[Adopted 11-23-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-5[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also superseded former
Art. I, Occupational Privilege Tax, adopted 12-30-1975 by Ord. No.
102.
The Horsham Township Council, for the purpose of providing revenue
for local services, including but not limited to emergency services,
road maintenance and construction, reductions in property taxes and
property tax relief, does hereby impose on each adult resident and
nonresident employed and/or engaged in an occupation within the jurisdiction
of Horsham Township a local services tax at a flat rate which said
tax shall be in addition to all other taxes levied and assessed by
the Township pursuant to any other laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Beginning on the effective date of this article, each adult
resident or nonresident employed within the boundaries of Horsham
Township shall be required to pay an annual local services tax in
an amount of $52.
The local services tax shall not be subject to the imposition
of the Local Tax Enabling Act[1] discount and penalty provisions in regard to the levy
and collection of this local services tax.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 6901 et seq.
A.
The tax imposed by this article shall be collected by the Township
Manager or other officer, Clerk, collector or private agency or other
person, assistant or employee as Council may from time to time by
ordinance or resolution direct. It shall be the duty of each adult
employed within Horsham Township to pay the local services tax in
accordance with 53 P.S. § 6902. Each individual covered
under this article and required to pay the local services tax shall
be assessed a pro rata share of the tax for each payroll period in
which the individual is engaged in an occupation within the Township.
The pro rata share of the tax assessed on the individual for a payroll
period shall be determined by dividing the combined rate of the local
services tax levied for the calendar year, $52, by the number of payroll
periods established by the employer for the calendar year. 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. The collection of the local services tax shall be made
on a payroll-period basis for each payroll period in which the person
is engaged in an occupation, except as otherwise provided for within
53 P.S. § 6902.
B.
Each employer within Horsham Township, as well as those employers
situated outside Horsham Township but who engage in business within
Horsham Township, shall withhold this Local Services Tax from the
compensation of their employees who are subject to the tax. This Local
Services Tax shall be withheld from each employee that is subject
to the Local Services Tax and said tax shall be collected by the Township
Manager or other individual or entity as Council may by ordinance
or resolution authorize and direct.
The notice of tax due from the Township Manager or other individual
or entity authorized by Council to collect the tax shall constitute
his warrant for the collection of the tax as hereby assessed. Each
employer within Horsham Township shall cooperate with the Township
in identifying those people employed within the Township.
The following persons shall be exempt from the local services
tax:
A.
Any person who served in any war or armed conflict in which the United
States was engaged and honorably discharged or released under honorable
circumstances from active duty, 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.
C.
Any person who earns less than $12,000 in earned income and net profits
from all sources within Horsham Township for the calendar year in
which the local services tax is levied.
(1)
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services tax
may annually file an exemption certificate with Horsham Township,
any individual or entity authorized by Council to collect the local
services tax, and with the person's employer affirming that the
person reasonably expects to receive earned income and net profits
from all sources within Horsham Township of less than $12,000 in the
calendar year for which the exemption certificate is filed. 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 Horsham 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 Horsham Township, 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, which are provided by the Department of Community and Economic
Development, are readily available to employees at all times and shall
furnish each new employee with a form at the time of hiring. For purposes
of this section, earned income and net profits shall have the same
meanings as in Section 13 of the Local Tax Enabling Act, as amended,
53 P.S. § 6913, as amended.
(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 Horsham 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 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 C(3) below.
(3)
If a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the local services tax becomes subject to the tax for the calendar year under Subsection C(2) above, 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 C(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 subsection, 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 may pursue collection under this article.
A.
No person shall be subject to the payment of the full local services
tax by more than one political subdivision during each payroll period.
B.
The situs of the tax shall be the place of employment on the first
day the person becomes subject to the tax during each payroll period.
C.
In the event a person is engaged in more than one occupation, that
is, concurrent employment, or an occupation which requires the person
working in more than one political subdivision 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.
D.
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.
A person claiming the right to a refund for the local services
tax shall follow the regulations governing refunds in accordance with
53 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 8425 and 8426, as amended, and/or any
Township ordinance or resolution governing said refunds.
Any resident or nonresident who fails or refuses to pay the
local services tax or to render accurate information to an assessor
concerning the status of their employment or age shall, upon conviction
thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600 and, in
default of payment, to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 30 days.
The Township and any other individual or entity authorized by Council
to collect the local services tax may also proceed with all other
available remedies, including but not limited to filing an action
for the recovery of any tax due or unpaid under this article, together
with interest and penalty.
This article shall become effective on January 1, 2010.
