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WhenRobLoweRobsLowes t1_j6n4u47 wrote

That's probably your school / municipal tax, so yes.

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[deleted] OP t1_j6on076 wrote

[deleted]

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WhenRobLoweRobsLowes t1_j6opz0l wrote

Because you pay a percentage of your income in taxes at federal, state, and local levels. Municipal / school taxes are the local level.

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[deleted] OP t1_j6orwj6 wrote

[deleted]

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ButtBlock t1_j6p5wh4 wrote

I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted. In my municipality, local earned income tax is completely separate and different from school taxes. Different computation, different basis, different collecting authority.

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MaybeADumbass t1_j6p0i9u wrote

> Sure, but "Local Earned Income Tax" is a specific thing, and that specific thing isn't municipal/school taxes.

Are you sure about that? The Earned Income Tax rate in Pittsburgh is 3%; 1% of that goes to the City, and 2% goes to the school district.

School taxes are based on property value AND earned income in the City and many other municipalities.

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[deleted] OP t1_j6p2mxq wrote

[deleted]

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MaybeADumbass t1_j6p4pjm wrote

> Sure, but "Local Earned Income Tax" is a specific thing, and that specific thing isn't municipal/school taxes.

Except that thing is only municipal and school (in some school districts) taxes. 0.5% of the 1.5% Local Earned Income Tax in Bellevue goes to the Northgate School District, and 1.0% goes to the municipality of Bellevue.

Plenty of people call them Municipal taxes because "municipal" just means relating to a city or town or its governing body. If you've never heard them called as such, maybe it's because your parents and/or teachers don't use the term?

> If you want to have a pedantic semantic argument, go be wrong somewhere else.

Ha!

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ButtBlock t1_j6p5krv wrote

Actuall school tax is different than LEIT. Also different from local services tax, PA unemployment tax, residency tax. PA has a huge problem making this more complicated than it needs to be. In NYC (the king of high taxes I might add) there was a spot on the state tax return where you computed local taxes and added them to the total. Done. 4 lines. No fuss.

The taxes aren’t even that much here. But think about how inefficient this is. What percentage of revenue that Keystone and Berkheimer collect actually goes to where it’s supposed to, after administrative fees.

Shit my town sent me a poll tax. Everyone who lives here (not just homeowners but renters too) have to pay 10 dollars a year just for living here. But you can only pay online and there’s a 3 dollar convenience fee. Thank you Berkheimer. Can you imagine if NYC was like hey you owe 2% income tax, but btw there’s a 30% “convenience fee.” PA really needs to clean this shit up. They’d save a lot of money in the process, too.

Edit: 3 dollar fee not 3%

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Kairenne t1_j6nggqr wrote

OMG yes. They will haunt you for the rest of your life. You will be assessed huge penalties that increase rapidly.

Even when you pay, make an extra copy to send back certified asap. I think they go thru past years records and re-bill.

My employer took out the correct taxes. They got their money, they KNOW they got your money. Just grift from the company.

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bitterbeerfaces t1_j6nha8a wrote

Yes. Such a pain in the ass.

I have two jobs and because of that payrolls wants to make me pay that $52 a year tax twice, when technically you only have to pay it once.

However, I can't submit a paycheck that shows I am paying it from my full-time job until I actually get paid in the new year. So every year both of my jobs withdrawal $2 towards this tax before I can submit a pay stub to my part-time job.

At tax time I fill out the paperwork and request my $2 refund, as the year prior I paid $54. I get some enjoyment out of knowing that keystone probably spends significantly more than $2 to get me my refund.

It's the little things in life.

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Borg_10501 t1_j6nouus wrote

Your local municipality outsourced their tax collection to a private company, which is what that is. So yes, you need to file your local taxes with them.

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orangesfwr t1_j6nhvlb wrote

Yes, Federal, State, and Local taxes are all separate filings and required.

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IShitOnFaces t1_j6n77sn wrote

Yes, you can probably do it online but you’ll be using box 19 on your w2 for it, for reference. Box 16 for wages box 19 for local taxes taken out.

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Travis123083 t1_j6n845c wrote

It's a nuisance tax, but sadly if you don't do it they'll garnish your wages or threaten imprisonment.

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Kairenne t1_j6nh0fi wrote

They are relentless. My 11 year old paperboy didn’t have to file fed/state taxes. In this case the money wasn’t deducted and they expected payment. 30 years later I am still bitter.

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Travis123083 t1_j6njauv wrote

I know how you feel. My locality sent me to collections for taxes I already paid. Thankfully I keep anything tax related for 5 or more years. Without it, I would of had to pay another 300 dollars.

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Kairenne t1_j6npn2r wrote

I’ve been retired six years. Got one at year 5.

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Jumpy-Natural4868 t1_j6nq2nn wrote

it's not a nuisance tax. it provides a substantial amount of revenue for local municipalities to provide services for their residents.

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Travis123083 t1_j6o2jqx wrote

It's a nuisance! If they want my tax money, take it out of my check as everyone else does.

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Jumpy-Natural4868 t1_j6o35o3 wrote

They do? At least around here (Allegheny)they do. And then you file each year to make sure you are squared away. Unless you are self employed but that's the same for state and federal SE too.

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Travis123083 t1_j6o5a5y wrote

I believe they do here also. But it's never enough. When I lived in Centre County I always got a nice local return. But not in blair Co.

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Jumpy-Natural4868 t1_j6o5hfh wrote

They need to withhold the correct amount or else they're violating the law. You could have other earned income not from an employer that you have to pay quarterly separately. Basically this is usually from self-employment activities.

It is also municipality based and not county-based as the tax rates are set by municipalities and the earned income tax goes to the municipalities, not the counties.

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Jumpy-Natural4868 t1_j6o3cpq wrote

Here you go. It's a state law that most employers must withhold local earned income tax. https://dced.pa.gov/local-government/local-income-tax-information/local-withholding-tax-faqs/

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Travis123083 t1_j6o5mh7 wrote

I double-checked my paystub and they do take it out. But I always end of owing money. Never happened in centre County.

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BrainWav t1_j6ov2pc wrote

You need to talk to your employer then. They may be assessing local tax for the wrong municipality. Some require it assessed if you live there, some if you work there.

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Travis123083 t1_j6o5wxg wrote

Also, I misunderstood OP's post. I was referring to per capita and the other nuisance taxes some counties like to impose. So I apologize for being stupid.

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Atrocious_1 t1_j6oigqz wrote

It absolutely is a nuisance. They got their money, they know they got their money, but Keystone, a private company, is just rent seeking and wants to steal more.

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Jrgutknecht t1_j6oc301 wrote

Not a nuisance tax, but a nuisance to go through this filing process. Other states I’ve lived in simply withdrew the required local tax and that was it. I don’t understand why PA handles it this way.

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artificialavocado t1_j6ny62x wrote

These people are horrible trying to deal with. This was like 5 years ago they actually were able to garnish my pay the 1st week of the year for like $150 for apparently missing it a few years prior because I moved. The person said on the phone “we don’t make mistakes.”

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Viperlite t1_j6oig2w wrote

Yes. Local wage taxes are unfortunately a thing.

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BluCurry8 t1_j6oun19 wrote

Yes. That is you local township or city taxes

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teenylittlesupergal t1_j6p0j5k wrote

Yes, but double check that it's for the correct location where you live or work. Keystone sent me a "local earned income tax return" for a neighboring borough because my work's payroll which is based in Maryland didn't know the difference.

I called Keystone collections group (they were very helpful on the phone). I had to upload the borough maps and maps of my township and they cancelled this. So, just a word of caution to always verify what, where and when bill is from before you pay.

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30686 t1_j6p7lrx wrote

Yes. Different tax.

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