Scott v. Hempfield Area School District

20 Pa. D. & C.4th 139, 1993 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 119
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Westmoreland County
DecidedAugust 17, 1993
Docketno. 313 of 1990
StatusPublished

This text of 20 Pa. D. & C.4th 139 (Scott v. Hempfield Area School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Westmoreland County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scott v. Hempfield Area School District, 20 Pa. D. & C.4th 139, 1993 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 119 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1993).

Opinion

CARUSO, J.,

Samuel Z. Scott, plaintiff, is the president and sole shareholder of the Scott Electric Company, which is a Pennsylvania Sub-chapter S Corporation. In January of 1990, the plaintiff filed suit against Hempfield Area School District and Hempfield Township. The complaint alleged that on his 1987 earned income tax return, the plaintiff included not only his salary received as president of Scott Electric, but also the net profits of Scott Electric allocated to him as a shareholder. It is alleged that $26,064.00, was erroneously paid as the 1% wage tax on the net profits allocated to the plaintiff. The plaintiff was unable to obtain a refund, thus he seeks judgment against the defendants in the above mentioned amount plus interest.

The defendants answered by denying that a portion of Scott Electric’s net profits was erroneously paid as wage tax. They stated that the Local Tax Enabling Act, 53 P.S. §6901 et seq., gives them the power to tax earnings of a subchapter S corporation allocated to the plaintiff. The defendants also counterclaimed seeking additional wage taxes from Samuel Z. Scott based upon [140]*140Scott Electric’s net profits allocated to him from 1988 to 1992.

The plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment stating that the Local Tax Enabling Act does not empower the defendants with the right to tax the net profits of Scott Electric. The plaintiff also stated that a shareholder, in a subchapter S corporation, considers the earnings of the corporation to be his own for federal and state tax purposes only and for no other tax purpose.

The defendants contended that the plaintiff could not elect to be treated with favorable tax status only when he desires. The defendants also argued that a factual question existed as to which activity, that of the plaintiff or of Scott Electric, was bringing about the net profits. They argue that if the plaintiff’s activities were bringing about the net profits, then the net profits would be plaintiff’s earned income, which can be taxed. Judge Charles H. Loughran of the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, denied summary judgment. The case was set for trial.

By order of this court, a “case stated” was completed by the parties involved. The case stated contains all the relevant facts of this case and has been filed of record. The main issue before the court is whether the Local Tax Enabling Act, 53 P.S. §6901 et seq., empowers a municipality to tax that portion of the net profits of a subchapter S corporation allocated to its shareholders. The court finds that the Local Tax Enabling Act does not give such power and shall enter judgment in favor of plaintiff.

Subchapter S status was developed first by the Internal Revenue Code. P.L. 97-354 (SSRA), 2, 97th Cong. 2d Sess. (1982), 26 U.S.C. §§1361-1379. The status limits the amount of federal taxes that can be imposed upon a subchapter S corporation. The provisions specifically [141]*141allow an S corporation to avoid the federal coiporate net income tax. In 1984, Pennsylvania enacted its own subchapter S corporation provisions, 72 P.S. §7307 et seq. These provisions allow a subchapter S corporation to elect not to pay the state corporate net income tax imposed under 53 P.S. §7401 et seq. at the state level.

The defendants contend that when a corporation elects to be treated as an S corporation, the corporation’s profits and/or losses are to he passed on to the shareholders as ordinary income or loss. They argue that the income received by the corporation is attributed to the shareholder; and that this income is to be treated as if the shareholder obtained the income from the same source as the corporation. Thus, they argue, the income is to be treated as the income of the shareholder for all tax purposes. To support their position, the defendants rely on 72 P.S. §7307.9(c) of the Pennsylvania Tax Code which reads as follows:

“The character of any item included in the shareholder’s pro rata share shall be determined as if such item were realized directly by the shareholder from the source from which it was realized by the corporation or incurred by the corporation.”

The defendants also rely on the following parts of the Internal Revenue Code:

“(b) The character of any item included in a shareholder’s pro-rata share under paragraph 1 of subsection (a) shall be determined as if such item were realized directly by the corporation or incurred in the same manner as incurred by the corporation.” 26 U.S.C.S. § 1366(b).
“(c) In any case where it is necessary to determine the gross income of a shareholder for the purposes of this title, gross income shall include the shareholders [142]*142pro-rata share of the gross income of the corporation.” 26 U.S.C.S. § 1366(c).

The defendants argue that the income received by a shareholder from the net profits of an S corporation is to be viewed as part of the shareholder’s earned income.

The difficulty this court has with this argument is that the defendants rely on federal and state statutes without any reference to the Local Tax Enabling Act; the very statute upon which they rely to tax the plaintiff. The Local Tax Enabling Act makes no specific mention of subchapter S corporations. Further, the Act does not discuss the net profits allocated to the shareholders of an S corporation. This failure to mention subchapter S corporations in the 1965 Act and the treatment of their net profits can best be explained by the fact that Pennsylvania did not develop subchapter S provisions until 1984. (The Local Tax Enabling Act was established in 1965.) Since 1984, however, the Local Tax Enabling Act has not been amended to address the present situation.

Since political subdivisions of the Commonwealth have no power to tax unless the legislature authorizes such power (Allentown School District Mercantile Tax Case, 370 Pa. 161, 87 A.2d 480 (1952)), the legislature would have had to authorize the defendants to tax net profits of subchapter S corporations allocated to its shareholders. However, nowhere in 53 P.S. §6901 et seq. or in 72 P.S. §7307 et seq. does the legislature give the defendants such power. The Local Tax Enabling Act allows the defendants to impose taxes only on “earned income” and “net profits” as defined in the Act.

“Earned income” and “net profits” are defined by the Act as follows:

[143]*143“ ‘Earned income.’ Salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, incentive payments, fees, tips, and other compensation received by a person or his personal representative for services rendered ... .
‘Net profits.’ The net income from the operation of a business, profession, or other activity, except corporations ... .” 53 P.S. §6913, I.

A corporation has been defined as follows:

“ ‘Corporation.’ A corporation or joint stock association organized under the laws of the United States, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any other state, territory, foreign county or dependency.” 53 P.S. §6913, I.

This definition of corporation does not distinguish between different types of corporations.

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Related

Consulting Engineers Council v. State Architects Licensure Board
560 A.2d 1375 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)
Allentown School District Mercantile Tax Case
87 A.2d 480 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1952)
Tax Review Board v. Brine Corp.
414 Pa. 488 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1964)
Commonwealth v. N. I., Inc.
375 A.2d 898 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1977)
Freedman v. Philadelphia Tax Review Board
243 A.2d 130 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
20 Pa. D. & C.4th 139, 1993 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-hempfield-area-school-district-pactcomplwestmo-1993.