Self-employed borrowers aren’t penalised because banks doubt them, they’re penalised because their paperwork doesn’t fit the salary-shaped form. Bring the right documents to the right lender and self-employed approval is routine. Here’s the checklist.
Full-doc: the standard path
- Two years of personal tax returns and ATO notices of assessment.
- Two years of business tax returns and financials (P&L and balance sheet) for companies and trusts.
- BAS statements if the latest year needs support, plus business bank statements at some lenders.
- ABN and GST registration details, most lenders want the ABN at least two years old.
Only one good year? Still doable
Several lenders assess on one year’s figures, valuable if your latest year jumped or you recently incorporated. Others average two years or take the lower, brutal after a growth year. Same business, three different incomes depending on lender maths; lender choice IS the strategy.
Add-backs: the income you forgot you had
Good assessment adds back expenses that aren’t ongoing cash costs: depreciation, one-off write-offs, interest on debts being refinanced, excess super contributions, and sometimes your own salary-plus-profit as a company owner. Presented properly, add-backs routinely lift assessable income 10–25%.
Low-doc / alt-doc: the fallback
If returns aren’t finalised, alt-doc loans accept an accountant’s declaration, BAS and bank statements instead, at slightly higher rates. Useful as a bridge; usually refinanced to full-doc once the returns catch up.
Self-employed lending is a Linton Finance specialty, see how we present business income to lenders.
Self-employed loans at Linton Finance →Before lodging anything, have Nathan review your figures, the difference between averaged and latest-year assessment alone can move your capacity by hundreds of thousands.