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

Article II of Chapter 165, the Mercantile Tax Ordinance adopted 12-28-1972 by Ord. No. 1496, sorts taxpayers into three classes. Section 165-18(A) levies a tax for general Township purposes on every person engaging in the listed businesses in the Township. Wholesale vendors or dealers pay one mill on each dollar of gross volume of business during the license year. Retail vendors or dealers, and all persons conducting restaurants or other places where food, drink or refreshments are sold, pay one and 1/2 mills. Wholesale and retail vendors or dealers pay one mill on the wholesale volume and 1 1/2 mills on the retail volume. Section 165-16 defines the classes: a wholesale dealer sells to dealers and to no other persons, a retail dealer is anyone who is not wholesale, and a wholesale and retail dealer sells to both. The license year is the twelve-month period beginning January 1.

The tax does not apply to the dollar volume of resale of goods taken in trade or as part payment, except to the extent that the resale price exceeds the trade-in allowance (§ 165-18(B)). Nonprofit religious, charitable and educational organizations, federal and Commonwealth agencies, persons selling their own manufactured goods for delivery away from the place of manufacture, and farmers selling their own produce are outside the definitions in § 165-16(B). A person claiming an exemption carries the burden of convincing the Collector (§ 165-22(D)).

Each business first needs a mercantile business license under § 165-17, applied for by April 15 or before starting business, at $10 for each place of business, posted conspicuously and not assignable. Returns are due April 15, and a new business files within 60 days of starting; a temporary, seasonal or itinerant business, meaning one conducted at one location for less than 60 consecutive calendar days, files within seven days of finishing.

Article III, the Business Privilege Tax Ordinance, adopted 12-30-1985, covers the service side. Section 165-32 imposes an annual tax of 1.5 mills on gross receipts for every person engaging in a business, trade, occupation or profession. Section 165-30 lists examples including financial businesses, hotel and apartment operators, physicians, lawyers, engineers, real estate brokers and building trades contractors. Under § 165-33, anyone who also pays the mercantile tax on the same subject pays only one $10 license fee for each place of business and is exempt from the privilege tax on that subject.