To obtain the credit authorized by this chapter,

(1) a person shall submit a request for the credit as follows:

(A) the person may submit a request and a statement of expenditures

(i) whenever the amount of credit certified in the request totals at least $250,000 and the period covered is at least one year; or

(ii) when the person is ready to take the entire balance of the credit, regardless of the total amount of the credit;

(B) the request must be on a form provided by the department and

(i) describe the work accomplished during each year of the period covered by the request, the number of employees, and the names and number of consultants;

(ii) provide a detailed list or ledger of expenditures of the accomplishments described in (i) of this subparagraph and a list of exploration activity data that will be provided to the department; and

(iii) provide a statement by a certified public accountant that expenditures are supported by receipts for all activities eligible for the credit under AS 27.30.010(a) for each calendar year that these expenditures for a single mining operation equal or exceed $40,000;

(C) the person submitting the request is not required to transmit copies of receipts with the request, but the statement of expenditures is subject to audit in the discretion of the commissioner;

(D) if the commissioner determines to audit the statement of expenditures, the commissioner may require the person submitting the request to justify claims of expenditures with receipts and other reliable information;

(E) the commissioner shall respond to the request within six months of the date of submission of the request by certifying or not certifying the person's expenditures; if the commissioner

(i) does not certify all of the expenditures, the commissioner shall state the reasons for denial of certification of the expenditures not certified and give the person making the request an opportunity to correct any problems or to provide additional information;

(ii) certifies expenditures, the commissioner shall specify the exploration activity data requirements that must be presented to the department at the time of the taking of the credit;

(F) if the commissioner neither certifies nor denies certification of expenditures within six months of the date of submission of the request, the expenditures are certified as submitted;

(2) the person whose expenditures have been certified under (1) of this subsection may thereafter request the taking of the credit for the certified expenditures as follows:

(A) the person shall deliver to the commissioner the exploration activity data identified by the commissioner under (1)(E)(ii) of this section and shall request the commissioner's approval of the taking of the credit;

(B) the commissioner shall approve or disapprove the taking of the credit within 60 days after receipt of the request for taking of the credit; if the

(i) exploration activity data complies with the requirements identified by the commissioner under (1)(E)(ii) of this section, the commissioner shall approve the taking of the credit and shall, within 30 days, notify the Department of Revenue that the taking of the credit has been approved;

(ii) request is disapproved, the commissioner shall state the reasons for disapproval and offer the person seeking to take the credit an opportunity to correct any problems or to provide additional exploration activity data or other information;

(C) if the commissioner neither approves nor disapproves the request to take the credit within 60 days after submission of the request, the taking of the credit is approved; the commissioner shall, within 30 days, notify the Department of Revenue that the taking of the credit has been approved under this subparagraph.