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 period, and beating its target for earnings of between $300m and $350m.

The national carrier flagged last year that it expected to return to an underlying profit in the first half, as it reaps the benefits of a wide-reaching transformation strategy as well as a drop in the Australian dollar and oil prices.

Revenue in the period rose to 2.1 per cent to $8.07 billion, from $7.9bn a year earlier.

Qantas declined to pay an interim dividend.

The airline said the repeal of the carbon tax was significant factor in the underlying profit result, adding $59m.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce pointed to the removal of the carbon tax as one of the “positive drivers” behind the result.

Lower fuel prices also improved the underlying profit by $33m.

“While fuel prices produced a modest benefit in the first half, we expect fuel costs for the full year to be no more than $4 billion at current prices – which will be a significant boost to the bottom line in the second half,” he said.

This news story is reprinted from www.theaustralian.com.au

Read more details on small business accountant.

Read More

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 Tax Office told Fairfax Media on Monday it was already aware of the ICIJ data and had initiated reviews and audits after an infomer in 2010 handed the agency a list of hundreds of Australians with Swiss bank accounts.

“The ATO received a disk from a tax treaty partner containing data on 261 HSBC Swiss bank accounts held by Australian taxpayers. We believe this to be the same data received by the ICIJ and reported today,” a Tax Office spokesman said.

“The reporting by the ICIJ of the HSBC Swiss data highlights that no taxpayer is safe from being uncovered.”

It said in some cases, it was found that taxpayers had correctly reported their accounts to the ATO. In others there were “a number where there were discrepancies” that resulted in reviews and audits.

The Tax Office said to date these audits had resulted in more than $30 million being recovered.

On top of that the Tax Office last year ran an amnesty for wealthy Australians with hidden income and assets in Swiss accounts and tax havens to come forward. The amnesty ended in December and led to 1750 Australians declaring a total of $240 million in income and $1.7 billion in assets. Another 800 expected were expected make voluntary disclosures.

The biggest individual disclosure by a taxpayer was $30 million in income and $120 million in assets that had been held in Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

The Tax Office said about 70 HSBC account holders came forward under the amnesty and disclosed previously unreported income and assets.

This news story is reprinted from www.smh.com.au

Read more details on bookkeeping services sydney .

Read More