1. The director of the department of economic development or the director’s designee shall issue letter rulings regarding the tax credit program authorized under section 135.680, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this section. The director of the department of economic development may impose additional terms and conditions consistent with this section to requests for letter rulings by regulation promulgated under chapter 536. For the purposes of this section, the term “letter ruling” means a written interpretation of law to a specific set of facts provided by the applicant requesting a letter ruling.

2. The director or director’s designee shall respond to a request for a letter ruling within sixty days of receipt of such request. The applicant may provide a draft letter ruling for the department’s consideration. The applicant may withdraw the request for a letter ruling, in writing, prior to the issuance of the letter ruling. The director or the 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:

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(1) The applicant requests the director to determine whether a statute is constitutional or a regulation is lawful;

(2) The request involves a hypothetical situation or alternative plans;

(3) The facts or issues presented in the request are unclear, overbroad, insufficient, or otherwise inappropriate as a basis upon which to issue a letter ruling; and

(4) The issue is currently being considered in a rulemaking procedure, contested case, or other agency or judicial proceeding that may definitely resolve the issue.

3. Letter rulings shall bind the director and the director’s agents and their successors until such time as the taxpayer or its shareholders, members, or partners, as applicable, claim all of such tax credits on a Missouri tax return, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in properly published regulations. The letter ruling shall apply only to the applicant.

4. Letter rulings issued under the authority of this section shall not be a rule as defined in section 536.010 in that it is an interpretation issued by the department with respect to a specific set of facts and intended to apply only to that specific set of facts, and therefore shall not be subject to the rulemaking requirements of chapter 536.

5. Information in letter ruling requests as described in section 620.014 shall be closed to the public. Copies of letter rulings shall be available to the public provided that the applicant identifying information and otherwise protected information is redacted from the letter ruling as provided in subsection 1 of section 610.024.