135.682. Letter rulings to be issued, procedure--letter rulings closed records.
Letter rulings to be issued, procedure--letter rulings closed records.
135.682. 1. The director of the department of economic developmentor the director's designee shall issue letter rulings regarding the taxcredit program authorized under section 135.680, subject to the terms andconditions set forth in this section. The director of the department ofeconomic development may impose additional terms and conditions consistentwith this section to requests for letter rulings by regulation promulgatedunder chapter 536, RSMo. For the purposes of this section, the term"letter ruling" means a written interpretation of law to a specific set offacts provided by the applicant requesting a letter ruling.
2. The director or director's designee shall respond to a request fora letter ruling within sixty days of receipt of such request. Theapplicant may provide a draft letter ruling for the department'sconsideration. The applicant may withdraw the request for a letter ruling,in writing, prior to the issuance of the letter ruling. The director orthe director's designee may refuse to issue a letter ruling for good cause,but must list the specific reasons for refusing to issue the letter ruling.Good cause includes, but is not limited to:
(1) The applicant requests the director to determine whether astatute is constitutional or a regulation is lawful;
(2) The request involves a hypothetical situation or alternativeplans;
(3) The facts or issues presented in the request are unclear,overbroad, insufficient, or otherwise inappropriate as a basis upon whichto issue a letter ruling; and
(4) The issue is currently being considered in a rulemakingprocedure, contested case, or other agency or judicial proceeding that maydefinitely resolve the issue.
3. Letter rulings shall bind the director and the director's agentsand their successors until such time as the taxpayer or its shareholders,members, or partners, as applicable, claim all of such tax credits on aMissouri tax return, subject to the terms and conditions set forth inproperly published regulations. The letter ruling shall apply only to theapplicant.
4. Letter rulings issued under the authority of this section shallnot be a rule as defined in section 536.010, RSMo, in that it is aninterpretation issued by the department with respect to a specific set offacts and intended to apply only to that specific set of facts, andtherefore shall not be subject to the rulemaking requirements of chapter536, RSMo.
5. Information in letter ruling requests as described in section620.014, RSMo, shall be closed to the public. Copies of letter rulingsshall be available to the public provided that the applicant identifyinginformation and otherwise protected information is redacted from the letterruling as provided in subsection 1 of section 610.024, RSMo.
(L. 2008 H.B. 2058 merged with S.B. 718)