The Qantas Group is committed to transparent corporate reporting, and is pleased to publish a summary of its tax affairs for 2017/18 (FY18), which includes a return to paying corporate tax after exhausting available tax losses.
Qantas is a major part of the Australian economy, both in terms of our direct impact as an employer of 30,000 people and purchaser of local goods and services, as well as our broader impact on national trade and tourism. A study by Deloitte Access Economics estimated our total economic impact at 0.7 per cent of Australia’s GDP, or $11.6 billion.
There is a tax component to virtually all of the millions of transactions that the Qantas Group undertakes every year – from GST, FBT, payroll tax and company tax through to sector-specific taxes like the passenger movement charge.
Our primary focus on all tax matters is compliance. We are committed to paying what we owe and have a robust governance framework to manage our tax affairs. In total, the Qantas Group paid and collected a combined total of $3.4 billion in tax for FY18. This was 7 per cent higher than the prior year.
Over the past few years, the Qantas Group has been working through available tax losses that followed a period of significant financial losses and heavy restructuring. These available tax losses peaked at $3.2 billion in FY15 and had been reduced to $951 million at the end of FY17, reflecting the company’s return to profitability
Continued profitability during FY18 saw these available tax losses exhausted and resulted in the Group incurring company tax of $11 million. A significant increase in company tax liability is expected in FY19, which in turn will generate franking credits for shareholders.
You can download the report here. This document forms part of Qantas’ broader corporate reporting suite1, and should be read in conjunction with our 2018 Annual Report and the Qantas Group’s corporate website (here) for a full picture of our activities.