Self-employed

Ready to speed up your self-employed client’s assessment? If they qualify for Fast Track, we don’t need to see their business financials.

BrokerHub Logon BrokerHub Logon

Rates and offers Rates and offers

We're here to help our self-employed customers with their home buying journey.

We know it can start to get complicated when preparing a self-employed client’s home loan application. We’re committed to helping you through their journey of buying a property or refinancing an existing loan, and to make the experience as simple as possible. To help set you and your client up as best as possible, we’ll need you to provide a number of documents to us:

1. Fast Track your way into this fast growing market.

Our Fast Track Assessment Process is where your self-employed clients are paid either a salary from their business or receive distribution from a partnership or trust, then they may be eligible for Fast Track.

Who’s eligible, and what’s required?

Can provide the last 2 years personal Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Notice of Assessment (NOA) (where capital gains exist, deduct from taxable income)
Don’t require Lenders Mortgage Insurance (Eligible Medico clients* can still get LMI waivers up to 95% LVR if using Fast Track)
Don’t require additional income to meet serviceability (serviceability is met purely using the income derived from the 2 personal ATO NOA)
Don’t have foreign income included in the ATO NOA

Follow this simplified process

Confirm Fast Track eligibility
Test serviceability using 2 years ATO Notice of Assessments*
Tick 'Fast Track’ in ApplyOnline
Lodge nothing else but the last two years personal ATO NOA
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.

Key benefits for customers and brokers

Typically faster approval compared to regular self-employed deals
Less documents required
Fast Track applications can be assessed by PAYG assessors

2. Our Self-Employed Fully Verified with 1-year financials

If a customer'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.
This test will be based on unadjusted profit (i.e. based on profit figures in financials / tax returns), so customers and brokers will be able to have certainty even before starting their assessment that we'll use latest year income.
Allowed for LMI deals

3. Our Regular Self-Employed Assessment

Where Self-Employed clients are not eligible for Fast Track, please provide:

Last 2 years of Business Income Tax Returns
Last 2 years personal ATO Notice of Assessment

Where income is derived from a Partnership, Company or Trust, please also provide:

Last 2 years of Income Tax Returns of the Partnership, Company or Trust
Profit and Loss Statement showing figures for prior 2 full financial years
Balance Sheet statements for prior 2 full financial years

When submitting proof of income, please ensure the requested document:

Shows prior full financial year (finished last June 30) and SECOND prior full financial year (finished last June 30)
Shows applicant's full name consistent with the application
Must not show Tax File Numbers (TFN)
Where application date is AFTER 15 May, it is mandatory to supply the previous 30 June ATO Notice of Assessment

4. Our Medico Self-Employed customers

Where your client is an eligible medical professional, they can borrow up to 95% LVR with no LMI. Please provide:

Latest year of Business Income Tax Return
Latest year personal ATO Notice of Assessment

The following medical occupations are eligible for our 95% LVR LMI waiver with no minimum income requirement:

Dentists
General Practitioners
Hospital-employed Doctors (Intern, Resident, Registrar, Staff Specialist)
Medical Specialists

The following medical occupations are eligible for our 90% LVR LMI waiver with Minimum income threshold of $90,000 per annum:

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

FAQs

How does my client qualify for 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.

To qualify for Fast Track, your client will need to:

Provide their last 2 years of personal ATO Notice of Assessments.
Be self-employed for more than 2 years.
Not require LMI.
Not rely on any other sources of income to afford their home loan repayments.

Fast Track document checklist:

Their last 2 years of personal ATO Notice of Assessments.

Tip: Only provide the last 2 years of personal ATO Notice of Assessments; if you provide more the application will be processed under our regular self-employed assessment.

Where can my client locate their ATO Notice of Assessment?

Does my Medico client qualify for Fast Track?

How many years does my client have to be self-employed to get a mortgage?

How does Fast Track work?

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

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:

Confirm Fast Track eligibility
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.
Tick ‘Fast Track’ in ApplyOnline
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.

How to apply Rental Income and Expenses under Fast Track?

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 Assessment.

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 captured 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.

What happens if Franking Credits are on the NOAs?

What extra docs do I need if my client doesn’t qualify for Fast Track?

If your client doesn’t qualify for a Fast Track assessment (see FAQ above), you'll need to provide more documentation that shows us they’ve been operating as a viable business for the last 2 years.

In addition to:

Last 2 years of personal ATO Notice of Assessments, sole traders also need the last 2 years of:

Personal Income Tax Returns.

Business partnerships, companies and trusts also need the last 2 years of:

Personal Income Tax Returns
Partnership, Company or Trust Tax Returns
Financial statements (including profit and loss accounts, and balance sheets).

It’s a good idea to have documents supporting their tax-deductible expenses ready too (like interest, rental property and one-off expenses, depreciation, asset write-offs, company car deductions and family trust distributions), as well as documents supporting their business liabilities (like hire purchases, leases and term loans).

Quick tips, handy tools, and resources

Tools and niches

Helpful resources

Options and features

Logon to BrokerHub

Lodge a deal, track applications, request pricing

Forms and resources

Access Broker forms and other helpful resources

Contact a BDM

Need some guidance or help on where to start?

Important information

Credit Criteria, fees and charges apply. Terms and conditions available on request. Based on BankSA’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.

The information included on, or accessed via, this website is intended for interest only. The opinions and views expressed on, or accessed via, this website are:

Provided in the writers’ and speakers’ personal capacities and as such are their sole responsibility; and
Such opinions and views are not the opinions and/or views of Westpac and must neither be regarded as constituting advice on any matter nor be interpreted as such.

A selection of the images featured on this website have been sourced from Thinkstock and Getty Images.

If any of the information related to (or provided by) Westpac Group that you rely on is printed, downloaded or stored in any manner on your systems, files or otherwise, please ensure that you update your systems and files with the most up-to-date information provided by us and rely only on such updated information.

Westpac Group Broker Code of Conduct (PDF 120KB)

BankSA - A Division of Westpac Banking Corporation ABN 33 007 457 141 AFSL and Australian credit licence 233714.