§ 24-110. Interest and Penalties .

   1.   Except as may be provided for in subsection .2 below, in the event any tax imposed in this Part is not paid when due, interest shall accrue at the same rate a taxpayer is required to pay to the Commonwealth as provided in § 806 of the Act of April 9, 1929 (P.L. 343, No. 176), known as the “Fiscal Code,” or such successor legislation, on the amount of said tax and an additional penalty of 1% of the unpaid tax for each month or fraction thereof during which the tax remains unpaid shall be added and collected but the amount of penalty shall not exceed 15% in the aggregate. Where an action is brought for the recovery of tax, the taxpayer liable for the tax shall, in addition, be liable for the costs of collection, interest and penalties, including, but not limited to, court costs and attorney’s fees.

   2.   Pursuant to the Act, the Department may establish conditions under which a tax officer, with the concurrence of the TCC, may abate interest or penalties that would otherwise be imposed for the nonreporting or underreporting of income tax liabilities or for nonpayment of taxes previously imposed and due if the taxpayer files delinquent returns and pays the tax in full.

   3.   The provisions of subsection .2 above shall not affect or terminate any petitions, investigations, prosecutions or other proceedings pending under this Part, or prevent the commencement of further prosecution of any proceedings by the appropriate authorities for violations of this Part. However, no proceedings shall be commenced on the basis of delinquent returns filed pursuant to this Section above if the returns are determined to be substantially true and correct and the tax due is paid within the prescribed time.

(Ord. 2011-10, 11/14/2011, § 10)

§ 24-111. Violations and Penalties .

   1.   Any person who fails, neglects or refuses to make any declaration or return required by this Part, any employer who fails, neglects or refuses to register or to pay the tax deducted from his employees or fails, neglects or refuses to deduct or withhold the tax from his employees, any person who refuses to permit the tax officer or any agent designated by him to examine his books, records, papers and any person who knowingly makes any incomplete, false or fraudulent return or attempts to do anything whatsoever to avoid the full disclosure of the amount of his net profits or earned income in order to avoid the payment of the whole or any part of the tax imposed by this Part shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $2,500 for each offense and costs and, in default of payment of said fine and costs, to be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 6 months.

   2.   Any employer who is required under this Part to collect, account for and distribute taxes and who willfully fails to collect or truthfully account for and distribute such tax, commits a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding $25,000 or to imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or both.

   3.   Any person who divulges any information which is confidential under the provisions of this Part shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $2,500 for each offense and costs or to imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both.

   4.   The penalties imposed under this Section shall be in addition to any other penalty imposed by any other Section of this Part.

   5.   The failure of any person to receive or procure forms required for making the declaration or returns required by this Part shall not excuse him or her from making such declaration or return.

   6.   The Dover Township hereby approves and adopts the Cost of Collection Schedule, 1 attached hereto and made a part hereof, to be imposed by the designated tax officer for the collection of taxes on earned income and net profits, upon any taxpayer whose taxes are or become delinquent and/or remain due and unpaid; provided, however, that the TCC may approve amendments to said fee schedule by resolution from time to time. Amendments to the collection schedule shall become effective upon adoption by the TCC. The designated tax officer is hereby authorized to retain such costs of collection as set forth in the attached schedule, as may be amended and supplemented from time to time, in recovering delinquent taxes and as permitted to be assessed to delinquent taxpayers pursuant to law.

(Ord. 2011-10, 11/14/2011, § 11)

 

Notes

1	Editor’s Note: The “Cost of Collection Schedule” is on file in the Township office.

§ 24-112. Applicability .

   This Part shall not apply to any person or property as to whom or which it is beyond the legal power of the municipality to levy, assess and impose the tax or duties as herein provided.

(Ord. 2011-10, 11/14/2011, § 12)

§ 24-113. Purpose/Amendment and Restatement/Repeal .

   The primary purpose of this Part is to conform the local income tax currently levied on earned income and net profits by the municipality with the Act and to do so within the time frame set forth in the Act. Any prior ordinance levying such tax is hereby amended and restated in its entirety to read as set forth in this Part. To the extent that any previous ordinance or portion thereof is inconsistent or conflicts with this Part, such ordinance(s) or portion thereof shall be repealed to the extent of such inconsistency and/or conflict. To the extent the same or any prior ordinance levying such tax in force immediately prior to enactment of this Part, this Part is intended as a continuation of such prior ordinance and not as the enactment of an ordinance imposing a new tax. In the event this Part or any portion thereof is determined to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the prior ordinance, or portion thereof, levying a similar tax shall remain in full force and effect and shall not be affected by the adoption of this Part. Nothing contained herein shall affect, impair or otherwise abrogate any act done or liability incurred, nor shall any provision of this Part affect, impair or preclude any suit or prosecution pending, whether or not currently initiated, to enforce any right, penalty or violation under the authority of any previous ordinance in force prior to adoption of this Part.

(Ord. 2011-10, 11/14/2011, § 14)

§ 24-114. Effective Date; Initial Current Year .

   The effective date of this Part and beginning of the initial current year shall be January 1, 2012.

(Ord. 2011-10, 11/14/2011, § 15)

Part 2 Realty Transfer Tax

§ 24-201. Authority .

   A realty transfer tax for general revenue purposes is hereby imposed upon the transfer of real estate of interest in real estate situated within Dover Township, regardless of where the documents making the transfer are made, executed or delivered, or where the actual settlements on such transfer took place as authorized by Article XI-D, "Local Real Estate Transfer Tax," 72 P.S. § 8101-D et seq.

(Ord. 91-1, 9/9/1991, § 11.81)

§ 24-202. Definitions .

   Association - a partnership, limited partnership, or any other form of unincorpo rated enterprise owned or conducted by two or more persons other than a private trust or decedent's estate.

   Corporation - a corporation, joint-stock association, business trust, or banking institution which is organized under the laws of this Commonwealth, the United States, or any other state, territory, foreign country or dependency. [Ord. 2005-08]

   Document - any deed, instrument or writing which conveys, transfers, demises, vests, confirms or evidences any transfer or demise of title to real estate, but does not include wills, mortgages, deeds of trust, or other instruments or like character given as security for a debt and deeds of release thereof to the debtor, land contracts whereby the legal title does not pass to the grantee until the total consideration specified in the contract has been paid or any cancellation thereof unless the consideration is payable over a period of time exceeding 30 years, or instruments which solely grant, vest or confirm a public utility easement. "Document" shall also include a declaration of acquisition required to be presented from recording under § 24-202 of this Part.

   Family farm corporation - a corporation of which at least 75% of its assets are devoted to the business of agriculture and at least 75% of each class of stock of the corporation is continuously owned by members of the same family. The business of agriculture shall not be deemed to include:

      A.   Recreational activities such as, but not limited to, hunting, fishing, camping, skiing, show competition or racing.

      B.   The raising, breeding or training of game animals or games birds, fish, cats, dogs or pets or animals intended for use in sporting or recreational activities.

      C.   Fur farming.

      D.   Stockyard and slaughterhouse operations.

      E.   Manufacturing or processing operations of any kind.

   Members of the same family - any individual, such individual's brothers and sisters, the brothers and sisters of such individual's parents and grandparents, the ancestors and lineal descendants of any of the foregoing, a spouse of any of the foregoing, and the estate of any of the foregoing. Individuals related by the half-blood or legal adoption shall be treated as if they were related by the whole-blood.

   Person - every natural person, association, or corporation whenever used in any clause prescribing and imposing a fine or imprisonment, or both. The term "person" as applied to associations, shall include the responsible members or general partners thereof, and as applied to corporations, the officers thereof.

   Real estate -

      A.   All lands, tenements or hereditaments within Dover Township including, without limitation, buildings, structures, fixtures, mines, minerals, oil, gas, quarries, spaces with or without upper or lower boundaries, trees, and other improvements, immovables or interests which by custom, usage or law pass with a conveyance or land, but excluding permanently attached machinery and equipment in an industrial plant.

      B.   A condominium unit.

      C.   A tenant-stockholder's interest in a cooperative housing corporation, trust or association under a proprietary lease or occupancy agreement.

   Real estate company - a corporation or association which is primarily engaged in the business of holding, selling or leasing real estate, 90% or more of the ownership interest in which is held by 35 or fewer persons and which:

      A.   Derives 60% or more of its annual gross receipts from the ownership or disposition of real estate.

      B.   Holds real estate, the value of which comprises 90% or more of the value of its entire tangible asset holdings exclusive of tangible assets which are freely transferable and actively traded on an established market.

   Title to real estate -

      A.   Any interest in real estate which endures for a period of time, the termination of which is not fixed or ascertained by a specific number of years including, without limitation, an estate in fee simple, life estate, or perpetual leasehold.

      B.   Any interest in real estate enduring for a fixed period of years but which, either by reason of the length of the term of the grant of a right to extend the term by renewal or otherwise, consists of a group of rights approximating those of an estate in fee simple, life estate or perpetual leasehold including, without limitation, a leasehold interest or possessory interest under a lease or occupancy agreement for a term of 30 years or more or a leasehold interest or possessory interest in real estate in which the lessee has equity.

   Transactions - the making, executing, delivering, accepting, or presenting for recording of a document.

   Value -

      A.   In the case of any bona fide sale of real estate at arm's length for actual monetary worth, the amount of the actual consideration therefore, paid or to be paid, including liens or other encumbrances thereon existing before the transfer and not removed thereby, whether or not the underlying indebtedness is assumed, and ground rents, or a commensurate part thereof where such liens or other encumbrances and ground rents also encumber or are charged against other real estate: Provided, that where such documents shall set forth a nominal consider ation, the "value" thereof shall be determined from the price set forth in or actual consideration for the contract of sale.

      B.   In consideration of a gift, sale by execution upon a judgment or upon the foreclosure of a mortgage by a judicial officer, transactions without consideration or for consideration less than the actual monetary worth of the real estate, a taxable lease, an occupancy agreement, a leasehold or possessory interest, any exchange of properties, or the real estate of an acquired company, the actual monetary worth of the real estate determined by adjusting the assessed value of the real estate for local real estate tax purposes for the common level ratio factor developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue for Pennsylvania realty transfer tax base calculations.

      C.   In the case of an easement or other interest in real estate the value of which is not determinable under subsection .A or .B, the actual monetary worth of such interest.

      D.   The actual consideration for or actual monetary worth of any executory agreement for the construction of buildings, structures or other permanent improvements to real estate between the grantor and other persons existing before the transfer and not removed thereby or between the grantor, the agent or principle of the grantor of a related corporation, association or partnership and the grantee existing before or effective with the transfer.

(Ord. 91-1, 9/9/1991, § 11.82; as amended by Ord. 2005-08, 10/24/2005)