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WNPR’s small business coverage elevates understanding of the challenges faced by small business, educates policy-makers, and highlights the vital role of small business to the state’s economy.

Revenue Services Reaches Out to Hispanic Businesses in Connecticut

Tucker Ives
/
WNPR
Park Street in Hartford is home to many Hispanic-run businesses.

The state of Connecticut is trying to make it easier for Spanish-speaking business owners to pay their taxes. The Department of Revenue Services has produced a Spanish language video on electronic filing.

DRS Commissioner Kevin Sullivan takes his Spanish out for a spin in the introduction to the new video tutorial that gives businesses a step-by-step guide to filing a Connecticut sales tax form. “One of the themes here is being more taxpayer friendly if you will," Sullivan told WNPR. "The best way to get tax compliance is to make it easy and understandable. We think that works better for us than having the old image of, ‘Oh my God, it’s the Department of Revenue Services.’”

DRS hopes this is just the latest step in an ongoing outreach to Spanish speaking communities in the state. Last year it installed Google translation on its website, and Sullivan says more instructional videos will follow. “The Spanish-speaking communities in Connecticut are among the most rapidly growing communities in Connecticut,” he said.

They’re also entrepreneurial. The state’s population is estimated to be 15 percent Spanish speaking and DRS says there are nearly 14,000 businesses in the Connecticut that identify as Hispanic-owned.

Harriet Jones is Managing Editor for Connecticut Public Radio, overseeing the coverage of daily stories from our busy newsroom.

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