(1) Application for deferral of taxes under this chapter can be made at any time prior to completion of construction of a qualified building or buildings, but tax liability incurred prior to the department's receipt of an application may not be deferred. The application must be made to the department in a form and manner prescribed by the department. The application must contain information regarding the location of the investment project, the applicant's average employment in the state for the prior year, estimated or actual new employment related to the project, estimated or actual wages of employees related to the project, estimated or actual costs, time schedules for completion and operation, and other information required by the department. The department must rule on the application within sixty days.
(2) Applications for deferral of taxes under this section may not be made after December 31, 2020.
(3) Each recipient of a deferral of taxes under this chapter must file a complete annual tax performance report with the department under RCW
82.32.534. If the economic benefits of the deferral are passed to a lessee as provided in RCW
82.82.010(5), the lessee must file a complete annual tax performance report, and the applicant is not required to file the annual tax performance report.
(4) A recipient who must repay deferred taxes under RCW
82.82.040 because the department has found that an investment project is no longer an eligible investment project is no longer required to file annual tax performance reports under RCW
82.32.534 beginning on the date an investment project is used for nonqualifying purposes.