884.01 TITLE
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Lawrence Park Township Local Services Tax Ordinance.”
884.02 DEFINITIONS
The following words and phrases when used in this chapter shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context or language clearly indicates a required different meaning:
(a) “Collector” means the person or firm from time to time designated by the Township of Lawrence Park to collect and administer the provisions of this chapter, and to collect the tax levied by this chapter.
(b) “Employer” means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, governmental body, agency, or other entity employing one or more persons on a salary, wage, commission, fee, or other compensation basis, including the self-employed person.
(c) “Fiscal year” means the twelve-month period beginning January 1, 1982, and each calendar year thereafter.
(d) “Individual” means any person engaged in any occupation, as herein defined, within the Township of Lawrence Park.
(e) “Occupation” means any trade, profession, business, employment, or undertaking of any type, kind, or character, including services, domestic or otherwise, carried on or performed within the Township of Lawrence Park for which compensation is paid, charged or received, by means of salary, wages, commissions, fees, or other compensation for services rendered.
(f) “Tax” means the Local Services Tax in the amount of fifty-two dollars ($52.00).
884.03 IMPOSITION; RATE
For police, fire, emergency management, road construction and maintenance, reduction of property taxes and/or property relief through homestead exemption (but no less than 25% for emergency services), the Township of Lawrence Park hereby levies and imposes a tax in the amount of fifty-two dollars ($52.00) upon the privilege of engaging in an occupation within the said Township. Each natural person who exercises such privilege for any length of time during any calendar year, commencing with the calendar year beginning January 1, 2005, shall be subject to the payment of such tax. Such tax is in addition to all other taxes of every kind or nature heretofore levied by the Township. The tax hereby imposed shall continue in force on a calendar year basis without annual re-enactment.
884.04 DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS
(a) Each employer doing business within the Township, as well as any employer situated outside the said Township, but who engages in business within the Township, is hereby charged with the duty of collecting from each of his or her employees engaged by him or her and performing duties for him or her within the Township, the said tax of fifty-two dollars ($52.00) per annum, and making a return and payment thereof to the Tax Collector, provided, however, no tax shall be collected from those individuals entitled to an exemption pursuant to Section 884.13, and who provides to the employer a certificate of exemption. Further, each employer is hereby authorized and directed to deduct said tax from each employee in his or her employ, whether said employee is paid by salary, wages, or commissions, and whether or not part of, or all of, such services are performed within the Township. Said deductions shall be made in installments based on the number of pay periods for the calendar year in question.
(b) With respect to a person who claimed an exemption for a calendar year, upon notification to an employer that the person has received earned income or net profits from all sources equal to or in excess of twelve thousand dollars ($12,000.00) in that calendar year, or that the person is otherwise ineligible for the tax exemption, or upon an employer’s payment to the person of earned income in an amount equal to or in excess of twelve thousand dollars ($12,000.00) in that calendar year, an employer shall withhold the Local Services Tax from the person. The employer shall withhold from the person, for the first payroll period after receipt of the said notification, a lump sum equal to the amount of tax that was not withheld from the person due to the exemption, plus the per payroll amount due. The amount of tax withheld per payroll period for the remaining payroll periods in the calendar year shall be the same amount withheld for other employees.
(c) In the event that employment of a person subject to the withholding of the tax is subsequently severed in the calendar year, the person shall be liable for any outstanding balance of tax due.
(d) In addition, members of a reserve component of the Armed Forces called to duty, and honorably discharged veterans who served in any war or armed conflict who are blind, paraplegic, or a double or quadruple amputee as a result of military service, or who are 100% disabled from a service-connected disability, are also exempt.
884.05 RETURNS; RESPONSIBILITY FOR COLLECTION
Each employer shall prepare and file a return showing a computation of tax on forms to be supplied to him or her by the Tax Collector, and shall remit the tax withheld from employees to the Collector with the return. Each employer, in filing this return and making payment of the tax withheld from his or her employee, shall be entitled to retain a commission of two percent of the gross tax collected and paid over, on, or before the dates hereinafter set forth. Every employer who fails to file a return and/or remit the tax, whether or not he or she makes collection thereof from the salary, wages, commissions, fees, or other compensation paid by him or her, shall be responsible for the payment of the tax in full, without deducting a commission and as though the tax had originally been levied against him or her.
884.06 DATES FOR DETERMINING TAX LIABILITY AND PAYMENT
Each employer shall use his or her employment records from January 1 to March 31 of each calendar year for determining the number of employees from whom said tax shall be deducted and paid over to the Tax Collector, on or before April 30 of each calendar year. Supplemental returns shall be made by each employer on July 31 and October 31 of each calendar year, and on January 31 of the succeeding calendar year for new employees, as reflected on employment records during the second, third, and fourth quarters of each calendar year. Payment of the tax liability shall be made with each such return.
884.07 PERSONS ENGAGED IN MORE THAN ONE OCCUPATION OR WORKING IN MORE THAN ONE JURISDICTION
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 Local Services Tax withheld, and a statement from the employee that the pay statement is from an 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.
884.08 SELF-EMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS
Self-employed individuals engaged in any occupation within the Township shall be required to comply with this chapter, and the tax shall be pro-rated and paid by the self-employed individual on a quarterly basis, and the same shall be due and owing thirty days after the end of each calendar quarter.
884.09 APPLICATION TO NONRESIDENT EMPLOYERS AND INDIVIDUALS
All employers and self-employed individuals residing or having their principal place of business outside Lawrence Park Township, but who engage in any occupation within Lawrence Park Township, do by virtue thereof agree to be bound by and subject themselves to the provisions, penalties, and regulations promulgated under this chapter, with the same force and effect as though they were residents of Lawrence Park Township. Any individual engaged in an occupation within Lawrence Park Township, and an employee of a non-resident employer doing business wthinin the Township may, for the purpose of this chapter, be considered a self-employed person. In the event that the tax is not paid, the Township shall have the option of proceeding against either the employer or the employee for the collection of the tax.
884.10 LIABILITY FOR PAYMENT
The failure or omission of any employer to deduct the tax, or to remit the same to the Township, shall not relieve any indivdiual from the payment of the tax.
884.11 DUTIES OF TAX COLLECTOR
(a) It shall be the duty of the Tax Collector to accept and receive payments of the tax and to keep a record thereof, showing the amount received by him or her from each individual, employer, or self-employed person, together with the date the tax was received.
(b) The Collector is hereby charged with the administration and enforcement of this chapter, and is hereby empowered to prescribe, adopt, promulgate, and enforce rules and regulations relating to any matter pertaining to the administration and enforcement of this chapter, including provisions for the examination of the 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.
(c) The Collector 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 Collector the means, facilities, and opportunity for such examination.
884.12 SUIT FOR COLLECTION; INTEREST AND PENALTY
(a) In the event any tax under this chapter remains due or unpaid thirty days after the due date above set forth, the Tax Collector may sue for the recovery of such tax due or unpaid under this chapter, together with interest and penalty.
(b) If for any reason the tax is not paid when due, interest at the rate of six percent on the amount of said tax shall be calculated beginning with the due date of said tax, and a penalty of five percent shall be added to the flat rate of said tax for nonpayment thereof. Where suit is brought for the recovery of this tax, the individual liable therefor shall, in addition, be responsible and liable for the costs of collection.
884.13 EXEMPTIONS
Any individual whose total earned income and net profits from all sources is less than twelve thousand dollars ($12,000.00) during any calendar year shall be exempt from the payment of this tax for such calendar year. If an exemption is claimed and subsequently it is not applicable, the individual shall immediately notify his or her employer.
884.14 APPLICATION OF TAX; SEPARABILITY
(a) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to empower the Township to levy and collect the tax herein imposed on any individual not within the taxing power of Lawrence Park Township under the Constitution of the United States of America and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The provisions of this chapter and its enforceability shall be construed in accordance with the Pennsylvania Local Tax Enabling Act, Act 511 of 1965, as amended, including Act 7 of 2007. If there shall be a discrepancy between the provisions in state statute and this chapter, state statute shall apply.
(b) If the tax hereby imposed under the provisions of this chapter 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 individuals as herein provided.
884.15 EFFECTIVE PERIOD
This chapter shall become effective for the fiscal and calendar year commencing January 1, 1982, thirty days after the final passage thereof, and shall continue thereafter in full force and effect for each calendar year thereafter without annual re-enactment.
884.16 VIOLATIONS
(a) No person shall:
(1) Make any false or untrue statement on any return required by this chapter.
(2) Refuse 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.
(3) Fail or refuse to file any return required by this chapter; or
(4) Fail to pay the tax due.
(b) The action to enforce the fine and penalty provided in Section 884.99 may be instituted against any person in charge of the business of any employer who has failed or refuses to file a return as required by this chapter.
884.99 PENALTY
Whoever violates or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) and costs, and, in default of the payment thereof, for any reason other than indigency, shall be imprisoned not more than thirty days for each offense. Such fine or penalty shall be in addition to any other penalty or surcharge imposed by any other section of this chapter.
The failure of any person to receive or procure forms required for making the declaration or returns required by this chapter shall not excuse him or her from making such declaration or return.