Source: http://ecode360.com/13469711
Timestamp: 2017-08-16 17:29:43
Document Index: 626020674

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882', '§ 882']

Township of Lower Gwynedd, PA Local Services Tax
§ 882.01 Short title.
§ 882.02 Statutory authority.
§ 882.03 Purpose.
§ 882.04 Definitions.
§ 882.05 Levy of tax.
§ 882.06 Exemption and refunds.
§ 882.07 Duty of employers to collect.
§ 882.08 Returns.
§ 882.09 Dates for determining tax liability and payment.
§ 882.10 Self-employed individuals.
§ 882.11 Individuals engaged in more than one occupation or employed in more than one political subdivision.
§ 882.12 Nonresidents subject to tax.
§ 882.13 Administration of tax.
§ 882.14 Suits for collection.
§ 882.15 Violations and penalties.
§ 882.16 Interpretation.
Chapter 882: Local Services Tax
[HISTORY:[1] Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Lower Gwynedd 11-23-2010 by Ord. No. 477. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Editor's Note: Former Ch. 882, Occupational Privilege Tax, was repealed 1-23-1996 by Ord. No. 322.
Chapter 882 : Local Services Tax
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Lower Gwynedd Township Local Services Tax Ordinance" or just the "local services tax."
This chapter is enacted under the authority of the Local Tax Enabling Act, Act No. 511 of 1965, as amended by Act No. 7 of 2007.
The purpose of this chapter 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. The amount of any housing allowance provided to a member of the clergy shall not be taxable as earned income.
The net income from the operation of a business, profession, or other activity, except corporations, 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). The term does not include income which is not paid for services provided and which is in the nature of earnings from an investment. For taxpayers engaged in the business, profession or activity of farming, the term shall not include:
The area within the corporate limits of Lower Gwynedd Township.
The local services tax at the rate fixed in § 882.05 of this chapter.
For specific revenue purposes, an annual tax is hereby levied and assessed, commencing January 1, 2011, upon the privilege of engaging in an occupation with a primary place of employment within the political subdivision during the tax year. Each natural person who exercises such privilege for any length of time during any tax year shall pay the tax for that year in the amount of $52, assessed on a pro rata basis, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. This tax may be used solely for the following purposes as the same may be allocated by Lower Gwynedd Township from time to time: emergency services, which shall include emergency medical services, police services and/or fire services; road construction and/or maintenance; reduction of property taxes; or 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 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 the purposes of this paragraph "reserve component of the armed forces" shall mean 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.
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 Paragraph (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 Paragraph (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 Paragraph (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 paragraph 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 chapter.
Except as provided in Paragraph (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. Lower Gwynedd Township, 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. Lower Gwynedd Township or the collector shall determine eligibility for exemption and provide refunds to exempt persons.
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.
In the case of concurrent employment, an employer shall refrain from withholding the 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 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. The employee's statement shall be provided on the form approved by the DCED.
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 Section 882.06 of this chapter and this section and remits the amount so withheld in accordance with this chapter.
The collector shall be appointed by resolution of the political subdivision. It shall be the duty of the collector 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. The collector shall accept and maintain a record of all information submitted by employers relating to the number of employees subject to the tax, the number of employees exempt from the tax, all employee exemption certificates and all refunds of tax paid to individuals and employers.
The collector is hereby charged with the administration and enforcement of this chapter 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 chapter, including provisions for the examination of payroll records of any employer subject to this chapter, the examination and correction of any return made in compliance with this chapter 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 Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, after exhausting all administrative remedies (if any), as in other cases provided.
In the event that any tax under this chapter remains due or unpaid 30 days after the due dates set forth above, the collector may sue for the recovery of any such tax due or unpaid under this chapter, together with interest and penalty.
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement on any return required by this chapter, or whoever refuses inspection of the 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 chapter shall be guilty of a violation and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600 and costs of prosecution, and, in default of payment of such fine and costs, to imprisonment for not more than 30 days. The action to enforce the penalty herein prescribed may be instituted against any person in charge of the business of any employer who shall have failed or who refuses to file a return required by this chapter.