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Insights topic
BAS, add-backs, trust income, and alt-doc pathways.
Start here: ATO tax debt and your home loan in 2026: what every self-employed Australian needs to know before you apply
Written and reviewed by Bishnu Adhikari. General information only — responsible lending applies and approval is never guaranteed.
Self-employed
Contractors and ABN holders are assessed on evidence of sustainable income — not a payslip story. Here is how ABN tenure, BAS, invoices, and bank behaviour usually interact, and which low-doc myths to ignore before you lodge.
11 Aug 2026 · 5 min
Self-employed
From 1 July 2019, the ATO has been allowed to disclose business tax debts above $100,000 to the credit reporting bureaus. Seven years on, the rule is mature, lenders know exactly how to read it, and self-employed borrowers are paying a price for not understanding it. Here is the plain-English version — what triggers disclosure, what lenders actually see, and the pragmatic path most clients use to clear the debt and the application in one move.
27 Apr 2026 · 12 min
Self-employed
If you run your own business in Australia, your home loan approval is decided by the paperwork before it is decided by the property. Here is the full 2026 document checklist lenders actually use — full-doc, alt-doc, 1-year ABN and 2-year ABN paths — with the reasoning behind each line.
20 Apr 2026 · 12 min
Self-employed
If you run your own business and your home loan still carries a double-digit headline from a few years ago, full-doc refinance can feel like a second job. Here is how an Easy Refinance–style pathway works for eligible borrowers, what still gets checked, and how to know if you should move now.
17 Apr 2026 · 8 min
Self-employed
What “acceptable self-employed income” looks like on paper: tax returns, add-backs, BAS, bank behaviour — and why your accountant's version and the bank's version have to match.
4 Apr 2026 · 8 min
Bishnu Adhikari
Mortgage broker, Azure Home Loans — Credit Representative ACR 538895, auth. under ACL 390261, authorised under Yellow Brick Road.
You deal with the same broker from first enquiry through to settlement. These guides are written from files we have actually worked on, not repackaged lender marketing.
Self-employed files are not harder, they are documented differently. The gap is usually between what your accountant optimised for and what a lender wants to see.
As a credit assistance provider we are required to make reasonable enquiries about your financial situation, requirements and objectives, and to verify them, before suggesting a loan. If a loan would be unsuitable for you, we have to say so. Nothing on this page is a credit approval, a pre-approval, or an offer of finance, and no outcome is guaranteed — approval is always the lender's decision.
Articles here are general information and do not take your circumstances into account. When you want numbers checked against current lender policy, speak to a broker — or call 0400 77 77 55.
Free download
Practical PDF for self-employed — general information only, not personal advice.
Self-employed
BAS, tax returns, trust deeds, and liability lists — what Australian lenders typically ask self-employed borrowers to provide.
Compliance-aware answers for common borrower questions in this lane.
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