Source: https://www.ecode360.com/14587993
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 08:26:38+00:00

Document:
§ 144-14 Levy of tax; use of tax; amount of tax.
§ 144-16 Duty of employers to collect.
§ 144-18 Dates for determining tax liability and payment.
§ 144-18.2 Individuals engaged in more than one occupation or employed in more than one political subdivision.
§ 144-18.3 Nonresidents subject to tax.
§ 144-18.4 Administration of tax.
§ 144-18.5 Suits for collection.
§ 144-18.6 Violations and penalties.
Editor’s Note: This ordinance also repealed Ord. No. 412, adopted 10-13-2005, regarding municipal and emergency services tax; the municipal and emergency services tax provisions superseded former Art. II, Occupation Tax, adopted 6-18-1985 by Ord. No. 309 as Art. 329 of the 1985 Codified Ordinances, as amended, regarding the occupational privilege tax. Ordinance. No. 423 also provided that it should not be "construed to repeal the imposition and collection of an occupation privilege tax, plus applicable penalties and interest, for calendar year 2005 and all prior calendar years, or of an emergency and municipal services tax, plus applicable penalties and interest, for calendar years 2006 and 2007," and further provided for an effective date of 1-1-2008.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Township of Rochester Local Services Tax Ordinance."
This article is enacted under the authority of the Local Tax Enabling Act, as amended by Act No. 7 of 2007.
The purpose of this article is to provide revenue for police, fire and emergency services; road construction and maintenance; the reduction of property taxes and for such other purposes as may be specified for such tax from time to time by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
"Compensation" as determined under section 303 of the Act of March 4, 1971 (P.L. 6, No.2), known as the "Tax Reform Code of 1971," and regulations in 61 Pa. Code Pt. I Subpt. B Art. V (relating to personal income tax); not including, however, wages or compensation paid to individuals on active military service. Employee business expenses are allowable deductions as determined under Article III of the "Tax Reform Code of 1971." Any housing allowance provided to a member of the clergy shall not be taxable as earned income.
An individual, partnership, association, limited liability corporation, limited liability partnership, 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.
Any trade, profession, business or undertaking of any type, kind or character, including services, domestic or other, earned on or performed within the corporate limits of the political subdivision for which compensation is charged or received, whether by means of salary, wages, commission or fees for services rendered.
The area within the corporate limits of the Township of Rochester.
The United States Army Reserve, United States Navy Reserve, United States Marine Corps Reserve, United States Coast Guard Reserve, United States Air Force Reserve, the Pennsylvania Army National Guard or the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.
The local services tax at the rate fixed in § 144-14 of this article.
Editor's Note: See 72 PS § 7101 et seq.
The Township of Rochester hereby levies and imposes on every individual engaging in an occupation within the jurisdictional limits of the Township of Rochester a tax in the amount of $52 per annum, beginning the first day of January 2008 and continuing on a calendar basis annually thereafter, until modified or repealed by subsequent ordinance.
Property tax relief through implementation of a homestead and farmstead exclusion in accordance with 53 Pa.C.S.A. Ch. 85, Subch. F (relating to homestead property exclusion).
The political subdivision shall use no less than 25% of the funds derived from the tax for emergency services.
This tax is in addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature heretofore levied by the political subdivision.
The tax shall be no more than $52 on each person for each calendar year, irrespective of the number of political subdivisions within which a person may be employed.
Any person who has 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 disability.
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services tax may annually file an exemption certificate with the political subdivision and with the person's employer affirming that the person reasonably expects to receive earned income and net profits from all sources within the political subdivision of less than $12,000 in the calendar year for which the exemption certificate is filed. In the event the political subdivision utilizes a tax collection officer, it shall provide a copy of the exemption certificate to that officer. 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 the political subdivision for the year prior to the fiscal year for which the employee is requesting to be exempted from the tax. Upon receipt of the exemption certificate and until otherwise instructed by the political subdivision or except as required by Subsection B(2), 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 are readily available to employees at all times and shall furnish each new employee with a form at the time of hiring. The exemption certificate form shall be the uniform form provided by the political subdivision.
With respect to a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the tax, upon notification to an employer by the person or by the political subdivision that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within the political subdivision 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 municipality 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 B(3).
If a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the tax becomes subject to the tax for the calendar year under Subsection B(2), 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 B(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 political subdivision may pursue collection under this article.
Except as provided in Subsection B(2), it is the intent of this subsection that employers shall not be responsible for investigating exemption certificates, monitoring tax exemption eligibility or exempting any employee from the local services tax.
Refunds. The Township of Rochester, in consultation with the Collector and DCED, shall establish procedures for the processing of refund claims for any tax paid by any person who is eligible for exemption, which procedures shall be in accord with provisions of the general municipal law relating to refunds of overpayments and interest on overpayments. Refunds made within 75 days of a refund request or 75 days after the last day the employer is required to remit the tax for the last quarter of the calendar year, whichever is later, shall not be subject to interest. No refunds shall be made for amounts overpaid in a calendar year that do not exceed $1. The Township of Rochester or the Collector shall determine eligibility for exemption and provide refunds to exempt persons.
Each employer within the political subdivision, as well as those employers situated outside the political subdivision but who engage in business within the political subdivision, is hereby charged with the duty of collecting the tax from each of his employees engaged by him or performing for him within the political subdivision and making a return and payment thereof to the Collector. Further, each employer is hereby authorized to deduct this tax for each employee in his or her employ, whether said employee is paid by salary, wage or commission and whether or not all such services are performed within the political subdivision.
A person subject to the tax shall be assessed by the employer a pro rata share of the tax for each payroll period in which the person is engaging in an occupation. The pro rata share of the tax assessed on the person 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, an employer shall round down the amount of the tax collected each payroll period to the nearest 1/100 of a dollar. Collection of the tax shall be made on a payroll period basis for each payroll period in which the person is engaging in an occupation, except as provided in Subsection D of this section. For purposes of this subsection, combined rate shall mean the aggregate annual rate of the tax levied by the school district and the municipality.
The tax shall be no more than $52 on each person for each calendar year, irrespective of the number of political subdivisions within which a person may be employed. The political subdivision shall provide a taxpayer a receipt of payment upon request by the taxpayer.
No employer shall be held liable for failure to withhold the tax or for the payment of the withheld tax money to the political subdivision if the failure to withhold taxes 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. Further, an employer shall not be liable for payment of the local services tax in an amount exceeding the amount withheld by the employer if the employer complies with the provisions of Subsection B of § 144-15 of this article and this section and remits the amount so withheld in accordance with this article.
Each employer shall use his employment and payroll records from the first day of January to March 31 each year for determining the number of employees from whom said tax shall be deducted and paid over to the Collector on or before April 30 of the same calendar year. Supplemental reports shall be made by each employer on July 30, October 30 and January 31 for new employees as reflected on his employment and payroll records from April 1 to June 30, July 1 to September 30 and October 1 to December 31, and payments on these supplemental reports shall be made on July 30, October 30 and January 31, respectively.
Each self-employed individual who has "earned income" or realizes "net profit," as those terms are defined herein, within the political subdivision shall be required to comply with this article and pay the tax due to the Collector on or before the 30th day following the end of each quarter.
Third, the political subdivision in which a person is employed and which imposes the tax nearest in miles to the person's home.
In case of dispute, a tax receipt of the taxing authority for that calendar year declaring that the taxpayer has made prior payment constitutes prima facie certification of payment to all other political subdivisions.
All employers and self-employed individuals residing or having their places of business outside of the political subdivision but who perform services of any type or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within the political subdivision do, by virtue thereof, agree to be bound by and subject themselves to the provisions, penalties and regulations promulgated under this article with the same force and effect as though they were residents of the political subdivision. Further, any individual engaged in an occupation within the political subdivision and an employee of a nonresidential employer may, for the purpose of this article, be considered a self-employed person, and, in the event his or her tax is not paid, the political subdivision shall have the option of proceeding against either the employer or employee for the collection of this tax as hereinafter provided.
It shall be the duty of the Collector to accept and receive payments of this tax and 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. It shall be the duty of the Collector to accept and keep a record of the information submitted by employers relating to the number of employees subject to the tax, the number of employees exempt from the tax, the employee exemption certificates and refunds of the tax paid to individuals and employers.
The Collector is hereby charged with the administration and enforcement of this article and is hereby charged and empowered, subject to municipal approval, to prescribe, adopt and promulgate rules and regulations relating to any matter pertaining to the administration and enforcement of this article, including provisions for the examination of payroll records of any employer subject to this article, the examination and correction of any return made in compliance with this article and any payment alleged or found to be incorrect or as to which overpayment is claimed or found to have occurred. Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Collector shall have the right to appeal to the Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County as in other cases provided.
If for any reason the tax is not paid when due, interest at the rate of 6% on the amount of such tax shall be calculated beginning with the due date of the tax and a penalty of 5% shall be added to the flat rate of such tax for nonpayment thereof. Where suit is brought for the recovery of this tax or other appropriate remedy undertaken, the individual liable therefor shall, in addition, be responsible and liable for the costs of collection.
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to empower the political subdivision to levy and collect the tax hereby imposed on any occupation not within the taxing power of the political subdivision under the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

References: § 144

§ 144

§ 144

§ 144

§ 144

§ 144

§ 144
 Art. 329
 § 144
 § 7101
 § 144