Links Property Finance · Worked example from a Sydney mortgage broker: Self-Employed With One Year of Financials

The partial first year drags averages down at any lender that averages two years, so lender selection decides everything. The details are covered in our self-employed lending guide.

A lender that uses the most recent year, or accepts one year of financials with two years of ABN history, reads this file completely differently from one that averages.

Add-backs matter too: depreciation on the van and tools, one-off establishment costs and voluntary super all belong back in the assessable income if the lender's policy allows them.

The full-year financials and the current-year BAS trajectory, a strong year followed by stronger quarters is a very different story from a spike. The split between genuine profit and add-backs. The partner's salary, assessed conventionally. Deposit strength and buffer after settlement.

And the fair comparison: what the file gets from a one-year full-doc lender now, versus what waiting for a second year would change, priced, not guessed.

One-year policies usually want the rest of the file strong: solid deposit, clean credit, sensible loan-to-value. Alt-doc lending, assessed on BAS or an accountant's declaration, exists as a fallback and is legitimate, but it prices higher and should be a considered choice, not a default.

The trap to avoid is applying to a two-year lender, collecting a decline enquiry on the file, and then applying elsewhere: assessment order matters.

If you're self-employed and recently established, the wall you've hit is almost always one lender's policy, not your file. Keep the accounts immaculate, lodged BAS and a clean ATO position are worth real money at assessment.

And involve the broker before the accountant finalises the year: legitimate choices about depreciation and super made for tax can quietly cost borrowing power if nobody is looking at both sides.