To find the PSD code for a Pennsylvania address, use the Department of Community and Economic Development’s free “Find Your Withholding Rates by Address” tool on its Municipal Statistics page.1Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Municipal Statistics – Find Your Withholding Rates by Address A PSD code lookup by address returns the six-digit Political Subdivision code for that location along with the local Earned Income Tax rate and the Local Services Tax amount that apply there. Every street address in Pennsylvania maps to a specific code, and using the wrong one sends your local taxes to the wrong municipality or school district.
What the Six Digits Tell You
A PSD code identifies three things at once: the Tax Collection District (essentially the county), the school district, and the municipality. The first two digits point to the TCD, and the remaining digits narrow down the school district and municipality within it. When your employer withholds local Earned Income Tax from your paycheck, those digits tell the assigned tax collector which local governments should receive the money.
Employers with worksites in Pennsylvania must withhold and remit both the Earned Income Tax (EIT) and the Local Services Tax (LST) for their employees.2Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Local Income Tax Information They withhold EIT at the higher of two rates: the rate where the employee lives or the rate where the employee works. That comparison is why the lookup tool asks for a home address and a work address as separate entries.
Running the Address Search
Have your full street address ready before you start: house number, street name, and zip code. You will also need to know the county, because the form requires it as its own field.
Enter the address on the Municipal Statistics page and submit. The system checks the address against a database of every Pennsylvania municipality and returns the tax profile for that location. If the address sits near a municipal boundary or the zip code spans multiple jurisdictions, you may see several results. Compare the township or borough name against your property records or a recent utility bill to pick the correct one.
If you already know your municipality and school district and just need the number, skip the search. DCED publishes a downloadable PSD code table on its PSD Codes and EIT Rates page that lists every municipality and its corresponding code.3Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. PSD Codes and EIT Rates It is faster than the address search when you know what you’re looking for.
Reading the Results
The results page splits into a Home section and a Work section. Each shows the location name, the PSD code, and the applicable EIT rate. The Work section also shows the Local Services Tax amount and any low-income exemption thresholds. At the bottom, the tool totals the EIT and LST to be withheld and lists contact information for the tax collectors assigned to that district.1Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Municipal Statistics – Find Your Withholding Rates by Address
Rates are set locally by each municipality and school district. Most combined rates (the municipal share plus the school district share) fall between 1% and 3% of earned income. The “Resident EIT” rate applies if you live at that address; the “Non-Resident EIT” rate applies if you work there but live somewhere else. Your employer withholds at whichever rate is higher after comparing home and work.
The Local Services Tax Line
The LST is a flat annual tax on anyone who works in a municipality that imposes it. The combined amount levied by a municipality and its school district cannot exceed $52 per year, no matter how many jurisdictions you work in during the calendar year.4Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Local Services Tax Employers usually deduct it in small increments from each paycheck.
If a municipality charges more than $10 for the LST, anyone earning less than $12,000 in total income from all sources within that jurisdiction qualifies for a mandatory exemption.4Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Local Services Tax The lookup results include those exemption details so employers can apply them correctly.
When the Lookup Returns Nothing
The tool does not always find a match. Rural addresses, newly constructed properties, and addresses with unusual formatting sometimes produce no results. DCED recommends searching online for the city and state to confirm the county, then contacting the local tax collector directly to get the correct PSD code and rates.3Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. PSD Codes and EIT Rates If you know the municipality and school district, the downloadable code table on the same page will get you the number without a phone call.
DCED also maintains a directory of every Tax Collection District and its assigned collection agency.5Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Local Income Tax Collector A small number of agencies handle most districts, including Berkheimer Tax Administrator, Keystone Collections Group, and York Adams Tax Bureau. The Governor’s Center for Local Government Services can also help at 888-223-6837.
Putting the Code on the Residency Certification Form
Once you have the codes and rates, they go on the Residency Certification Form. Employers must use this form when they hire a new employee or when a current employee reports a name or address change.6United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Residency Certification Form It collects the employee’s home and work PSD codes, the applicable EIT rates, and the tax collector information so the employer can set up withholding correctly.
The address search tool feeds directly into this form. The results give you every number the form asks for: resident PSD code, work-location PSD code, resident EIT rate, non-resident EIT rate, LST amount, and each tax collector’s name. If you move, submit a new form with updated codes so your withholding follows you.
Remote Work and Multiple Worksites
If you work from home in Pennsylvania, your home counts as the employer’s worksite for local tax purposes. DCED specifically lists “residences of home-based employees” as an example of a business worksite.2Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Local Income Tax Information Your home PSD code serves as both the resident code and the work-location code, so only your home municipality’s EIT rate applies.
Employees who travel between job sites follow different rules based on how long they stay at each one. If you work fewer than 90 consecutive days at a site, your employer withholds the higher of your resident rate or the non-resident rate tied to the employer’s permanent home office. Once you hit 90 consecutive days at a site, the employer switches to comparing your resident rate against the non-resident rate for that specific job site.7Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Local Withholding Tax FAQs
Employers with staff across multiple locations may consolidate EIT payments to a single tax collector, but only if they file and remit electronically each month and register with every local tax collector for each worksite.7Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Local Withholding Tax FAQs Consolidation does not extend to the LST, which may still require separate remittances.
Philadelphia Addresses Do Not Use PSD Codes
Philadelphia operates entirely outside the Act 32 system. The city imposes and collects its own wage tax through the Philadelphia Department of Revenue rather than using a designated Tax Collection District.5Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Local Income Tax Collector If you live or work in Philadelphia, the DCED address search will not give you what you need. Contact the Philadelphia Department of Revenue for wage tax rates, withholding requirements, and employer registration.
Moves across the city line trigger paperwork on both sides. Someone leaving Philadelphia for a suburb needs to look up a PSD code for the first time and submit a Residency Certification Form to their employer. Someone moving into the city stops using the PSD system and switches to Philadelphia’s wage tax setup.
Fixing a Wrong Code and What It Costs to Ignore
Every Pennsylvania resident with earned income must file an annual local earned income tax return by April 15, even if withholding looked correct all year. The Taxpayer Annual Local Earned Income Tax Return (CLGS-32-1) reconciles what was withheld against what you actually owe, and it is where a wrong PSD code gets caught. The return asks for your correct code, so any mismatch between what your employer sent and what your home municipality is owed gets sorted out at filing time. Underpayments result in a balance due; overpayments sent to the wrong jurisdiction can be refunded, though the process takes time.
Ignoring the problem is expensive. For individual taxpayers, failing to file the annual local return triggers penalties of 1% per month on the unpaid tax, capped at 15% of the original amount owed, plus statutory interest that continues to accrue until the balance is paid. Employer penalties are steeper. An employer who fails to withhold local income tax, fails to file required returns, or submits false information faces fines of up to $2,500 per offense plus up to six months in jail, and an employer who willfully fails to collect or account for withheld taxes faces up to $25,000 in fines and up to two years of imprisonment.8Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Local Tax Enabling Act A small code error left alone for a few years can compound into real money, so it pays to run the address lookup carefully the first time and rerun it whenever you move.