Three Meriden corporations have made the state’s top 100 tax delinquents list.
JMA LTD, of 164 Scott St., Tommasino P&B Landscaping LLC of 94 Milton Dr., and Mar Elle Enterprises Inc., of 33 Atkins St., are among 100 state businesses that owe Connecticut sales and use back taxes.
JMA LTD owes the state’s Department of Revenue Services $216,835.60 in back taxes, Tommasino owes $130,731.43 and Mar Elle Enterprises Inc., owes $124,264.89.
Sarah Kaufman, a spokesman for the revenue services department, said the agency cannot release detailed information about firms on the list.
The Secretary of the State’s website states that the officers of Mar Elle Enterprises are Norman and Deborah Couture, of 11 South Court St. It also states that the officers of JMA LTD are Donna and Edwin Jones of 164 Scott St., and the owner of Tommasino P&B Landscaping is Paul Tommasino.
Sales and use are the state taxes retailers add to the cost of their products. Retailers under state law must collect the tax at the point of sale and pass it on to the state.
Those who fail to do so can find themselves on the revenue services department’s list of the top 100 tax delinquents, published on the agency’s website. The state makes the list public, as well as a list of the top 100 individual tax delinquents, as a form of “public shaming,” intended to encourage delinquents to pay their back taxes, said Sarah E. Kaufman, a spokesman for the department.
“No one wants to be known as a tax delinquent and here’s this public list where people can go online and see if their neighbors or their family is a tax delinquent,” Kaufman said.
The tactic, she added, is used as a last resort and usually is done so only after the state has made countless efforts, over months and sometimes years, to collect the back taxes.
“Generally, we’ve been trying to work with them for some time before they’re put on that list. We understand the implications of having your name on this list, so we want to make sure that we make every effort before we put them on it.”
Everyone on both lists is warned ahead of time, via letter by the revenue services department, that their name will be published if they don’t pay their taxes, Kaufman said. Everyone on the list is at least 90 days behind on their taxes and no one on either list is in bankruptcy, she added.
The top 100 delinquent businesses collectively owe the state $29,272,802.71 in back taxes. The top 100 individual delinquent taxpayers collectively owe $15,677,922.50.
