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Tips & tools
A tax tip a day plus an array of tax tools, terms and training will help you through filing and beyond. |
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Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's state income tax rate is a flat 3.07 percent with no personal exemptions. More on Pennsylvania taxes can be found in the tabbed pages below.
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Income |
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Sales |
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Property |
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Estate |
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Other |
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| Personal income tax |
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Pennsylvania
has a flat tax rate
of 3.07 percent on individual
income, with no personal
exemptions. |
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County, municipal and school district taxes also are collected. Those rates can be found at the Department of Community and Economic Development Web site. |
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Pennsylvanians who live on a modest
income may qualify for the state's Tax
Forgiveness Credit. |
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Pennsylvania tax returns are due on April 15 or the next business day if that date falls on a weekend or holiday. |
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| Sales tax |
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Pennsylvania imposes a 6 percent
state sales tax on taxable goods and services. |
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A local sales tax of 1 percent is
collected on sales of taxable goods and services initiated from
a location in Philadelphia and Allegheny counties. |
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Major items exempt from sales tax
include food (not ready-to-eat), most wearing apparel, drugs,
textbooks, sales for resale and residential heating fuels. |
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| Personal and real property taxes |
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Pennsylvania does not levy or collect
taxes on real estate or personal property. Those taxes are reserved
for the local governments: counties, municipalities and school
districts. Usually, all three districts levy real estate or
property taxes, so you will need to know what county, school
district and municipality you live in. |
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Municipalities (cities, townships
and boroughs) are permitted to levy real estate property taxes
that cannot exceed 30 mills on the assessed value of the property
without special permission of the courts. |
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The Taxpayer Relief Act provides
school districts the opportunity to offer lower property taxes
to homeowners by implementing an additional earned income and
net profits tax or a personal income tax. More information on
this measure is available at the Pennsylvania
Department of Education Web site. |
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The state's Property
Tax/Rent Rebate program is available to qualified seniors
and permanently disabled citizens. It is funded by the Pennsylvania
Lottery and administered by the PA Department of Revenue. Qualified
taxpayers can be reimbursed up to $650 a year for the amount
they paid in property taxes or rent in the previous year. |
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Local governments can impose a variety
of local taxes, from the earned income tax to the real property
tax to various other taxes. Employers are required to withhold
from employees earned income and emergency and municipal services
taxes imposed by municipalities and school districts. |
| Inheritance and estate taxes |
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Pennsylvania collects an inheritance
tax. |
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Pennsylvania has an estate tax based on a decedent's total gross estate and limited to the credit for state death taxes allowed on the federal estate tax return. However, since the federal credit for state estate tax payments has been phased out, the Keystone State's estate tax is not imposed. |
| Other Pennsylvania tax facts |
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Taxpayers can go online to track the status of their refunds. |
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In an effort to collect unpaid state taxes, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue publishes a list of delinquent sales and employer withholding tax accounts. |
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Active duty military pay is not
taxable for Pennsylvania purposes if earned outside the state
by a Pennsylvania resident serving on full-time active duty
or federal active duty for training. However, other income is
still taxable. |
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| For more information, visit the
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue's Web
site. Residents may also contact the automated FACT and
Information Line at (888)-PATAXES. New resident tax information
is available by clicking here. |
| To download
tax forms on this site, you will need to install a
free copy
of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click here for instructions. |
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