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Guide

How to Find Your Municipality’s Earned Income Tax Rate and Filing Rules in Pennsylvania

By TheFinanceBase Team 12 min read

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For a Pennsylvania address, use the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) “Find Your Withholding Rates by Address” application. Search your home address and, when relevant, your work address to see the resident and nonresident earned income tax (EIT) rates, six-digit PSD codes, and the tax collector responsible for each location. Then ask the named local collector for the current-year return, deadline, payment method, and instructions for your circumstances. These are Pennsylvania rules; residents of other states must use their own state or local government’s official lookup.

What you are actually looking up

Municipal earned income tax is a Pennsylvania local tax, not the same as Pennsylvania’s state income tax. The rate depends on the political subdivisions connected to your residence and, for payroll withholding, your workplace. A single address can also identify a municipality, a school district, a PSD code, and a local tax collector, so checking only a municipality name from a pay stub or an old return can produce the wrong result.

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DCED’s official address-search application is the starting point for a current lookup. It displays the address location, the applicable political subdivisions, the resident or nonresident EIT information, PSD codes, and available collector details. DCED says the data can be up to 24 hours old, so a recent boundary or rate change may not appear immediately.

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The lookup is an identification tool, not a calculation of your final tax liability. Your final local return can depend on the income you report, the period you lived in a locality, withholding credits, and other facts that the address result cannot decide.

How to find your rate by address

  1. Open DCED’s “Find Your Withholding Rates by Address” application. Use the official Pennsylvania state application rather than a commercial rate list or a neighbor’s tax return.
  2. Enter your Pennsylvania home address. Record the municipality, school district information shown, the “Total Resident EIT Rate,” the PSD code, and the collector contact. The resident result is tied to where you live.
  3. Enter your Pennsylvania work address when payroll withholding is involved. Record the work municipality’s “Non-Resident EIT Rate,” PSD code, and workplace collector. If you work at more than one Pennsylvania location, check each location that may affect withholding.
  4. Review the address match. Confirm that the returned municipality and school district are the ones that physically contain your address. DCED warns that its geocoding is outside the agency’s control and can identify a boundary incorrectly.
  5. Save the result for the tax year. Keep a copy or note the search date, the rates, PSD codes, and collector name. The page may refresh nightly, and its data can lag by as much as 24 hours.
  6. Contact the named collector before filing. Ask for the current-year local return, filing due date, payment instructions, accepted filing channels, and any forms needed for your residence, work location, income, or withholding situation.

Do not add the resident and nonresident rates together. They are separate figures used to apply Pennsylvania’s withholding rule.

How to read the DCED result

Result field What it represents How to use it
Home “Total Resident EIT Rate” The total resident EIT rate for the municipality where you live. Compare it with the work location’s nonresident rate for employee withholding.
Work “Non-Resident EIT Rate” The nonresident EIT rate associated with the municipality where you work. Use it in the Act 32 withholding comparison when the job is in Pennsylvania.
PSD code A six-digit identifier for a Pennsylvania political subdivision. Give the code to an employer or tax officer when confirming that local tax is being routed to the correct jurisdiction.
Tax collector or tax officer The local authority that administers collection for the jurisdiction shown. Ask this office for the current return, deadline, payment method, and locality-specific instructions.

DCED describes a PSD code as a six-digit number identifying each Pennsylvania municipality. It is an administrative routing identifier; it is not a percentage and should not be substituted for the EIT rate.

Resident EIT and work-location nonresident EIT

Resident rate

The resident rate follows the municipality in which you live. If you move, the relevant residence can change during the year, and the local return may require information for each period. The address lookup can identify the jurisdiction, but it does not establish how a particular move should be reported.

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Nonresident rate

The nonresident rate follows the municipality in which you work. It is not a second resident rate for your home and is not automatically the same as the rate where you live.

The withholding comparison

DCED’s Local Withholding Tax FAQs state: “An individual employee’s local Earned Income Tax (EIT) Rate is determined by comparing the employee’s ‘Total Resident EIT Rate’ (for the municipality in which the employee lives) to the ‘Work Location Non-Resident EIT Rate’ (for the municipality in which the employee works).”

For Pennsylvania employees covered by Act 32, the employer withholds the higher of those two rates and remits the amount to the workplace tax collector. DCED summarizes the rule this way: “Under Act 32, employers are required to withhold the higher of the employee’s resident earned income tax amount (rate of total resident EIT where they reside) vs. the employee’s municipal non-resident earned income tax amount (rate of non-resident EIT where they are employed) and remit to the workplace tax collector.”

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For example, if the home result is lower than the work result, the comparison points to the work result. If the home result is higher, the comparison points to the home result. The rates are compared, not combined, and the remittance goes to the workplace collector under the Act 32 guidance.

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Compare the two jurisdiction results before changing payroll information

When you have both searches, place the results side by side rather than looking for one “municipal rate.” Check five items:

  1. Home resident rate: use the displayed “Total Resident EIT Rate” for the municipality where you live.
  2. Work nonresident rate: use the displayed “Non-Resident EIT Rate” for the municipality where you perform the work.
  3. Displayed withholding comparison: identify which of the two rates is higher; never total them.
  4. Collector: note the workplace collector for payroll remittance and the collector identified for your residence when discussing your individual return.
  5. Address confirmation: make sure the municipality and school district match the physical location, not merely the postal city printed on an envelope.

This comparison helps explain a payroll discrepancy, but it does not prove what your final local liability will be. The return instructions control how income, withholding, credits, and residence periods are reported.

What to do when the address search finds nothing

  1. Identify the county first. DCED’s PSD/EIT register and municipality lookup can help you locate the political subdivision when the address application returns no result.
  2. Check the address format. Try the official street spelling, municipality, ZIP code, and street number. A formatting change can distinguish a valid address from an unrecognized entry.
  3. Use the PSD/EIT register. Locate the municipality and its listed PSD code or EIT information in DCED’s register.
  4. Confirm with the local collector or tax officer. DCED advises contacting the collector to confirm both the rate and the PSD code when the lookup does not resolve the address.
  5. Verify boundaries with local authorities. The county, municipality, and school district can confirm which jurisdiction contains the parcel when an address lies near a boundary.

Do not select a nearby municipality merely because its name appears in a mailing address. Postal addresses and taxing boundaries do not always coincide.

How to find the filing rules for your local return

There is no single local EIT return, deadline, payment channel, or set of instructions that these state sources establish for every Pennsylvania locality. The collector named in the lookup is the authority to ask for the rules that apply to the current tax year.

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When you contact the collector, request the following in one conversation or written message:

  • The current-year local earned income tax return and instructions.
  • The filing due date for the year in question.
  • The accepted filing methods, such as an online portal, mail, or in-person delivery, if offered.
  • Instructions for reporting employer withholding and attaching or entering withholding information.
  • Rules for a part-year residence, a move, more than one employer, or more than one workplace.
  • Any locality-specific form for income, credits, estimated payments, or an amended return that matches your circumstances.
  • The payment address, electronic payment instructions, and confirmation method if you owe tax.

Keep the collector’s written instructions with your wage statements and the address-search result. A prior-year form or deadline can be obsolete even if the locality has not changed.

Employer withholding is separate from your personal filing obligation

Pennsylvania employers with worksites in the state are required to withhold and remit local EIT under the state’s employer guidance. That requirement explains why a payroll department asks for a residence address and may request a PSD code, but it does not answer every question about your individual return.

Your employer’s withholding and your return are related but distinct:

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  • Payroll withholding is based on the resident-versus-work-location comparison required by Act 32.
  • Your local return reports the income and withholding that the collector’s instructions require for your facts.
  • The collector, not an employer’s payroll screen, determines the filing channel, local forms, and documentation accepted for the current year.

If your pay stub shows a local tax but the collector or PSD code does not match your address result, ask payroll to review the code and ask the collector to confirm the correct routing before filing.

Do not confuse the local return with Pennsylvania’s PA-40

Pennsylvania’s Department of Revenue administers the PA-40 state income tax return. The state return and a local EIT return are separate filings. State return instructions do not replace the collector’s instructions for local withholding credits, local income categories, payment routing, or due dates.

Complete the state return and the local return according to their respective authorities. If a form asks for a PSD code, use the six-digit code confirmed through DCED or the local collector rather than copying a code from an old form.

Situations that require a collector’s instructions

The official material establishes the lookup and the Act 32 withholding comparison, but it does not establish one universal answer for every special situation. Ask the applicable collector before filing if any of these apply:

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  • You moved during the year. The collector can explain how to report each residence period and allocate withholding.
  • You work remotely or from more than one location. Confirm which work location controls withholding and whether the employer’s worksite information is current.
  • You work outside Pennsylvania or have a Pennsylvania employer with a non-Pennsylvania worksite. The Pennsylvania address lookup alone does not establish the other jurisdiction’s rules.
  • You are a nonresident, have multiple employers, or changed jobs. Ask which return and withholding records the collector requires.
  • You have local credits or income that is not shown on a wage statement. The rate result does not determine whether a credit or income category is allowable.
  • You disagree with the geocoded boundary. Obtain confirmation from the county, municipality, school district, or collector before changing a payroll code.

These are not matters to settle by applying a neighboring locality’s form or by assuming that the state PA-40 treatment controls locally.

Common lookup and filing mistakes

  • Using only the postal city. Mailing conventions do not establish the taxing municipality or school district.
  • Looking up only the home address. Payroll withholding also requires the Pennsylvania work location when applicable.
  • Adding the two rates. Act 32 calls for a comparison and withholding of the higher applicable rate, not a combined rate.
  • Treating a PSD code as a tax rate. The six-digit code identifies a political subdivision; it is not a percentage.
  • Relying on an old return. Rates, collectors, forms, and instructions can change, and DCED data may lag a recent change by up to 24 hours.
  • Assuming the lookup proves final liability. It does not resolve income classification, credits, part-year periods, or every withholding adjustment.
  • Sending a local return to the state revenue department. PA-40 administration and local EIT collection are separate responsibilities.
  • Changing a payroll code without confirmation. Resolve a boundary or address mismatch with the collector and, when needed, the county, municipality, or school district.

A practical recordkeeping checklist

  • Search date and the exact home address entered.
  • Home municipality, school district information, total resident EIT rate, PSD code, and collector.
  • Each Pennsylvania work address, nonresident EIT rate, PSD code, and workplace collector.
  • Pay statements showing local withholding and employer-provided PSD information.
  • Written confirmation from a collector when an address, boundary, rate, or code was uncertain.
  • The current-year local return, instructions, filing confirmation, and payment receipt.
  • Move dates, work-location changes, and wage statements needed to support a part-year or multiple-location filing.

This record makes it easier to explain a mismatch between payroll withholding and the amount shown on a local return without relying on a stale rate table.

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How often to recheck the rate

Recheck when you move, change work locations, start a new job, or receive a payroll notice about local tax. Also recheck before filing a new tax year’s return. DCED’s application may be refreshed nightly and may be delayed by up to 24 hours, so a result immediately after a municipal or school-district change may need confirmation from the local authority.

What residents outside Pennsylvania should do

The sources described here are Pennsylvania-specific. Other states may use a city, county, school-district, or payroll-jurisdiction system with different definitions, rates, and filing rules. Start with your state revenue department or the official website of your city or county, then confirm the responsible local collector or tax office. Do not apply Pennsylvania’s PSD-code or Act 32 rules to another state.

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Bottom line for a Pennsylvania address

Use DCED’s address lookup for both your home and, when relevant, your Pennsylvania work address. Verify the municipality and school district, note the six-digit PSD code and collector, and compare the total resident rate with the work-location nonresident rate rather than adding them. Under Act 32 guidance, the higher rate is withheld and remitted to the workplace collector. For your own return, obtain the current year’s form, deadline, payment method, and special instructions directly from the collector shown in the official result.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find my local earned income tax rate in Pennsylvania?

Use Pennsylvania DCED’s “Find Your Withholding Rates by Address” application. Enter your home address to see the total resident EIT rate, municipality, school district information, PSD code, and collector. Enter your Pennsylvania work address as well when checking payroll withholding.

What is my municipality’s EIT rate if I live and work in different places?

Look up both addresses. Compare the home municipality’s total resident EIT rate with the work municipality’s nonresident EIT rate. Under Act 32 guidance, the higher rate is withheld and remitted to the workplace collector; do not add the rates together.

What is a Pennsylvania PSD code?

A PSD code is a six-digit identifier for a Pennsylvania political subdivision used to route local earned income tax. It is not a tax percentage. Confirm it through DCED’s lookup or the local collector before giving it to payroll.

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Where do I file my local earned income tax return?

File according to the instructions of the tax collector or tax officer named in the official DCED result. That office can provide the current-year return, due date, accepted filing channel, payment address, and withholding-credit instructions.

Does Pennsylvania have one deadline for every local EIT return?

The reviewed state guidance does not establish one universal local deadline or filing channel for every locality. Ask the named collector for the deadline that applies to the tax year and your circumstances.

What if DCED’s address lookup shows the wrong municipality?

DCED warns that its geocoding can be inaccurate. Check the physical boundary with the county, municipality, and school district, then ask the local collector to confirm the rate and PSD code before changing payroll information or filing.

Is my local EIT return the same as Pennsylvania’s PA-40?

No. The PA-40 is the Pennsylvania state income tax return. A local EIT return is administered through the applicable local collector, with separate forms, instructions, withholding treatment, and payment routing.

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What should I do after moving or changing work locations?

Run a new home and work address lookup, save the results, and contact the collector. Ask how to report each residence period or work location, allocate withholding, and handle any required part-year or amended forms.

The Bottom Line

For Pennsylvania, look up both addresses through DCED, verify the municipality and PSD code, compare—not add—the resident and work-location nonresident rates, and obtain current filing instructions from the named local collector.

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