UPDATE (May 24, 2023): BOS approved a Resolution supporting repeal of the Sterling Act.

UPDATE (May 5, 2023): “Senate Passes Farry’s Commuter Tax Fairness Act to Keep Tax Dollars Local”; https://sco.lt/7EkhRg

At the April 27, 2023, Bucks County Tax Collection Committee meeting, the discussion focused on the Sterling Act and passing a resolution to formally request the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Senators and Representatives of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania to amend the Sterling Act and require that an amount of up to one (1%) percent of the non-resident Philadelphia Wages of non-residents of Philadelphia be remitted to the municipality in which the taxpayer resides.

The Sterling Act does not require Philadelphia to remit any portion of its Earned Income Tax revenue to the municipality in which the non-resident taxpayer resides, even though the non-resident’s home municipality has enacted its own Earned Income Tax.

As of 2021 data, there are 763 Newtown Twp residents who pay in excess of 3.4% Wage Tax to Philadelphia. This represents a loss of over $360,000 per year in EIT that the Township would have collected from these residents.

Has your home turned into an office? With the pandemic forcing many people to work from home, thousands in our area are no longer commuting to work.

For those who in the past commuted to Philadelphia, there is yet another benefit to working from home beyond saving time, gas, and tolls: a tax refund of up to $3,000 by paying the local 1% EIT tax versus the 3.5% Philadelphia non-resident wage tax.

Learn how to see if you are due a refund...