SMDC seeks tax breaks for low-cost housing project in Tagaytay

SM Development Corp. is seeking tax incentives for the expansion of its Wind Residences in Tagaytay, a notice published in newspapers said Tuesday. The property developer is planning ten 20-storey towers to eventually go up in the 15-hectare Wind Residences development along Aguinaldo Highway. It is seeking tax breaks for the construction of the fifth tower as “an expanding developer of low-cost mass housing.” Mass housing is listed in the Board of Investments' 2012 Investment Priorities Plan as a priority sector. SMDC is looking for tax breaks on a non-pioneer basis, which will provide it a four-year income tax holiday and let it import equipment duty-free. As of end-2012, SMDC had 15 ongoing residential developments throughout Metro Manila and Tagaytay as well as sites totaling 50 hectares land-banked in Metro Manila and in Batangas. SMDC's net income for 2012 of P4.9 billion was up 17.37 percent from P4.175 billion in 2011. Its net income from real estate sales grew 17.5 percent to P4.7 billion, while real estate revenues improved by 33.47 percent to P21.6 billion. — BM, GMA News