Home loans for self-employed clients

If your client's self-employed, let us show you how easy it could be with our new 1-year income assessment.

Helping business-owners own property

Simple, fast verification


Your client could qualify for our Fast Track or 1 year assessment policy, making it easier to get into their home sooner. 

Same loans, same rates


Is your client borrowing under their own name? Apply for the same home loans as salary-earners, and get the same features and benefits.

Standard self-employed assessment

Clients who'd like to include additional income from their business or who don't qualify for Fast Track or 1 year assessment, may be assessed on their business's latest year performance.

Medico low deposit, with no LMI

Certain medical professional clients could qualify for up to 95% LVR, with no LMI. They could also qualify for Fast Track assessment.

Follow this streamlined process  

  1. Confirm Fast Track eligibility (if ineligible, see standard assessment process below).
  2. Test serviceability using 2 years ATO NOAs *
  3. Select 'Fast Track’ in ApplyOnline
  4. Lodge nothing else but the last two years personal ATO NOA
  5. The application then joins the PAYG assessment queue

* Where capital gains exist on NOA, deduct from taxable income. Ensure rental income and/or negative gearing haven’t been included separately, unless income commenced after NOA period. The application will revert to the regular self-employed method if it doesn’t meet Fast Track eligibility.

Self-employed scenarios

Fast Track assessment  

Fast Track assessment   

If your client is self-employed, our Fast Track assessment process means their home loan application can be assessed without needing their business financials – giving them the same experience and turnaround time as employees on a payroll.

They can still qualify for Fast Track even if they: have PAYG income; have rental income; are applying with someone else and one or both of the applicants are self-employed.

Who’s eligible? Your self-employed clients who:

  • Can provide the last 2 years’ personal ATO NOAs and have been self-employed in the same business for the last 2 full financial years. Capital gains is to be deducted from taxable income.
  • Don’t need LMI, as they have at least 80% LVR (Medico clients might qualify for an LMI waiver with up to 95% LVR – see FAQ below)
  • Don’t need extra income to meet serviceability (serviceability is met purely using the income from their 2 personal ATO NOAs)
  • Have no more than $200 in foreign income tax credits on either years of their ATO NOAs
  • Are being paid a salary from their business, receiving distribution from a partnership or trust, or receiving dividends from their company.

1 Year Assessment

Clients who meet the following eligibility criteria will only need to provide one years’ worth of documentation:

- Individual borrowers only

- Trading for a minimum of 2 full financial years

- LVR less than or equal to 80%

- Minimum Credit Bureau Score for each borrower is 650

- No debt consolidation

- Maximum Total Aggregated Exposure (TAE) is $3 million (per application, including the loan being requested)

- No trading, carried forward losses or assessed losses (after adjustments) from self-employed entities (current, latest or prior year)

 

In addition to individuals requiring:

- Most recent personal tax return and ATO Notice of Assessments.

 

We also require Business partnerships, companies and trusts to provide the most recent year of:

- Business entity tax returns* and,

- business entity balance sheets*.

 

It’s recommended to have documents supporting their tax-deductible expenses ready too (like interest and one-off expenses, as well as documents supporting their business liabilities (like credit cards, hire purchases, leases and term loans).


* - For all business entities that are contributing to serviceability.

Standard 2 year assessment

Clients who'd like to include additional income from their business (such as business profits and addbacks) or who don't qualify for Fast Track, may be assessed on our standard 2 year self-employed assessment.

In addition to individuals requiring their last 2 years of personal tax returns and latest year ATO Notice of Assessment, we also require business partnerships, companies and trusts to provide the last 2 years of:

  • Business entity Tax Returns*
  • Financial statements (including profit and loss accounts, and balance sheets)*.

Important Notes:

  • If your client’s year-on-year profit growth is equal to or less than 60%, we may be able to use the latest year's income in the serviceability assessment to offer more borrowing power.
  • If using the latest year assessment method, and the year-on-year adjusted net profit is more than 60%, obtain year to date Business Activity Statements (BAS) for a minimum 6 months, to show continued business performance.


* - For all business entities that are contributing to serviceability.

Medico LMI waiver

  • The following Medico clients qualify for an LMI waiver for borrowing up to 95% LVR, and can be assessed under Fast Track – with no minimum income requirement:
  • Dentists
  • General Practitioners
  • Hospital-employed Doctors (Intern, Resident, Registrar, Staff Specialist)
  • Medical Specialists.
     

The following Medico clients qualify for an LMI waiver for borrowing up to 90% LVR if they earn at least $90k/year from their occupation. They’ll need to be assessed under our standard assessment process.

  • Audiologists
  • Chiropractors
  • Midwives
  • Occupational Therapists
  • Osteopaths
  • Physiotherapists
  • Podiatrists
  • Psychologists
  • Radiographers
  • Registered Nurses
  • Sonographers
  • Speech Pathologists
  • Optometrists
  • Pharmacists
  • Veterinary Practitioners

Frequently asked questions

Where can my client locate their ATO NOAs?

Your client can retrieve their Notice of Assessments in their MyGov inbox: for step-by-step instructions on how to find them, visit the Australian Government ATO site.

Your client’s business needs to have been established and trading for at least 2 financial years, though there may be other ways we can review their application.

Please refer to the Credit Policy for full details. 

 

With Fast Track, self-employed applicants’ income can be verified solely from their ATO Notice of Assessments. No further income documentation is needed.

Due to the reduced documents, Fast Track applications are reviewed by PAYG Assessors which may be quicker than our regular self-employed assessment process*.
 

To submit a Fast Track application, follow these simple steps:

  1. Confirm Fast Track eligibility  
  2. Test serviceability using 2 years ATO Notice of Assessments. Where capital gains exist on  ATO Notice of Assessments, deduct it from the taxable income. Ensure rental income and/or negative gearing haven’t been included separately unless income commenced after ATO Notice of Assessments period.
  3. Tick ‘Fast Track’ in ApplyOnline
  4. Lodge nothing else but 2 years ATO Notice of Assessments 


If the application does not meet the Fast Track eligibility, or if more documents are supplied, the application will revert to the regular self-employed method.


* Based on historical data. Where capital gains exist on NOA, deduct from taxable income. Ensure rental income and/or negative gearing haven’t been included separately, unless income commenced after NOA period. The application will revert to the regular self-employed method if it doesn’t meet Fast Track eligibility. 

Under Fast Track, if the applicant has received rental income during the financial years covered by the ATO Notice of Assessments, do not enter rental income separately on the application. This will already be included in the individual’s taxable income from the ATO Notice of Assessments.


Likewise, do not list expenses, including secondary residence expenses, against the rental property, as this will also be factored into the taxable income from the ATO Notice of Assessments. 


As you have capture nil expenses against the property, you will need to leave a comment to explain that it has been assessed under Fast Track, and all income and expenses relating to the property are covered by the ATO Notice of Assessments. 


Rental income may only be included separately when utilising Fast Track where: 

The rental income commenced, or is due to commence, after the period covered by the ATO Notice of Assessments. E.g. The new loan application is to purchase an investment property.

Fast Track method may be used if franking credits are present on the ATO Notice of Assessments.
 

There is no need to make any adjustments to the taxable income figure.

Under Fast Track, you can now enter foreign income tax credits up to $200 per financial year into Apply Online, and if your client is eligible, the serviceability assessment will be automatically adjusted without the need for any further verification documents.
 

Where foreign income tax credits exceed $200 per financial year, you will need to assess your client under 1 year or standard 2 year assessment policy.

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Credit Criteria, fees and charges apply. Terms and conditions available on request. Based on Westpac's credit criteria, residential lending is not available for Non-Australian Resident borrowers.

This information's been prepared without taking your clients objectives, needs and overall financial situation into account. For this reason, your client consider the appropriateness of the information and, if necessary, seek appropriate professional advice. This includes any tax consequences arising from any promotions for investors and customers should seek independent advice on any taxation matters.

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