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Think Your Tax Return is Due April 17?

Don’t Be So Sure if You Are a Pennsylvania Resident

PHILADELPHIA – Pennsylvania’s complicated local tax collection system, which has been causing headaches for years, will now pose a problem for Pennsylvania taxpayers as they prepare to file their 2006 tax returns. 

The federal and state governments have both extended their filing deadlines to April 17, however local tax collectors in Pennsylvania have not followed suit.  Local earned income tax returns may still be due the day before, on April 16.

How can this happen? According to J. Andrew Weidman, president of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), “there are 560 local tax collectors for nearly 3,000 taxing jurisdictions in Pennsylvania, more than all other states combined.” All local tax collectors are autonomous and there is no centralized body regulating their administration. According to a study conducted by the Department of Community and Economic Development, millions of dollars are lost each year in this fractured, antiquated system. In addition, there is no enforcement mechanism to pursue action against tax collectors who don’t follow the law. 

Pennsylvania workers who reside or work in jurisdictions with the earned income tax are required to file a local tax return, even if their employer collected the taxes due or they had no income for the year.  Failure to file can result in up to a $500 fine and 30 days imprisonment.

PICPA supports efforts to create a more consolidated collection system with uniform collection rules and regulations as well as penalty provisions for tax collectors who don’t follow the law, but little progress has been made to move forward with those plans.  PICPA has also contacted the Pennsylvania Earned Income Tax Officers, Administrators and Collectors Association and Local Earned Income Tax Association to encourage them to have their members extend their filing deadlines to April 17. Individual taxpayers can contact these organizations or their local tax collector to support this measure. 

Pennsylvania residents should also contact their local legislator to voice their concern over the fractured system that has placed an unnecessary burden on Pennsylvania taxpayers and results in the misuse of their tax dollars.

Founded in 1897, the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants is a professional association of more than 19,000 CPAs who work in public accounting, industry, government, and education. PICPA is the second-oldest state CPA organization in the United States. To find a member CPA in your area, visit our Web site at www.picpa.org and click on CPA Locator. Students and educators can visit PICPA's specially designed site www.CPAzone.org to get the latest information about careers in accounting and the CPA profession.