Qantas Swings Back To H1 Profit

Qantas Airways has swung back to a first-half profit, delivering its best interim performance in four years, as its massive transformation program continues to reap results. In the six months to December 31, Qantas posted a statutory net profit of $203 million, from a loss of $235m a year earlier. On an underlying basis, the national carrier posted a net profit of $367m, a sharp improvement on the $252m loss it posted in the previous corresponding...

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Spending Slowed To Crawl In January

Economy-wide spending has slowed to a crawl but cheap petrol and the recent interest rate cut should hopefully turn that around. Spending rose just 0.2 per cent in January, marking the slowest spending growth since 2012, figures from the Commonwealth Bank on Monday show. Sales growth has been slowing for the past five months, but CommSec chief economist Craig James said consumers should start splashing more cash this year. “With household finances improving following the fall in petrol prices and recent interest rate cut, we can expect...

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Bowen Stumped On Tax-Free Threshold

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen is under fire for not being able to identify the cut-off point for the tax-free threshold. Under repeated questioning during the interview on Sky News’ Richo and Jones program, Mr Bowen was not able to correctly nominate the figure of $18,200. But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is sticking by his shadow treasurer saying Mr Bowen ‘absolutely’ still has his confidence. ‘Chris knows what he got wrong last night....

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Cuts To Research And Development Tax Breaks May Lead To Job Losses

Australian companies will lose out against against foreign players and may have to lay off workers if the Abbott government succeeds in passing laws that would cut research and development tax breaks for big companies, experts say. The federal government has struck a deal with the Palmer United Party in attempt to pass the laws, which were first introduced by the former Labor government. The original proposal would have affected about 15 to 20 of Australia’s largest companies, such as Telstra, BHP and Rio Tinto. Tax experts say the changes...

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Tax Office Knew About Australians Channelling Money Into Swiss Accounts

The Tax Office has revealed it has investigated hundreds of Australians with Swiss bank accounts as a massive international data leak named prominent Australians, including late media baron Kerry Packer, model Elle Macpherson and former ANZ chairman Charles Goode, as having held accounts in the famous haven. An International Consortium of Investigative Journalists investigation found that the Swiss arm of HSBC had almost 500 clients linked to Australia, with 856 accounts, and total combined holdings of about $US959.2 million ($1.24 billion). The...

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Australian Bitcoin Exchange Claims Exemption from 10% Government Tax

Australian exchange Coin Loft has received an official ruling exempting it from having to charge Goods and Services Tax (GST) on local bitcoin sales, according to the company. The exchange claims the private ruling from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) means that it need not apply the GST to its bitcoin exchange price. As a result, the firm ceased charging the tax on 26th January and says it is the first Australia-based exchange to do so. The tax must still be charged on the commission component of the order, however, and a Coin Loft blog...

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