Missouri Code of State Regulations › Title 4 - Department of Economic Development › Division 85 - Division of Business and Community › Chapter 5 - Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program › Section 4 CSR 85-5.020 - Applications

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 14, July 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This proposed amendment will make the rule
				  reflect the three different stages when an application may be submitted,
				  clarifying the steps within and the requirements for each application type or
				  stage, in order to make it easier for prospective applicants to follow the
				  rule's requirements. This rule includes significant substantive changes: (a)
				  the addition of a fifteen business day opportunity to cure an incomplete
				  application; (b) the elimination of a three-tier scoring system, replaced with
				  a simpler passing and failing score system; (c) the elimination of a two
				  one-month application cycles per fiscal year, replacing it with a single cycle
				  open for 12 months; (d) changing the order in which tax credits are allocated
				  from a statutory set-aside for projects in qualified census tracts; (e)
				  allowing a project to be authorized tax credits upon a conditional approval
				  from the State Historic Preservation Office or the National Park Service,
				  rather than only upon an unconditional approval from SHPO; and (f) adding the
				  ability to receive tax credits for certain hard costs incurred one year before
				  a preliminary application for tax credits is submitted.
(1) Preliminary Application.
(A) All applicants seeking an authorization
				of tax credits for a project shall submit a preliminary application to the
				department.
(B) The department
				shall post on its website a checklist of required information for a preliminary
				application. If a preliminary application submitted to the department is
				incomplete, the department will give an applicant one (1) opportunity to
				provide information or documents to cure any deficiencies within fifteen (15)
				business days of being notified by the department. The department will reject
				all preliminary applications that remain incomplete after one (1) opportunity
				to cure.
(C) A complete preliminary
				application shall be evaluated by the department for eligibility of the
				project.
1. Eligibility criteria for a
				preliminary application include that the project is an eligible property, is a
				certified historic structure or structure in a certified historic district,
				meets the requirements in section
				253.559.2, RSMo, and other
				statutory requirements.
(D) Subsection (1)(E) of this rule shall not
				apply to projects to receive less than two hundred seventy-five thousand
				dollars ($275,000) of tax credits.
(E) The preliminary application shall include
				the following:
1. Signed letters of support
				for the project from the local elected officials in the local municipality in
				which the project is located, as set forth in
				4 CSR
				85-5.060(1)(B);
2. The type and amount of local incentives or
				public financing committed to the project;
3. Private financing and developer
				equity;
4. The estimated number of
				net new jobs created in the state as a result of the project;
5. The amount of projected net fiscal benefit
				of the project to the municipality, which may be provided by the applicant, or
				if the applicant so chooses, determined by the department, based on information
				provided by the applicant. The projected net fiscal benefit to the municipality
				shall include the potential multiplier effect for the project and shall clearly
				state the period in which the municipality would realize such net fiscal
				benefit;
6. Information regarding
				the vacancy or underutilization prior to rehabilitation; and
7. A statement of whether the project's
				address is located in an economically distressed area as set forth in
				4 CSR
				85-5.050(1)(A) through (E), and if
				so, which type of area, as well as evidence of same.
(F) A complete preliminary application will
				be evaluated for eligibility and scored by the department in accordance with
				section 253.559.3(1),
				RSMo, subsection (1)(J) of this rule, and
				5 CSR
				85-5.030, 5.040, 5.050, and 5.060.
(G) The department shall accept preliminary
				applications and excess tax credits applications in one (1) cycle for each
				state fiscal year. The application cycle for each state fiscal year shall open
				no later than July 1 and shall close on June 30.
(H) Pursuant to section
				253.559.1, RSMo, preliminary
				applications and excess tax credits applications within each cycle shall be
				prioritized for review in the order of the date on which the application was
				postmarked, with the oldest postmarked date within the cycle receiving
				priority. For preliminary applications and excess tax credit applications
				postmarked on the same day, the lottery process used to determine the order in
				which an application was received by the department will rely on digital
				timestamps, with the applications being reviewed from oldest to newest,
				regardless of whether the application is a preliminary application or an excess
				tax credits application.
(I)
				Subject to sufficient QCT tax credit cap or statewide tax credit cap, as
				applicable, preliminary applications for projects meeting the following
				requirements are not subject to the application cycle set forth in subsection
				(1)(G) of this rule and shall be accepted by the department at any time:
1. The applicant or an entity with a direct
				or indirect controlling interest in applicant has received a formal, written
				proposal for business development incentives executed by the director of the
				department with regard to the project;
2. The project will be occupied by the applicant or an
				entity with a direct or indirect controlling interest in applicant upon
				completion; and
3. The applicant
				or an entity with a direct or indirect controlling interest in applicant has
				committed to relocating to Missouri from another state.
(J) Prior to an application cycle, the
				department shall post on its website the program guidelines, the checklist
				described in subsection (1)(B) of this rule, scoring criteria, and a scorecard
				for the cycle.
1. The scoring criteria and
				scorecard shall set forth the maximum points assigned to the required criteria
				in section 253.559.3, RSMo.
2. The program guidelines, scoring criteria,
				and scorecard shall state the minimum amount of points necessary for a project
				to be authorized tax credits. Projects scoring below that threshold will be
				denied.
(K) The
				department shall not authorize tax credits for a project in a preliminary
				application until such preliminary application has received written,
				unconditional or conditional approval from State Historic Preservation Office
				or the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
(L) For projects that are located within a
				qualified census tract, credits shall first be authorized from the QCT tax
				credit cap before being authorized from the statewide tax credit cap.
(M) Except as otherwise provided, no
				applicant shall submit a preliminary application to the department within five
				(5) years following the issuance of tax credits in connection with the same
				property. The department shall deny any such preliminary application it
				receives.