§ 408-65. Duty of employers.

Each employer within the Borough of Walnutport, as well as those employers outside the Borough of Walnutport but who engage in business within the Borough of Walnutport, is hereby charged with the duty of collecting from each of his employees engaged by him and performing for him within the Borough of Walnutport said tax of $52 per annum and making a return and payment thereof to the Borough Manager and/or the Borough's designee authorized to act on behalf of Borough in obtaining said tax and forwarding any collected taxes to the Borough. Further, each employer is hereby authorized to deduct this tax from each employee in his employ, whether said employee is paid by salary, wages, or commission, and whether or not part or all of such services are performed within the Borough of Walnutport. All employers shall be required to remit the local services taxes 30 days after the end of each quarter of the calendar year.

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. 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. 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 one-hundredth of a dollar. Collection of the local services tax levied under this section 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 E of this section.

B. 

If the Northern Lehigh School District levied an emergency and municipal services tax on the effective date of Act 7-2007, the school district may continue to levy the local services tax in the same amount the Northern Lehigh School District collected on the effective date of Act 7-2007. However, if the Borough of Walnutport, in whole or in part within the school district, subsequently levies the local service tax, the school district may only collect $5 on persons employed within the municipality each calendar year. If the school district did not levy an emergency and municipal services tax on the effective date of Act 7-2007, the school district shall be prohibited from levying the local service tax within the Borough. The Northern Lehigh School District and Borough of Walnutport both levy a local services tax at a combined rate exceeding $10, the school district's pro rata share of the aggregate local services taxes levied on persons employed within the Borough of Walnutport shall be collected by the Borough or its tax officer based on payroll periods as provided under Subsection A of this section and shall be paid to the school district on a quarterly basis within 60 days of receipt by the municipality or its tax officer.

C. 

Except as provided in Subsection B of this section, no person shall be subject to the payment of the local services tax by more than one political subdivision during each payroll period as established by § 408-69.

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.

E. 

The local services 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 Borough shall provide a taxpayer a receipt of payment upon request by the taxpayer.

F. 

The Borough shall adopt regulations for the processing of refund claims for overpaid local services taxes for any calendar year. The regulations shall be consistent with 53 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 8425 and 8426. Refunds made within 75 days of a refund request or 75 days after the last day the employer is required to remit the local services tax for the last quarter of the calendar year under § 408-67 of this article, whichever is later, shall not be subject to interest imposed under 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 8426. The Borough shall only provide refunds for amounts overpaid in a calendar year that exceed $1.

G. 

For purposes of this section, "combined rate" shall mean the aggregate annual rate of the local services tax levied by a school district and a municipality located in whole or in part within the school district.

H. 

No employer shall be held liable for failure to withhold the local services tax or for the payment of the withheld tax money to the Borough 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. And provided further, that an employee 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 § 408-71 and this section of this article and remits the amount so withheld in accordance with this section. And provided further, that employers shall be required to remit the local services taxes 30 days after the end of each quarter of a calendar year.