Article 349
LOCAL SERVICES TAX
Sections:
349.07 More than one occupation.
349.08 Self-employed individuals.
349.09 Nonresident employers and self-employed persons.
349.12 Penalty on delinquent accounts.
349.13 Collection of delinquent accounts.
349.15 Period for which tax is in effect.
349.17 Incorporation of subsequent legislation.
349.01 Levy of tax.
A tax known and referred under Pennsylvania’s Local Tax Enabling Act as the local services tax, or by such other name as shall be designated by Pennsylvania Legislature, is hereby levied upon the privilege of engaging in an occupation within the City of Meadville beginning January 1, 2008, for the year 2008 and each year thereafter. Each person who exercises such privilege during 2008 and during any calendar year thereafter for any length of time during said year shall pay a tax in the amount of $52.00 in accordance with the provisions of this article and the applicable provisions of the Local Tax Enabling Act. This tax is in addition to all other taxes of any kind or nature heretofore levied by the City of Meadville. This tax is hereby levied for every calendar year hereafter without annual reenactment of an article. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.02 Authority for tax.
This tax is levied under the authority of Act 511 of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1257, known as the Local Tax Enabling Law, as amended generally and by Act 7 of June 21, 2007, and as same may be further amended. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.03 Use of tax revenues.
Funds derived from the local services tax will be used for the following purposes or such other purposes as may be permitted by law, all in accordance with the requirements of the Local Tax Enabling Act:
(A) Emergency services, including police and fire services and emergency medical services.
(B) Road construction or maintenance.
(C) Property tax relief. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.04 Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this section shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this section, except when the context or language indicates or requires a different meaning:
(A) “City,” when used to describe the local government, shall mean and refer to the city council of the City of Meadville. When used to describe the territory, it shall mean the area within the corporate limits of City of Meadville.
(B) “Employer” means a person, partnership, association, corporation, institution, 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.
(C) “Earned income” and “net profits” shall have the meanings ascribed by Section 13 of the Local Tax Enabling Act, as amended from time to time.
(D) “Local Tax Enabling Act” means Act 511 of December 31, 1965, P.L. 1257, as amended generally and by Act 7 of June 21, 2007, and as further amended, found generally at 53 P.S. Section 6901 et seq.
(E) “Occupation” means any livelihood, job, trade, profession, business or undertaking of any type, kind or character, including services, domestic or otherwise, carried on or performed for which compensation is charged or received, whether by means of salary, wages, commission or other form of compensation for services rendered.
(F) “Person” means a natural person.
(G) “Receiver of taxes” means the person or persons designated by the city council of the City of Meadville to administer and collect the tax hereby levied and to enforce the provisions of this article.
(H) “Tax/taxes” or “local services tax” means the tax imposed on the privilege of engaging in an occupation as authorized by the Local Tax Enabling Act, known and referred to as the local services tax. This term shall also include any other names designated by the Pennsylvania Legislature for this tax.
(I) “Taxpayer” means a person, partnership, association, corporation or other entity responsible for paying the tax imposed or levied by this article.
Words used in the present tense include the future tense; the singular number includes the plural, the plural number includes the singular; words of masculine gender include feminine gender; and words of feminine gender include masculine gender. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.05 Duty of employer.
Each employer located in the city and each employer who engages in business in the city is required and has the duty, in accordance with the requirements and provisions of this article, the Local Tax Enabling Act, and applicable rules and regulations:
(A) To collect the local services tax from each person employed by employer and engaged in an occupation for employer in the city. For this purpose, employer is authorized to deduct/withhold this tax from the employee’s compensation.
(B) To prepare and file a return showing the tax collected and being paid to the city for each employee subject to the tax. The return form shall be the form provided by the city or as otherwise found acceptable by the city.
(C) To remit and pay the tax to the city’s receiver of taxes 30 days after the end of each quarter of the calendar year. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.06 When tax is due.
The local services tax levied under this article shall be collected on the basis of each payroll period in which the person is engaged in an occupation in the city, as set forth in the Local Tax Enabling Act and below:
(A) A person subject to the local services tax shall be assessed a pro rata share of the tax for each payroll period in which the person is engaging in an occupation in the city. The pro rata share of the tax assessed on the person for a payroll period shall be determined by dividing the combined rate of the local services tax levied for the calendar year by the number of payroll periods established by the employer for the calendar year in accord with the provisions of the Local Tax Enabling Act.
(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. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.07 More than one occupation.
(A) 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:
(1) The political subdivision in which a person maintains the person’s principal office or is principally employed;
(2) The political subdivision in which the person resides and works, if the tax is levied by that political subdivision;
(3) The political subdivision in which a person is employed and which imposes the tax nearest in miles to the person’s home.
(B) 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.
(C) The local services tax shall be no more than $52.00 on each person for each calendar year, irrespective of the number of political subdivisions within which a person may be employed. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.08 Self-employed individuals.
All self-employed persons who perform services of any type or kind or who engage in any occupation or profession within the city shall be subject to the tax and required to file a return and pay the tax to the receiver of taxes. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.09 Nonresident employers and self-employed persons.
All employers and self-employed persons residing or having their place of business outside the city but who perform services of any type or kind or engage in any occupation or profession within the city are subject to the provisions and requirements of this article. Further, any person engaged in an occupation within the city and an employee of a nonresident employer may, for the purposes of this article, be considered a self-employed person, and in the event this tax is not paid, the city shall have the option of proceeding against either the employer or employee for the collection of this tax as hereinafter provided. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.10 Exemptions.
The tax hereby levied shall not be imposed upon or collected from any of 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 100 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. “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.
(C) Any person whose total earned income and net profits from all sources within the city is less than $12,000 for the calendar year in which the local services tax is levied. In the case of an exemption based on annual income below $12,000, a person must affirm that the person reasonably expects to receive earned income and net profits from all sources within the city of less than $12,000 in the calendar year, and provide evidence of income in the form of W-2 or pay stubs from employment within the city. In the event the person does thereafter receive income and net profits in excess of $12,000 within the calendar year, the exemption shall no longer apply and collection in accordance with the provisions of the Local Tax Enabling Act will be instituted.
To be exempt, a person must file an exemption certificate on an approved form, with the information required to grant the exemption and the verification of the person filing for exemption as to the accuracy of the information. The exemption certificate must be filed with the city and the person’s employer. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.11 Administration of tax.
(A) Payments of the local services tax shall be made to the receiver of taxes who shall keep a proper account of the taxes collected.
(B) The receiver of taxes is hereby charged with the administration of this article and is hereby charged and empowered to prescribe, adopt, and promulgate rules and regulations relating to any matter pertaining to the administration and enforcement of this article, as permitted by law.
(C) The receiver of taxes 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 tax collector the means, facilities and opportunity for such examination. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.12 Penalty on delinquent accounts.
(A) In the event that any tax under this article remains due or unpaid 30 days after the due dates above set forth, the receiver of taxes may institute suit for the recovery of any such tax due or unpaid under this article, 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 such tax shall be calculated beginning with the due date of such tax and a penalty of five percent shall be added to the flat rate of such tax for nonpayment thereof. Where a suit is brought for the recovery of this tax, the person liable therefor shall, in addition, be responsible and liable for the costs of collection and the interest and penalties herein imposed. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.13 Collection of delinquent accounts.
Receiver of taxes, with the approval of the city, is authorized to pursue collection of any delinquent account in accordance with the provisions of the Local Tax Enabling Act and other laws as applicable. The city shall have authority to collect unpaid taxes from persons owing same by instituting proceedings in a court of law. In any proceeding to collect a delinquent account, the city or person designated to collect the account may recover such costs and expenses, including attorney’s fees, as permitted by law. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.14 Fine and penalty.
Whoever makes any false or untrue statement on any exemption certificate or statement required by the Local Tax Enabling Act or this article; or who refuses inspection of his books, records or accounts in his custody and control documenting employees subject to this tax who are in his employment; or whoever fails or refuses to file any return required by this article; or who shall fail to pay the tax due, shall upon conviction before any district magistrate or court of jurisdiction be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $300.00 for each offense and in default of payment of said fines and costs be imprisoned in a correctional facility for a period not exceeding 30 days for each offense. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.15 Period for which tax is in effect.
This article shall be effective in accordance with the provisions of the Local Tax Enabling Act and shall be in effect for the year 2008 and remain in effect for each and every calendar year thereafter, without annual reenactment. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.16 Tax references.
All references in the Meadville Municipal Code of the City of Meadville to a tax on the privilege of engaging in an occupation, the occupational privilege tax, or the emergency and municipal services tax shall be deemed a reference to the local services tax for the purposes of this article. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.17 Incorporation of subsequent legislation.
In the event the Pennsylvania Legislature shall finally enact a law that mandates exemptions, tax collection procedures and obligations, tax refund procedures and obligations, tax reporting and return procedures and obligations, and requirements different from those set forth in this article, these requirements mandated by law shall be incorporated by reference as a part of this article and the terms of this article shall be deemed modified by such statutory requirements, as permitted by law. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)
349.18 Savings clause.
(A) Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to empower the city to levy and collect the tax hereby imposed upon the privilege of engaging in an occupation, not within the taxing power of the city under the Constitution and laws of the United States and 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 and laws of the United States and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as to any individual, the decision of the court shall not affect or impair the right to impose or collect such tax or the validity of the tax so imposed on other persons as herein provided.
(C) The provisions of this article are severable and if any of its provisions shall be held invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, the decision of the court shall not affect or invalidate any of the remaining provisions. It is hereby declared to be the legislative intent that this article would have been adopted if such illegal, invalid or unconstitutional provision had not been included herein. (Ord. 3648 § 2, 2007)