Captax loses again
Tax collection agency dropped by another municipality
|
Print
Share
Email to a friend
Add This
Feeds
Local News
Article RatingDickinson Township voted unanimously to drop Capital Area Tax Collection Bureau as its earned income tax collector.
Captax, of Harrisburg, has had its share of problems since 2004, when South Middleton Township dropped the agency and later sued for access to township tax records.
A court-ordered audit on March 2007 turned up more than $8.7 million in funds Captax failed to distribute to the 74 municipalities and school districts it served at the time. Captax argued that the audit was biased and did not acknowledge tax receipts that were part of regularly scheduled distributions.
Last week, Captax Executive Director Bill Harbeson, who had led the collection agency for nearly three decades, resigned. Also last month, Mt. Holly Springs Borough Council dropped the tax service and North Middleton Township officials announced they are considering dropping Captax.
Dickinson Supervisors said they will also notify Captax of their intention to drop the service and will hire Central Tax Bureau of Pennsylvania, based in Aston, beginning Jan. 1.
Supervisor Dan Wyrick said accuracy is the main concern. “While this move may cause a bit of a nuisance for residents, accuracy and proper dissemination of funds in my opinion is worth the nuisance,” Wyrick said.
Township residents will be required to file two tax returns, one to Captax, which is the agency that collects for Carlisle Area School District.
Township Treasurer Laura Portillo said the township should save money by switching. Captax charged 2 percent commission, while Centax charges 1.75 percent.
Portillo said Centax will also offer online filing, workshops for residents and is expected to open a local office.
“We’re anticipating more for less,” explained Chairman Ray Jones.
Robert Villella, president of Centax, confirmed that plans are in the works to offer online filing, as well as other services. “It’s something we are committed to doing,” Villella said.
He said Centax is in the midst of research to ensure that any electronic filing would be secure and meet the needs of customers. He estimated it will be 90 to 120 days before the service is available.
“Although we want to continue to accelerate our service levels, we want to make sure there’s integrity of service,” he explained. “We want to make sure people know there’s a comfort level in filing their returns electronically.”
Jones said because the change takes effect in January, residents won’t need to file anything differently in 2009. “This will not affect residents until the filing season of 2009,” he explained.
