The phone rings at the township office and it is not about a pothole or a permit. A resident heard something on the news about a new state tax credit worth a few hundred dollars, and they want to know if they qualify and what they have to do to get it. Your office does not administer the state income tax, does not determine who is eligible, and cannot file a return for anyone. That does not stop the question from landing at your counter, because to most residents the township building is where local government lives.
The office that has a clean, correct answer ready looks competent and helpful. The office that shrugs or guesses sends a resident away frustrated, or worse, pointed at the wrong form. This one is easy to get right, and it is worth a few minutes with your front-desk staff before the calls pick up.
What the credit actually is
The Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit is a new state credit created in the 2025-26 state budget, which Governor Shapiro signed on November 12, 2025. It is modeled on the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, the long-standing federal benefit for people who work and earn low to moderate incomes.
The mechanics are simple by design. The state credit equals 10 percent of a filer’s federal Earned Income Tax Credit. If a resident already qualifies for the federal credit, they automatically qualify for the state one. The maximum state credit is $805. It is refundable, which means a resident can receive the money even if they owe no Pennsylvania income tax at all. For a working family, that is a check or a larger refund, not just a smaller tax bill.
The scale is real. The state projected the credit would deliver $193 million to about 940,000 Pennsylvanians, and the first tax season came in higher, with nearly $217 million paid out. Some of the people asking you about it live in your township, and many of them do not use a paid tax preparer who would flag it for them. That is exactly why the question shows up at a public building instead of an accountant’s office.
Who qualifies, and what you should not try to answer
A resident qualifies if they have earned income from work in Pennsylvania, qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, and file both a federal Form 1040 and a Pennsylvania PA-40 return. Eligibility for the federal credit depends on filing status, income, and number of dependents. A single filer with one child, for example, phases out at a different income level than a married couple with three children.
Here is the line to hold: do not work out anyone’s eligibility at the counter. The income limits change every year, the dependent rules have traps, and a wrong answer from a township employee is worse than no answer. Your job is not to be a tax preparer. Your job is to point residents at the right, free, official tools and move on. Say plainly that the township does not administer the state income tax and cannot determine eligibility, then hand them the resource that can.
What a township office can actually do
You have more useful moves here than you might expect, and none of them require you to give tax advice.
First, give your front-desk staff a one-sentence answer and a single destination. Something like: “It is a new state tax credit for working residents, the state figures out your amount when you file your PA return, and everything you need is at the state’s Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit page.” One sentence, one link, done. Print the page address and keep it at the counter.
Second, put it in the channels you already run. A short paragraph in the township newsletter, a line on the website’s news feed, or a post on the township’s social account costs nothing and reaches residents before they call. Winter and early spring, when returns are being filed, are the right window. If your township already promotes the Property Tax and Rent Rebate program to older residents, this is the same kind of service to a different group, working households, and it fits the same slot in your communications calendar.
Third, connect residents to free filing help rather than trying to be it. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites and the state’s free myPATH filing system handle the actual returns at no cost. Many senior centers and community centers across Montgomery and Chester counties host free filing help during tax season, and the Department of Revenue has run its own free-filing support at some of those same sites. If your township shares space or a mailing list with a senior center or a library, a pointer to those sessions is often the most valuable thing you can offer.
Fourth, know where your authority ends. The township does not process the credit, cannot expedite it, and has no record of anyone’s claim. If a resident is frustrated about a delayed refund or a denied credit, the answer is the Department of Revenue, not the township. Say so clearly and give them the state contact rather than absorbing a problem you cannot fix.
Where to go next
Three destinations cover almost every question that will reach your office:
- The state’s official Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit page, which has the plain-language explanation, an eligibility calculator, and the steps to claim it: the Department of Revenue WPTC page. This is the single link to keep at the counter.
- The PSATS resources MCATO maintains for township and borough officials, for the broader set of state programs your residents ask about: the MCATO PSATS resources page.
- The full MCATO resource library, including the document library and the recurring PSATS updates that track state programs and deadlines: the MCATO Resources page.
For the actual filing, residents file their federal Form 1040 with the Earned Income Tax Credit, then file their PA-40, and the Department of Revenue calculates the state credit automatically. They can file the PA return for free through myPATH. Paper filers need to include a copy of their federal return so the state can verify the federal credit. That is the whole process, and it is the state’s to run, not yours.
The move this month
Spend ten minutes before tax season briefing your front-desk staff on the one-sentence answer and the one link. Add a short item to your next newsletter or website update. Keep the state’s page address at the counter. Do that, and a question that used to produce a shrug produces a helpful, accurate answer that costs your office almost nothing and sends a working resident toward money they earned.