act-1947-0-320•Pennsylvania Act 1947-320 — RELATING TO TAXATION: MERCANTILE LICENSE TAX
Pennsylvania Act 1947-320 — RELATING TO TAXATION: MERCANTILE LICENSE TAX
act-1947-0-3201947 Pa. Act 320Law
Act text
RELATING TO TAXATION: MERCANTILE LICENSE TAX
Act of Jun. 20, 1947, P.L. 745, No. 320 Cl. 24
(Act reenacted and amended May 12, 1949, P.L.1238, No.374)
AN ACT
To provide revenue for school districts of the first class A by
imposing a temporary mercantile license tax on persons
engaging in certain occupations and businesses therein;
providing for its levy and collection; for the issuance of
mercantile licenses upon the payment of fees therefor;
conferring and imposing powers and duties on boards of public
education, receivers of school taxes and school treasurers in
such districts; saving certain ordinances of council of
certain cities, and providing compensation for certain
officers, and employes and imposing penalties. (Title amended
May 14, 1982, P.L.426, No.125)
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Definitions.--The following words and phrases
when used in this act shall have the meanings ascribed to them
in this section unless the context clearly indicates a different
meaning.
(1) "Person" shall mean any individual, partnership, limited
partnership, association or corporation.
(2) "Wholesale dealer" or "Wholesale vendor" shall mean any
person who sells to dealers in, or vendors of, goods, wares and
merchandise and to no other persons.
(3) "Retail dealer" or "Retail vendor" shall mean any person
who is a dealer in, or vendor of, goods, wares and merchandise
who is not a wholesale dealer or vendor.
(4) "Dealer in, or vendor of, goods, wares and merchandise"
shall not include any mechanic who keeps a store or warehouse at
his place of manufactory or workshop in which he sells only his
own manufactures, any person vending or disposing of articles of
his own growth, produce or manufacture, or any hawker or peddler
licensed under any law of this Commonwealth.
(5) The terms "Person," "Wholesale dealer," "Wholesale
vendor," "Retail dealer," "Retail vendor" and "Dealer in, or
vendor of, goods, wares and merchandise" shall not include
nonprofit corporations or associations organized for religious,
charitable or educational purposes.
(6) "Broker" shall mean any stock broker, bill broker, note
broker, exchange broker, merchandise broker, factor, commission
merchant, real estate broker or agent and pawnbroker.
(7) "Place of amusement" shall mean 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,
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, shuffle board rooms, nine or ten pin
alleys, riding academies, golf courses, bathing and swimming
places, dance halls, tennis courts, archery, rifle or shotgun
ranges and other like places. The term does not include any
exhibition, amusement, performance or contest conducted by a
nonprofit corporation or association organized for religious,
charitable or educational purposes.
(8) "License year" shall mean the twelve month period
corresponding to the fiscal year of the school district levying
the tax.
(9) "Gross volume of business" shall include both cash and
credit transactions.
(10) "Collector" shall mean the receiver of school taxes, or
in a school district of the first class A in which there is no
such receiver of school taxes, the school treasurer. ((10)
amended May 14, 1982, P.L.426, No.125)
(1 reenacted May 12, 1949, P.L.1238, No.374)
Section 2. Authority to Levy and Collect Tax; Use of Tax.--
(a) For the year one thousand nine hundred forty-eight and
annually thereafter, every school district of the first class A
shall issue mercantile licenses and levy and collect an annual
mercantile license tax in the manner and at the rates
hereinafter set forth. Such tax shall be in addition to any
other tax every such school district is empowered to levy and
collect under any existing law. The license fees, taxes and
penalties collected under the provisions of this act, shall be
used by every such school district for general public school
purposes.
(b) On and after the first day of January, one thousand nine
hundred fifty, in any school district of the first class A
which, after such date, has no authority to levy or does not
levy the tax imposed by this act, the collector is authorized to
and shall continue to collect delinquent taxes owing such school
district under any levy for any prior year, under the provisions
of this act, until such taxes are either collected or until the
collector is exonerated with respect to such taxes. The
delinquent taxes so collected shall be used by every such school
district for general public school purposes.
(2 reenacted May 12, 1949, P.L.1238, No.374 and amended May
14, 1982, P.L.426, No.125)
Section 3. License Fees.--Beginning in the year one thousand
nine hundred forty-eight, and annually thereafter, every person
desiring to continue to engage in, or hereafter to begin to
engage in, the business of wholesale or retail vendor of, or
dealer in, goods, wares and merchandise, broker, conducting a
restaurant or other place where food, drink or refreshments are
sold, or place of amusement in a school district of the first
class A, shall on or before the first day of January of each
license year, or prior to commencing business in any such
license year, procure a mercantile license for his place of
business, or if more than one, for each of his places of
business in the school district from the receiver of school
taxes or school treasurer, who shall issue the same upon the
payment of a fee of two dollars ($2) for a wholesale license or
a retail license, and four dollars ($4) for a wholesale and
retail license for his place of business, or if more than one,
for each of his places of business in the school district for
each license year. Such license shall be conspicuously posted at
the place of business or each of the places of business of every
such person at all times.
(3 reenacted May 12, 1949, P.L.1238, No.374 and amended May
14, 1982, P.L.426, No.125)
Section 4. Imposition and Rate of Tax.--Every person
engaging in any of the following occupations or businesses in
any school district of the first class A shall pay an annual
mercantile license tax at the rate set forth:
(1) Wholesale vendors or dealers in goods, wares and
merchandise and brokers, at the rate of one-half (1/2) mill on
each dollar of the volume of the annual gross business
transacted by him;
(2) Retail vendors, or dealers in goods, wares and
merchandise; all persons engaged in conducting restaurants or
other places where food, drink or refreshments are sold, and all
persons conducting places of amusement at the rate of one (1)
mill on each dollar of the volume of the annual gross business
transacted by him;
(3) Wholesale and retail vendors or dealers in goods, wares
and merchandise, at the rate of one-half (1/2) mill on each
dollar of the volume of the annual gross wholesale business
transacted by him, and one (1) mill on each dollar of the volume
of the annual gross retail business transacted by him;
(4) The tax imposed by this section shall not apply to the
dollar volume of annual business covering the resale of goods,
wares or merchandise taken by a 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 allowance.
(4 reenacted and amended May 12, 1949, P.L.1238, No.374 and
amended May 14, 1982, P.L.426, No.125)
Section 5. Computation of Volume of Business.--
(a) Every person, subject to the payment of the tax hereby
imposed who has commenced his business at least one (1) full
year prior to the beginning of any license year shall compute
his annual gross volume of business upon the actual gross amount
of business transacted by him during the preceding calendar
year.
(b) Every person, subject to the payment of the tax hereby
imposed, who has commenced his business less than one (1) full
year prior to the license year one thousand nine hundred forty-
eight, for the license year one thousand nine hundred forty-
eight, or who has commenced his business subsequent to the
beginning of any license year for such license year and the
succeeding license year, shall compute his annual gross volume
of business upon the actual gross amount of business transacted
by him during the first month of his engaging in such business,
multiplied by the number of months of the current license year
remaining, or multiplied by twelve (12) for the first full
license year he engages in business, as the case may be.
(c) Every person, subject to the payment of the tax hereby
imposed, who engages in a business temporary, seasonal or
itinerant by its nature, shall compute his annual gross volume
of business upon the actual gross amount of business transacted
by him during such license year.
Section 6. Returns.--
(a) Every return shall be made upon a form furnished by the
collector. Every person making a return shall certify the
correctness thereof, by affidavit.
(b) Every person, subject to the tax imposed by this act,
who has commenced his business at least one (1) full year prior
to the beginning of any license year, shall on or before the
fifteenth day of April, one thousand nine hundred forty-eight,
and annually thereafter, file with the collector a return
setting forth his name, his business and business address, and
such other information as may be necessary in arriving at the
actual gross amount of business transacted by him during the
preceding calendar year and the amount of the tax due.
(c) Every person, subject to the tax imposed by this act,
who has commenced his business less than one (1) full year prior
to the beginning of the license year one thousand nine hundred
forty-eight, shall, on or before the fifteenth day of March, one
thousand nine hundred forty-eight, file with the collector a
return setting forth his name, his business, business address,
and such other information as may be necessary in arriving at
the actual gross amount of business transacted by him during his
first month of business and the amount of the tax due.
(d) Every person, subject to the tax imposed by this act,
who commences business subsequent to the beginning of any
license year, shall within forty (40) days from the date of
commencing such business, and on or before the fifteenth day of
April of the succeeding license year, file a return with the
collector setting forth his name, his business and business
address, and such information as may be necessary in arriving at
the actual gross amount of business transacted by him during his
first month of business and the amount of the tax due.
(e) Every person, subject to the payment of the tax imposed
by this act, who engages in a business temporary, seasonal or
itinerant by its nature, shall, within seven (7) days from the
day he completes such business, file a return with the collector
setting forth his name, his business and business address, and
such information as may be necessary in arriving at the actual
gross amount of business transacted by him during such period
and the amount of the tax due.
(6 amended Sept. 9, 1959, P.L.850, No.338)
Section 7. Payment.--At the time of filing the return the
person making the same shall pay the amount of tax shown as due
thereon to the collector.
Section 8. Powers and Duties of Collector.--
(a) It shall be the duty of the collector to collect and
receive the taxes, fines and penalties imposed by this act for
payment over to the school treasurer. Where such school
treasurer is not the collector, as in the case of other school
taxes collected, it shall also be his duty to keep a record
showing the amount received by him from each person paying the
tax and the date of such receipt.
(b) The collector is hereby charged with the administration
and enforcement of the provisions of this act, 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 act, including provision
for the re-examination and correction of returns, and payments
alleged or found to be incorrect, or as to which an overpayment
is claimed, or found to have occurred. No assessment may be made
more than five years after the date on which such taxes should
have been paid, except where a fraudulent return or no return
has been filed. Any person aggrieved by any decision of the
collector shall have the right of appeal to the county court of
Allegheny County. ((b) amended May 10, 1956, 1955 P.L.1559,
No.519)
(c) The collector is hereby 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 imposed. Every such taxpayer, or
supposed taxpayer, is hereby directed and required to give to
the collector the means, facilities and opportunity for such
examinations and investigations as are hereby authorized. The
collector is hereby 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 to this end may compel the production of books,
papers and records, and the attendance of all persons before
him, whether as parties, or witnesses, whom he believes to have
knowledge of such gross volume of business or gross receipts.
(d) The powers conferred by this act upon the collector
relating to the administration and enforcement of this act shall
be in addition to, but not exclusive of, any other powers
heretofore or hereafter conferred upon him.
Section 8.1. Review of Returns; Reassessment of Taxes.--No
tax return shall be reexamined nor an additional tax imposed on
any taxpayer on account of any rule or regulation which declares
certain activities to be included in the retail business
classification and which were allowed by the taxing authorities
to be included in the wholesale business classification in
previous returns, unless such rule or regulation is approved
prior to the date such return is required to be filed.
(8.1 added July 13, 1953, P.L.450, No.104)
Section 9. Suit on Collection; Penalty.--
(a) It shall be the duty of the board of public education,
or the collector if designated by the Board, to sue for the
recovery of all taxes due, not paid when due. Such suits shall
be begun within one (1) year after such taxes have been
assessed.
(b) If for any reason the tax is not paid when due in each
year, interest at the rate of six per centum (6%) per annum or
at a per annum rate which does not exceed the Federal Reserve
Discount Rate in effect for Federal Reserve District Four on
December 1 of the preceding tax year, whichever is greater, on
the amount of said tax, and an additional penalty of one-half of
one per centum (1/2%) of the amount of the unpaid tax for each
month, or fraction thereof, during which the tax remains unpaid,
shall be added and collected: Provided, That the maximum penalty
which shall be imposed on a tax not paid when due shall be seven
(7%) percent. A school district shall, on or before December 31,
establish by resolution the specific per annum interest rate to
be imposed on unpaid taxes during the following tax year. Where
suit is brought for the recovery of any such tax the person
shall be liable for, and in addition to the tax assessed against
such person, the costs of such collection, and the interest and
penalties herein imposed shall be collected. ((b) amended May
14, 1982, P.L.426, No.125)
(c) All penalty in excess of one-half of one per centum
(1/2%) per month on unpaid taxes levied pursuant to the act for
the year 1955 and all previous years are hereby abated, if the
unpaid taxes and penalty (not to exceed one-half of one per
centum (1/2%) per month) and interest are paid on or before
December thirty-one, one thousand nine hundred fifty-six,
provided the taxpayer's 1955 and 1956 taxes levied under this
act are paid. No refund of taxes, interest or penalties paid
prior to the date of the enactment of this act shall be made as
a result of the amendments herein contained.
(9 reenacted May 12, 1949, P.L.1238, No.374 and amended May
10, 1956, 1955 P.L.1559, No.519)
Section 10. Penalties.--
(a) Whoever wilfully makes any false or untrue statement on
his return shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction
thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than two
thousand dollars ($2000), or to undergo imprisonment for not
more than one (1) year, or both.
(b) Whoever wilfully fails or refuses to appear before the
collector in person with his books, records or accounts, for
examination when required under the provisions of this act to do
so, or who wilfully refuses to permit inspection of the books,
records or accounts of any business in his custody or control,
when the right to make such inspection by the collector is
requested, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction
thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than five
hundred dollars ($500), or to undergo imprisonment for not more
than six (6) months, or both.
(c) Whoever wilfully fails or refuses to file a return
required by this act and containing the information required by
this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction
thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than five
hundred dollars ($500), or to undergo imprisonment for not more
than six (6) months, or both.
(d) Whoever being required under the provisions of this act
to procure a mercantile license, and who wilfully fails or
refuses to do so, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon
conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more
than five hundred dollars ($500), or to undergo imprisonment for
not more than six (6) months, or both.
(e) Whoever being required under the provisions of this act
to keep his license conspicuously posted at his place of
business for which issued and fails to do so, shall, upon
summary conviction thereof, pay a fine of not more than one
hundred dollars ($100) and costs of prosecution or in default of
payment thereof, shall undergo imprisonment for not more than
thirty (30) days.
Section 11. Compensation; Employes.--
(a) The collector, and such of his assistants and employes
as he shall designate, shall be paid by the school district such
compensation for their services in the administration and
enforcement of this act as the board of public education shall
fix, which said compensation shall be in addition to such other
salary or compensation each shall, or hereafter may, be entitled
to receive for the performance of any other duties performed or
to be performed by him.
(b) The collector shall appoint such assistants and
employes, including legal counsel, as the collector shall
require to aid him in the administration and enforcement of this
act, at such salaries or compensation, as the board of public
education shall fix, which shall be paid by the school district.
Section 12. Saving Clauses.--
(a) The validity of any ordinance or part of any ordinance
providing for or relating to the imposition, levy or collection
of any tax passed by the council of a city coextensive with a
school district of the first class in effect on the effective
date of this act, and any amendments or supplements thereto,
which may be hereafter passed by such council shall not be
affected or impaired by anything contained in this act.
(b) Nothing contained in this act shall be construed to
empower any school district of the first class to levy and
collect the taxes hereby imposed on any person or on any
business or any portion of any business not within the taxing
power of this Commonwealth under the Constitution of the United
States.
(c) If the tax, or any portion of the tax, imposed upon any
person, or, if any exception from the imposition of the tax, or
any portion of the tax imposed upon any person under the
provisions of this act shall be held by any court of competent
jurisdiction to be in violation of the Constitution of the
United States, or of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the
decision of the court shall not affect or impair the right to
impose the taxes, or the validity of taxes so imposed upon other
persons as herein provided, or to impose the taxes so excepted
from imposition. It is the intent of the General Assembly that
the taxes imposed or excepted, so held to be unconstitutional,
were not to be imposed or excepted, but that the remainder of
said taxes imposed hereunder were to be imposed and collected
and the taxes so excepted were to be imposed.
Section 13. (13 repealed May 14, 1982, P.L.426, No.125)
Section 14. Repeal.--All acts or parts of acts inconsistent
herewith are hereby repealed.
Section 15. Effective Date.--The provisions of this act
shall become effective immediately upon final enactment.
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