily available to employees at all times and shall furnish
each new employee with an exemption certificate form at the time of
hiring.
Every taxpayer who is self-employed, or whose tax for any other reason is not collected under § 287-5 of this article, shall file a return on a form prescribed by the Collector and shall pay a pro rata share of the tax directly to the Collector within 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter. The pro rata share of the tax assessed on a taxpayer for a calendar quarter shall be determined by dividing the rate of the tax levied for the calendar year by four.
Both resident and nonresident taxpayers shall,
by virtue of engaging in an occupation within the Borough of Ephrata,
be subject to the tax and the provisions of this article.
The Collector, on behalf of the Borough of Ephrata,
shall collect and receive the taxes, interest, fines and penalties
imposed by this article, and shall maintain records showing interest,
fines and penalties imposed by this article, and shall maintain records
showing the amounts received and the dates such amounts were received.
The 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 article, including,
but not limited to, requirements for collection through employers,
requirements for evidence and records, and provisions for the examination
and correction of returns. The Collector and its designated agents
may examine the records of any employer or supposed employer or of
any taxpayer or supposed taxpayer in order to determine the tax due
or verify the accuracy of any return. Every employer or supposed employer
and every taxpayer or supposed taxpayer shall give the Collector and
any of its designated agents all means, facilities and opportunity
for the examinations hereby authorized.
The Collector shall collect, by suit or otherwise,
all taxes, interest, costs, fines and penalties due under this article
and unpaid. If for any reason any tax is not paid when due, interest
at the rate of 6% per year on the amount of unpaid tax and an additional
penalty of one-half of one percent of the amount of unpaid tax, for
each month or fraction of a 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
costs of collection as well as for interest and penalties. The Collector
may accept payment under protest of the tax claimed by the Borough
of Ephrata in any case where any person disputes the Borough of Ephrata's
claim for the tax. If a court of competent jurisdiction thereafter
decides that there has been overpayment to the Collector, the Collector
shall refund the amount of the overpayment to the person who paid
under protest.
Any person who has overpaid the tax may obtain
a refund by making a written application for a refund to the Collector
not later than one year after payment of the tax or three years after
the due date for payment of the tax, whichever is later, and satisfactorily
proving to the Collector that he is entitled to the refund. Refunds
made within 75 days of a refund request or 75 days after the last
day the employer is required to remit the tax to the Collector 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.
A refund shall be provided only for an amount overpaid in a calendar
year that exceeds $1.
The Collector shall provide a taxpayer a receipt
of payment of the tax upon request by the taxpayer.
The tax shall not apply to any subject of tax
or person not within the taxing power of the Borough of Ephrata under
the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
Whomever makes any false or untrue statement
on any return required by this article or who refuses inspection of
his or her books, records or accounts in his or her custody and control
setting forth the number of employees subject to this tax who are
in his or her employment or whoever fails or refuses to file any return
required by this article shall, upon conviction before the District
Justice, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600 for each
offense and, in default of payment of said fine and costs, be imprisoned
in Lancaster County Prison for a period not exceeding 30 days for
each 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 of any employer who has failed or refuses
to file a return required by this article.
A.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed
to empower the Borough of Ephrata to levy and collect the tax hereby
imposed on any occupation not within the taxing power of the Borough
under the Constitution of the United States and the 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 laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as to any individual,
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.
This article shall continue in effect from year
to year, on a calendar-year basis, without annual reenactment unless
the rate of the tax shall be subsequently changed, pursuant to the
authority of the Local Tax Enabling Act, 53 P.S. § 6901
et seq., as amended.
