BELLWOOD - Bellwood-Antis School District has filed a civil complaint in the Blair County Court of Common Pleas against Central Tax Bureau of Pennsylvania Inc.
The district is seeking $124,126.17 in earned income tax collected by Centax that the Bridgeville-based company allegedly failed to remit to the district tax office. Half of the money is due to the school district and the other half is owed to Bellwood Borough and Antis Township.
The district has always had a problem obtaining tax revenues from Centax in a timely manner, but a recent announcement by the state Department of Community and Economic Development that Centax was discontinuing operations and had entered into an agreement with H.A. Berkheimer of Allentown to take over collections prompted the legal action, said Kenneth Swanson, business manager/board sceretary.
"The lack of enforcement by DCED under the previous law, Act 511, left all earned income tax offices with the burden of a continual battle in getting Centax to turn over taxes to the rightful tax office. With the passage of Act 32 and a more active role by DCED, it prompted Centax to cease operations," Swanson said. "Filing of this complaint was necessary to ensure we will receive taxes due to the Bellwood-Antis School District and municipalities."
Under Pennsylvania's Act 32 of 2008, municipalities and school districts were required to arrange centralized wage tax collection systems to replace a statewide fragmented system with as many as 560 wage tax collectors.
An attempt to reach a Centax official for comment was unsuccessful Tuesday.
