AN ACT Relating to retail sales tax exemptions for certain aircraft maintenance and repair; amending RCW 82.08.025661; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 82.08.025661 and 2022 c 56 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Subject to the requirements of this section, the tax levied by RCW 82.08.020 does not apply to:

(a) Charges for labor and services rendered in respect to the constructing of new buildings, made to: (i) An eligible maintenance repair operator engaged in the maintenance of airplanes; or (ii) a port district, political subdivision, or municipal corporation, if the new building is to be leased to an eligible maintenance repair operator engaged in the maintenance of airplanes;

(b) Sales of tangible personal property that will be incorporated as an ingredient or component of such buildings during the course of the constructing; or

(c) Charges made for labor and services rendered in respect to installing, during the course of constructing such buildings, building fixtures not otherwise eligible for the exemption under RCW 82.08.02565.

(2)(a) The exemption in this section is in the form of a remittance. A buyer claiming an exemption from the tax in the form of a remittance under this section must pay all applicable state and local sales taxes imposed under RCW 82.08.020 and chapter 82.14 RCW on all purchases qualifying for the exemption.

(b) The department must determine eligibility under this section based on information provided by the buyer and through audit and other administrative records. The buyer may on a quarterly basis submit an application, in a form and manner as required by the department by rule, specifying the amount of exempted tax claimed and the qualifying purchases or acquisitions for which the exemption is claimed. The buyer must retain, in adequate detail to enable the department to determine whether the equipment or construction meets the criteria under this section: Invoices; proof of tax paid; documents describing the location and size of new structures; and construction invoices and documents.

(c) The department must on a quarterly basis remit exempted amounts to qualifying persons who submitted applications during the previous quarter.

(d) A person may request a remittance for state sales and use taxes after the aircraft maintenance and repair station has been operationally complete for four years, but not sooner than December 1, 2021. However, the department may not remit the state portion of sales and use taxes if the person did not report at least ((one hundred))100 average employment positions to the employment security department for October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021, with an average annualized wage of ((eighty thousand dollars))$80,000. A person must provide the department with the unemployment insurance number provided to the employment security department for the establishment.

(e) A person may request a remittance for local sales and use taxes on or after July 1, 2016.

(3) In order to qualify under this section before starting construction, the port district, political subdivision, or municipal corporation must have entered into an agreement with an eligible maintenance repair operator to build such a facility. A person claiming the exemption under this section is subject to all the requirements of chapter 82.32 RCW. In addition, the person must file a complete annual report with the department under RCW 82.32.534.

(4) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(a) "Eligible maintenance repair operator" means a person classified by the federal aviation administration as a federal aviation regulation part 145 certificated repair station and located in an international airport ((owned)): Owned by a county with a population greater than ((one million five hundred thousand))1,500,000; or operated under chapter 14.08 RCW and located in a county east of the Cascade mountains with a population greater than 500,000.

(b) "Operationally complete" means constructed to the point of being functionally capable of hosting the repair and maintenance of airplanes.

(5) This section expires January 1, 2027.

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