NOTICE TO CAPITAL TAX BUREAU EMPLOYERS   The Capital Tax Bureau has received numerous telephone calls from employers who have received a notice, “2010 CHANGES FOR REMITTING EARNED INCOME TAX” from the Lancaster County Tax Collection Bureau (copy on reverse side). The notice apparently misleads employers to believe that LCTCB is the designated collector for Pennsylvania Local Income Tax throughout the Commonwealth.  

THIS IS INCORRECT.  

Lancaster County Tax Collection Bureau has no legal authority to state, “Employers can now submit ALL of their Pennsylvania Local Tax to LCTCB.” Until further notice, employers are required to continue remitting earned income tax to the local tax collector, regardless of the number of facilities operated by the employer  

In fact, employers outside the LCTCB’s taxing jurisdiction who remit their Pennsylvania Local Income Tax to LCTCB may find themselves “delinquent” to their local tax collector and in violation of the Local Tax Enabling Act (Act 511 of 1965) and the local ordinances/resolutions of municipalities and school districts outside of LCTCB’s taxing jurisdiction. These violations usually result in interest, penalties, collection fees and fines being levied against the delinquent employer.  

PLEASE be sure to check the EARNED INCOME TAX REGISTER on the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s website (http://munstatspa.dced.state.pa.us/Registers.aspx?H=1) to ensure that you are remitting the Pennsylvania Local Income Tax withheld from your employees to the proper collector.   

In general, the law requires that you must withhold the local income tax from your employees and remit it to the Tax Office/taxing jurisdiction where those employees are currently employed. For employers who have multiple locations throughout the Commonwealth, you must continue to make multiple remittances to those tax offices where your facilities are located.  

ACT 32 of 2008, when it becomes effective on January 1, 2012, will allow multiple location employers to consolidate their Pennsylvania Local Income Tax remittances to one tax office. There are several conditions that multi-location employers must meet to take advantage of ACT 32’s consolidated local income tax remittances (ACT 32, Section 512, Paragraph 5):  

1.      The employer must have more than one place of employment in more than one tax collection district.

2.      Within 30 days of the end of each month the employer must file the employee income and tax withholding detail and make payment of the tax withheld from all employees in all locations to the tax officer where the employer’s payroll operations are located OR as determined by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

3.      The return and income taxes deducted must be filed and paid electronically.

4.      The employer must file a “notice of intention to file combined returns and make combined payments” with the tax officers for each place of employment at least one month before filing its first combined return or making its first combined payment.  

Please visit www.captax.com or www.newpa.com for additional information regarding ACT 32 of 2008.

Perry County is the first county to select a permanent local tax collector for earned income tax as requried under new state law.  On September 24, the county's 36-member municipalities and school district unanimously selected the Capital Tax Collection Bureau (CTCB) as its local tax collector under state law that goes into effect in 2012.

James Swenson, chairman of the Perry County Tax Collection Committee, and a representative of Centre Township, said that appointed CTCB as the permanent colletor once the new law goes into effect was really a "no-brainer.  All of our municipalities and school districts are already well-serviced by CapTax, and we have great confidence in their continued abilities. CapTax is a model agency for the countywide collection of taxes as it is member-driven, and not a private, for-profit company who keeps proceeds for themselves. At CapTax we share in the savings and revenues generated by the agency, which means our taxpayers save money in the long run. That’s what matters most.”

CapTax Executive Director Joshua Vecchio said “we are delighted to be the first local tax collection agency in the state to be selected for countywide representation under the new Act 32 requirements, and we look forward to continuing our service to Perry County. Hopefully our other member municipalities that are currently located in Dauphin, Cumberland and Juniata counties will be able to convince their fellow municipal officials to follow suit.”

Vecchio concluded, “I can’t stress this enough, any tax collector who is a for profit company has other interests than maximizing revenue for its municipalities and school districts. A for profit collector has an owner and possibly shareholders who want to make money off of tax revenue. As a non-profit bureau, the whole purpose of CapTax’s existence is to minimize costs and maximize tax revenue for our members. We have no other constituents to satisfy other than the municipalities and school districts we represent.” 

Harrisburg, PA – Taxpayers served by the Capital Tax Collection Bureau (CapTax) can now file their local Earned Income(EIT) and Net Profit (NP) Taxes online at www.captax.com, Executive Director Joshua Vecchio today announced.  The new online filing service allows taxpayers to fill out their 2008 tax form online, and pay any outstanding taxes due via credit card or payment voucher. 

Vecchio said the new online service is designed to make filing and paying EIT’s and NP’s easier and more convenient for taxpayers, who previously have had to fill out paper forms and write checks for the payment of any taxes due.  The online filing service also allows taxpayers to use their credit cards to make any payments due, which creates faster tax payments and reduces the number of delinquent taxpayers.   

“Online filing is a substantial new service being offered to taxpayers residing within CapTax’s 67 member municipalities and school districts,” said Vecchio.  “We are the only midstate non-profit tax collection agency to offer online filing, and it is already a hit with our taxpayers.  Since the new online filing service went live two weeks ago, nearly 4,500 returns have already been filed.  It is a phenomenal response, and we haven’t even announced it to the public yet.”

Vecchio noted that the new service will also save CapTax time and resources, as staff who previously handled the paper forms are now free to do other work.  “While providing greater and more convenient service for our taxpayers is our primary intent,” said Vecchio, “we will also accrue benefits to the Bureau in the form of reduced operating costs, with those savings possibly passed on to our members.”

Vecchio said the Bureau is undergoing a number of additional technology upgrades and improvements, including the installation of new printing machines to print all tax forms in-house, the addition of new sorting machinery that will speed taxform mailings, and a complete revamping of the Bureau’s website into a more user-friendly online filing service. 

“CapTax is moving forward with these changes and improvements to better serve our members and their taxpayers, and to stay competitive in the upcoming ACT 32 world of local tax collections,” concluded Vecchio.