Luke Hung
The Ministry of the Interior issued the Nei-Shou-Tu-1080812767 Circular of July 22, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Circular”), pointing out that for housing units included in a social housing rental and management project, when a rental service agreement is executed between a rental service provider and a property owner, such property shall be regarded as a social housing unit and eligible for relevant tax incentives.
First, according to the Circular, the legislative objective of Article 19, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 6 of the Housing Law, which stipulates “providing incentives, guidance, or subsidies for house rental service providers specified in Paragraph 2 of Article 52 to rent and manage private buildings for sublease, or provide matchmaking and management services for landlords and tenants,” is to help the economically or socially disadvantaged who are qualified as the disadvantaged group of people find appropriate private housing units through house rental service providers (hereinafter, the “Providers”) by means of rental or management services. In addition, to encourage owners of housing units to participate in such policy by releasing their property, relevant tax incentives are provided.
It was further explained in the Circular that since the Providers and owners of housing units enter into a rental service agreement in a social housing rental project intend to sublease the property to tenants eligible for social housing, and the use is not intended for other purposes, housing units included in a social housing rental and management project, according to the purposes of such act and the above legislative objective, may be regarded as social housing units when a rental service contract is executed between the Provider and the owners of the housing units and be eligible for relevant tax incentives.