A. The license and tax provisions of Article 361 apply to:
1. Wholesale vendors of or dealers in goods, wares and merchandise, that is, those persons who sell to vendors of or dealers in goods, wares and merchandise.
2. Retail vendors of or dealers in goods, wares and merchandise, that is, those vendors or dealers who are not wholesale vendors or dealers.
3. Persons conducting restaurants or other places where food, drink or refreshments are sold.
4. Persons conducting places of amusement, that is, any place indoors or outdoors where the general public or a limited or selected number thereof may, upon payment of an established price, attend or engage in any amusement, entertainment, exhibition, contest or recreation, including among other places, theaters, opera houses, motion picture houses, amusement parks, stadia, arenas, baseball or football parks or fields, skating rinks, circus or carnival tents or grounds, fair grounds, bowling alleys, billiard or pool rooms, shuffleboard rooms, riding academies, golf courses, bathing and swimming places, dance halls, tennis courts, archery, rifle or shotgun ranges and other like places.
B. Article 361 applies to concessionaries who carry on any occupation or business which is described in any of the classifications listed in A. above.
C. Article 361 applies not only to any business in existence at the beginning of the license year, but also to any business begun within the license year.
D. A person whose business is, in part, furnishing services and, in part, dealing in goods, wares and merchandise must comply with the license and tax provisions with respect to his business in goods, wares and merchandise.
Section 2. Payment of License Fees.
A. The license must be posted conspicuously at each place of business of licensee at all times.
B. A person who sells goods, wares or merchandise by means of vending machines and who has not otherwise procured a license as a retail vendor or dealer under Article 361 shall procure one license covering all of his vending machines located in White Oak.
C. Amount of fee: The license fees for such place of business for all or part of a year are as follows:
Wholesale | $5.00 |
Retail | $5.00 |
Combined Wholesale and Retail | $5.00 |
Brokers | $5.00 |
Restaurant | $5.00 |
Place of Amusement | $5.00 |
These license fees are in addition to fees for any other licenses which persons to whom Article 361 applies are required to procure under any ordinance or other statute.
Section 3. Time of Filing, Payments and Rate.
A. Time of filing:
1. If the taxpayer has commenced business before March 15, of the current year, return must be filed, and the tax paid on or before May 15, in the current license year.
2. If the taxpayer first begins business after March 15, of the current year, the first return and payment of tax are due within thirty days following the first month of business.
3. If the business of the taxpayer is temporary, seasonal or itinerant, the return and payment of tax are due within thirty days following the day he completes such business.
B. Payment of tax: The taxpayer must pay the amount of the tax shown due on the return to the Mercantile Tax Collector at the time of filing the return. Partial payments on account will not be credited to the taxpayer's account. Interest and penalty will be computed on the total amount of tax due.
C. Rates of tax: The tax is imposed on the actual gross business transacted by the taxpayer at the following rates:
Retail | 0015 |
Wholesale | 00075 |
D. Where the character of the business falls within several of the above classes, the "gross volume of business" must be segregated into each of such classes, and the tax must be computed at the rate applicable to each class.
Section 4. Gross Volume of Business.
A. "Gross volume of business" means "gross receipts" or "gross sales" depending on the nature of the business. The gross volume of business shall include not only receipts in moneys, but also, in the case of barter and exchange transactions in which other than money is received as payment or part payment, an amount equal to that which would have been received if full payment had been required in cash. The gross receipts from sales shall include all receipts from any transfer of title or possession, or both, whether conditional by bailment lease or otherwise, for a consideration.
B. The tax is imposed upon any person who exercises the privilege of carrying on certain businesses within the Borough and is measured by the entire actual gross volume of business transacted by him. Receipts from any business transaction are to be included if any event forming a part of the transaction occurs within the Borough.
Examples of such events are:
1. Cash transaction in White Oak.
2. Receipt of order by seller or his agent in White Oak by mail.
3. Solicitation within White Oak by seller or his agent, or otherwise.
4. Shipment from White Oak.
C. Refunds, credits or allowances given by a vendor or dealer to a purchaser on account of defects in goods, wares and merchandise sold or returned may be deducted from the amount of the "gross volume of business" of the vendor or dealer.
D. The entire gross receipts of vending machines and other mechanical devices which dispense goods, wares and merchandise, or are not taxed under the White Oak Mechanical Devices Ordinance, are to be included in the "gross volume of business" of the owner or lessor thereof. No deductions may be made therefrom for "splits," rentals, commissions or other remunerations paid to persons in charge of the machines and/or to the lessee of premises upon which the machines are located.
E. Brokers, commission merchants, and factors are taxable at the rate of 3/4 mill on each dollar of gross commissions received by them. However, if a person, in addition to acting as a broker, commission merchant, or factor, also acts as a vendor or dealer and takes title to and sells goods, wares and merchandise on his own account, he is required to pay a tax on the entire gross receipts from such sales made on his own account.
F. Persons in the service trades shall include in their taxable gross volume of business that portion of their gross receipts resulting from the sale of goods, wares and merchandise.
G. The following federal and state excise taxes may be excluded from gross volume of business, provided such taxes are separately stated on the evidence of charge or sale. (These are the only taxes excluded from the gross volume computation.)
1. Federal Tax on Admission and Dues.
2. Federal Retailers' Excise Tax on jewelry, furs, and fur articles, toilet preparations and luggage.
3. Pennsylvania and Federal Liquid Fuels Tax.
4. Pennsylvania Sales Tax.
H. Gross receipts from the sale of alcoholic beverages by distributors, sub-distributors, and similarly designated licensees of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, are excluded from the computation of gross volume. Retail dealers shall include the sales of alcoholic beverages in their computation of gross volume.
(Res. 1506. Passed 3-1-76.)
I. Former subsection I. was repealed by Ord. 1552, passed 9-30-76.
J. In the case of businesses discontinuing operations before the end of the calendar year, gross volume is computed in accordance with Section 361.05, pro-rated to the date of termination in the current license year. Businesses that commence and terminate within the same calendar year shall compute their gross volume as a temporary business in accordance with Section 361.05(d).
Section 5. Treatment of Particular Transactions.
A. There shall be no mercantile tax levied on the resale of goods, wares and merchandise taken by any dealer as a trade-in or as part payment for other goods, wares and merchandise, except to the extent that the resale price exceeds the trade-in allowances.
When dealers who are engaged in similar lines of business exchange articles of property, and one of them makes payment to the other in addition to the property exchanged by him, the transaction shall constitute sales to each other if the dealers treat such transactions as sales on their records. The receipt of each dealer is measured by the gross value of the consideration received by him. Where a dealer transfers property such as an automobile to another dealer with the understanding that property of identical description will be returned at a subsequent date, such transaction does not constitute a sale, and the value of the property exchanged need not be included in the tax base of either dealer.
B. Property repossessed: Where goods, wares or merchandise sold under a conditional or other installment sale contract are repossessed by the seller, and the repossessed property is subsequently sold, the gross receipts from such sales are to be included in the gross volume of business only to the extent by which the amount of the sale exceeds the balance due on the original sale at the time of repossession. No deduction from gross receipts may be taken at the time of repossession for any unpaid balance due.
C. In the case of garages, automobile dealers, or others operating garages, eighty-five percent (85%) of sales or repair parts written upon repair orders, or in conjunction with repair orders on which a labor charge is made, is exempt.
D. In the case of funeral directors, a fifty percent (50%) allowance for professional service may be deducted from gross receipts in order to arrive at taxable volume.
E. A temporary, seasonal, or itinerant business is one that is regularly conducted for less than six months in a calendar year.
Section 6. Returns.
Returns shall be filled in completely. Actual gross volume shall be reported on the returns, with itemization of deductions and exclusions to arrive at taxable volume.
In case of a business which has taxable and non-taxable transactions, total gross volume shall be shown on the return. Non-taxable sales shall be itemized to arrive at taxable volume.
Section 7. Deductions and Exclusions.
Article 361 does not apply to:
A. Non-profit corporations and associations organized for religious, charitable, or educational purposes.
B. Agencies of the Government of the United States or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
C. Any person vending or disposing of articles of his own growth, production or manufacture. The term "manufacture" means the production of a new article which is separate and distinct from the materials or ingredients of which it is composed. Manufacturing shall also include the slaughtering and processing of meats.
D. Any exhibition, amusement, performance or contest conducted by a non-profit corporation or association organized for religious, charitable or educational purposes.
E. Professions, such as, lawyers, doctors, architects, engineers and service trades, such as, barbers, launderies and cleaning and dyeing establishments, except to the extent that a part of their business may consist of the sale of goods wares and merchanise.
F. That portion of the annual gross volume of business which the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is prohibited from taxing by reason of the Constitution of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Receipts will be excluded as having been derived from interstate commerce transactions only if those transactions directly involved the sale, exchange or transportation of commodities between the states. The citizenship or residence of the parties to the transaction is of no significance, and it is of no significance in which state title of the goods passes, or whether the goods are shipped F.O.B. one state or another.
For Example:
1. Sale and delivery in White Oak: Receipts are included in the case of sales made by a White Oak vendor or dealer to customers located outside Pennsylvania where the property is delivered directly to the purchaser or his agent within Pennsylvania, notwithstanding the fact that the purchaser or his agent intends to, and later does, transport the property to a point outside the state.
2. Shipment into Pennsylvania from out-of-state factory of third party: Receipts are included if the White Oak vendor or dealer causes delivery to be made at point within Pennsylvania from an out-of-state source of supply owned or operated by a third party, (one from whom the vendor buys). For example, if a dealer in White Oak causes an automobile to be delivered directly to the buyer from the factory of the manufacturer in Detroit, the receipts are included in the dealer's gross volume of business on which the tax is based.
3. Delivery from out-of-state factory of vendor or dealer via his White Oak office: Receipts are included if the property is shipped from the out-of-state factory or warehouse of a White Oak vendor or dealer to his (the vendor's or dealer's) place of business in Pennsylvania from which point the goods are delivered to the purchaser.
4. Shipment from White Oak by vendor or dealer: Receipts are excluded if the White Oak vendor or dealer, as a necessary incident to the contract of sale, agrees to and does deliver the property to a purchaser at a point outside Pennsylvania, or delivers the property to a common carrier consigned to the purchaser at a point outside Pennsylvania.
G. Receipts from sales to or dealings with governmental agencies, charitable and religious corporations are not to be excluded from the gross volume of business on which the tax is based. Article 361 grants exemption only to the agencies, institutions and persons specified, and not to taxpayers transacting business with such agencies, institutions and persons.
Section 8. Books and Records, and Examination Thereof.
A. Books and records: The taxpayer must maintain such accounting records as will enable him to make a true and accurate return in accordance with the provisions of Article 361 and these Regulations. Such accounting records must disclose in detail all data pertaining to the taxpayer's gross volume of business, and must be sufficiently complete to enable the Treasurer to verify all transactions. A taxpayer claiming exemptions for receipts from transactions in foreign or interstate commerce, and exclusions or non-taxable receipts, must maintain complete records of such items.
B. Inspection and examination: The Collector, or his authorized agent, is authorized to examine the books, papers and records of any taxpayer or supposed taxpayer in order to verify the accuracy of any return made; or, if no return was made, to ascertain the tax to be imposed. He is authorized to examine any person connected with any business concerning any gross volume of business or gross receipts, which was or should have been returned for taxation, and for this purpose may compel the production of books, papers and records. Article 361 directs that every taxpayer, or supposed taxpayer, give to the Collector the means, facilities and opportunity for such examinations and investigations.
Section 9. Refunds.
A. Upon application at the office of the Mercantile Tax Collector, pro-rata refunds will be made to businesses discontinuing operations before the end of the license year. (See Section 4J.)
B. License fees on tax erroneously or inadvertently paid to the Collector shall, on proof of such erroneous or inadvertent payment, be refunded.
C. All applications for refund must be filed within twelve months following the end of the license year for which the refund is claimed.
(Res. 1506. Passed 3-1-76.)