Two years of returns is one lender policy, not the law
Company structures, retained profits and a strong recent year confuse a standard assessment. Several lenders will read the financials properly — and a few will accept one year, or none at all.
Why the bank said no
Four situations that read as risk to a credit scorecard and as completely normal to anyone who has run a business.
You have one full year of figures
A business trading eighteen months has one complete financial year. Most major banks want two. Several lenders will assess a single year where the trading history and the ATO position support it.
Profit is retained in the company
You pay yourself modestly and leave the rest in the business, which is sensible tax planning and terrible for a payslip-based assessment. Lenders that read the full financials will count it.
Your accountant has minimised your income
Depreciation, one-off expenses, superannuation above the minimum and interest on business debt can all be added back. Whether they are depends entirely on the lender.
Your income moves year to year
Most lenders take the lower of the two years, or an average. A few will use the most recent year where growth is evidenced — a substantial difference on a rising business.
What alt-doc costs against full doc
A $750,000 loan at 80% LVR, comparing documentation levels over the first five years.
Indicative only, as at March 2026, principal and interest over 30 years. Alt-doc pricing varies considerably by lender, LVR and security type. Most alt-doc borrowers refinance to full-doc pricing once a second year of returns exists.
What actually decides the answer
Self-employed files are declined on presentation far more often than on merit. The income is usually there; the file was sent to a lender whose policy could not see it.
We read the credit policy, not the rate sheet
Specialist lending is decided on policy detail — how a lender treats retained profits, whether a corporate trustee is acceptable, what liquidity an SMSF must retain. We track those rules across the panel and check them before we submit.
The file is built for the assessor
A complex file presented well is often approved where the same file, submitted raw, is declined. Financials, structure diagrams and a written explanation go in with the application, not after a query.
We tell you early when the answer is no
If your file will not place at a sensible rate, you will hear that in the first conversation rather than after three weeks and a credit enquiry. That honesty costs us applications and keeps our approval rate where it is.
Accreditation across the specialist panel
SMSF, commercial, bridging, alt-doc and credit-impaired funders each require separate accreditation and volume to maintain. We hold and use all of them.
- —Only one complete financial year of trading figures available
- —Income retained in the company rather than drawn as salary
- —Add-backs disregarded by a credit team working from a scorecard
- —An ATO payment arrangement treated as an unmanaged default
- —Lenders selected for one-year policy where the trading history supports it
- —Add-backs argued in writing with the financials attached, not left to inference
- —Alt-doc used deliberately as a bridge, with a refinance diarised for year two
- —ATO arrangements evidenced upfront so they are assessed, not assumed
Understand → Compare → Apply → Settle
Tell us the whole story
Including the decline, the credit event or the structure you think is a problem. Nothing is placed until we understand it.
Credit impact — noneStructure and match
Financials reviewed, the entity structure confirmed, and the file matched to funders whose policy it genuinely fits.
Credit impact — soft enquiry onlySubmit with the argument attached
The application goes in with financials, add-back workings and a written explanation for the assessor.
Credit impact — enquiry recordedSettle
Specialist files run longer. We manage valuations, legal review of trust deeds and the settlement booking.
Credit impact — account reportedWork out the number before you gather documents
Borrowing power with the assessment buffer applied, plus repayment and LVR modelling across documentation levels.
Often yes. Several lenders on our panel will assess a single full financial year where the business has been trading long enough to support it and the figures are consistent with the BAS history. Pricing is usually within a quarter of a per cent of standard rates, so it is not a penalty product.
An expense reducing your taxable income that does not reduce your actual capacity to repay — depreciation being the clearest example, since no cash leaves the business. Additional superannuation, genuine one-off costs and interest on debt being refinanced are commonly added back too. Which ones a lender allows varies, and it is worth several hundred thousand in borrowing capacity on some files.
No. It is a documentation route, not a credit grade. Plenty of profitable businesses use it because assembling two years of finalised returns is genuinely slow. The rate premium is real, so we generally treat it as a bridge and diarise a refinance once full documentation exists.
Not necessarily. A formal payment arrangement in good standing is acceptable to a number of lenders, particularly non-banks. An unmanaged or escalating balance is a genuine problem. Disclosing it upfront is always better — it will surface in the financials regardless.
Two years is the conventional benchmark, not a universal rule. Where you have moved from employment into the same industry as a contractor, some lenders will consider a shorter history because the income is demonstrably continuous. This is exactly the sort of nuance a scorecard cannot see.
Send us the financials. We will tell you who will lend
A twenty-minute conversation about your structure and your last two years is enough for us to know which lenders can see your income properly.