The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance said today it has helped more than 42,000 taxpayers with limited English proficiency through its free language interpretation services.

The Tax Department launched the Language Access Program in October 2012.  By the end of the income tax filing season in April of this year, 42,415 taxpayers who called the Taxpayer Information Center received language assistance--in 79 different languages.  

Illustrating the increase in demand, from the 2013 to the 2014 income tax season there was a 56% increase in the department’s interpretation services.

The most common languages were Spanish (31,266 calls), Mandarin (3,842) and Russian (3,020), which together accounted for 90% of the calls.  The calls involving 60 other languages collectively totaled only 1%.  Included in the latter category were dozens of regional languages such as Bambara (Mali), Tigrinya (Ethiopia) and Taishanese (China).  

“All New Yorkers deserve access to State services, regardless of the language they speak,” said Commissioner Thomas H. Mattox.  “This need--this inclusion--has been recognized by all state agencies, and the Tax Department’s results prove that it is the right thing to do.”

As a result of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order 26, the Tax Department also published its critical publications in New York’s most commonly spoken non-English languages:

• Spanish
• Chinese
• Russian
• Italian
• Korean
• Haitian Creole

To request Tax Department language assistance, call 518-453-8137.