(1) Introduction. A determination is a department decision issued pursuant to WAC 458-20-100. This rule provides criteria the department uses to decide whether a determination is precedential, as required by RCW 82.32.410.

(2) Criteria. The department may publish a determination, and therefore designate the determination as precedential, when all of the following criteria are met:

(a) The determination is a well-reasoned application of the law to a specific set of facts.

(b) The determination addresses only the law and facts necessary to resolve the case.

(c) The determination is needed to:

(i) Provide guidance on a previously unaddressed area of the law and articulate the department's current policy;

(ii) Apply the law to a significantly different set of facts;

(iii) Overrule a published determination; or

(iv) Provide a better or more current articulation on how the law should be interpreted.

(d) The determination can be effectively sanitized, or the taxpayer has granted a waiver of the secrecy clause. For purposes of this subsection, "effectively sanitized" means that information that could identify the taxpayer is removed without affecting the analysis or precedential value of the determination.