Bensalem, PA Local Taxes & Fees: Business Tax Classification (2026)

Under Township Code § 210-17, every person engaging in business in Bensalem Township as a wholesale or retail dealer or vendor of goods, wares or merchandise, or as the proprietor of a restaurant or other place selling food, drink or refreshments, is classified for the mercantile tax by the type of activity conducted. Wholesale vendors or dealers pay one mill (one-tenth of one cent) on each dollar of annual gross volume of business transacted. Retail vendors or dealers, and restaurant or refreshment-stand proprietors, pay 1½ mills on each dollar of annual gross volume.

A person who is both a wholesale and a retail dealer is taxed at one mill on the wholesale share of gross volume and 1½ mills on the retail share, so the two streams of receipts are computed and taxed separately rather than blended into one rate. Before any tax is due, § 210-16 requires every such person to procure a mercantile license from the Township Treasurer for each place of business, at a fee of $25.00 per license year, renewable by January 31. Section 210-18 sets the method for computing gross volume for businesses operating a full prior year, a partial year, or on a temporary, seasonal or itinerant basis.

Section 210-19 requires an annual return to the Treasurer by October 1 for continuing businesses, with a final reconciling return due by April 15 of the following license year. The Treasurer administers and enforces the tax under § 210-21, including examining a taxpayer's books and records, and no deficiency assessment may be made more than five years after the tax was due absent a fraudulent or unfiled return.