Can you get a low doc home loan with no tax returns in WA?
Yes. A low doc home loan with no tax returns is a real product for self-employed borrowers in WA. Lenders verify your income another way: lodged BAS, business bank statements, or a letter from your accountant. Here is what they accept, what it costs against a standard loan, and who it suits.
Short answer: yes. A low doc home loan with no tax returns is how many self-employed West Australians buy a home. It is not a loophole. The lender still has to verify your income, because the law says so. It just verifies it with documents you already have. Your lodged BAS, your business bank statements, or a letter from your accountant. Your tax return is one way to prove income. It is not the only way, and for a business owner it is often the slowest and least current. This guide covers what lenders accept instead, what it costs against a standard loan, and who it suits.
Can you get a low doc home loan with no tax returns?
Short answer: yes, if you are self-employed or your income cannot be shown on a payslip. Lenders must verify your income before they lend for a home. ASIC’s responsible lending guide lists what a lender can rely on when a tax return is not available or not current. Business bank statements, written advice from your accountant, notices of assessment and business activity statements. Low doc means fewer documents, not no verification.
The rules live in Chapter 3 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act. ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 209 explains what they mean in practice. A lender has to make reasonable inquiries about your financial position and take reasonable steps to verify it. The guide’s own worked example is a self-employed borrower. Her income shows no clear pattern in her personal account. It says the lender should look at other sources. The business bank account. The accountant’s written advice on profit and what is available as personal income. Notices of assessment. BAS.
That is the whole product in one paragraph from the regulator. The “no doc” loan, where you signed a declaration and nobody checked, went out with the responsible lending laws. What replaced it is a home loan where the evidence is business evidence. For a subbie, a farmer, a contractor on an ABN or anyone whose accountant has not caught up, that is good news. The business evidence is usually more current than the tax return anyway.
Why do self-employed borrowers often have no recent tax returns?
Short answer: timing. The financial year ends 30 June. If you lodge yourself, your return is due 31 October. If you use a registered tax agent, they lodge later under their own program. Most business owners use an agent. So a lender asking in September for two full years of returns is asking for a return that may not exist yet for the year just finished. And one that is up to 26 months old. Your BAS, by contrast, is due every quarter.
The ATO’s own page says registered tax agents have a special lodgment program. They can lodge returns for clients after the usual 31 October deadline. That is the normal position for a business owner, not an exception. Meanwhile the quarterly BAS falls due on 28 October, 28 February, 28 April and 28 July. Four quarters of BAS tells a lender what your business turned over in the last 12 months. A tax return tells them what it earned in a year that ended a while ago, after every legal deduction.
That is the positive way to read a low doc home loan with no tax returns. You are not asking a lender to look past missing paperwork. You are handing them fresher paperwork. Lenders who write these loans know that, and they built the product around it.
What do lenders accept instead of tax returns?
Short answer: commonly one or two of these. The last four quarters of lodged BAS. Six to twelve months of business bank statements. Or a signed letter from your accountant confirming your income. Plus an ABN with some history, GST registration where your turnover requires it, and a signed declaration of your income. Each lender has its own preferred mix. The more of the list you can produce, the wider the lender choice tends to be.
What lenders commonly accept in place of tax returns, and what each one shows them
| Evidence | What it tells the lender | Common ask | How current it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lodged BAS | Turnover the ATO has already received, quarter by quarter. | Last four quarters. | Never more than a quarter old. |
| Business bank statements | Real money arriving from real clients, and what goes out. | Six to twelve months. | Up to the day you print them. |
| Accountant’s letter | A registered agent’s view of your profit and the income available to you. | Signed, on letterhead, recent. | As at the date signed. |
| Income declaration | Your own signed statement of what you earn, which the other evidence has to support. | Standard on most low doc files. | Now. |
| ABN and GST registration | You have been trading, and for how long. GST is compulsory from $75,000 turnover. | ABN commonly 12 to 24 months; GST where required. | Public record, checked in seconds. |
| Notice of assessment | Your taxable income for a lodged year, if you have one. | Helpful, not required on a low doc file. | A year or more old. |
Reading the table
Notice the last column. The two documents lenders lean on most, BAS and bank statements, are the two most current things in the table. The tax return is the least current. Which one would you rather be judged on if your business is growing?
Notice also what is not in the table. Payslips, group certificates, a two-year average. Lenders commonly combine at least two rows, and BAS plus bank statements is the pairing that opens the most doors. If your bookkeeping is in one clean business account and your BAS is lodged on time, you already hold a strong low doc file.
Your BAS is never more than a quarter old. Your tax return can be two years old. A lender who wants the current picture knows which one to ask for.
What does a low doc home loan with no tax returns cost compared with full doc?
Short answer: commonly a little more, in three places. The rate often carries a premium over the same lender’s full doc rate. Lenders set their own maximum loan-to-value ratio on low doc, and it is commonly lower than on a full doc loan, so a bigger deposit widens your options. And a risk fee or lenders mortgage insurance can apply at a lower threshold than on a standard loan, depending on the lender. The premium is the price of speed. It is usually temporary, because most borrowers refinance to full doc once their returns are lodged.
Side by side
Full doc and low doc side by side, common settings (lender policy varies, checked 31 August 2026)
| Full doc home loan | Low doc home loan with no tax returns | |
|---|---|---|
| Income evidence | Two years of tax returns and notices of assessment, or payslips. | BAS, business bank statements, accountant’s letter, income declaration. |
| Deposit commonly needed | As little as 5 per cent with LMI or a scheme; 20 per cent to avoid LMI. | Varies by lender. A larger deposit than a standard loan is common, and the more you have, the more lenders are open to you. |
| Interest rate | The lender’s standard rate. | Commonly a premium over the same lender’s standard rate. The premium varies widely by lender, deposit and evidence. |
| LMI or risk fee | Usually applies when borrowing more than 80 per cent of the property’s value (Moneysmart). | Can apply at a lower level of borrowing, or as a risk fee instead; varies by lender. |
| Who writes it | Banks and non-banks. | Mainly non-bank lenders, which also sit outside APRA’s debt-to-income cap on banks. A few banks, on tighter terms. |
| How long you stay | As long as you like. | Commonly until your returns are lodged, then refinance to full doc. |
What the premium means in dollars
Take a $520,000 loan as an example. Every half a percentage point on it is about $2,600 a year in interest. That is the number to weigh against waiting a year or more for the returns while rents and prices move. For a lot of borrowers the low doc premium for a year or two is cheaper than the wait. For others, lodging the return with the accountant this month and going full doc is the better path. That is a calculation, not a rule, and it is one we run both ways before you choose.
One more thing on cost. Non-bank lenders write most low doc home loans. They sit outside the debt-to-income cap APRA placed on banks from February 2026. They still assess whether you can afford the loan. They just do it under their own settings. For a self-employed borrower that is another door, not a shortcut.
Who does a low doc home loan with no tax returns suit in WA?
Short answer: anyone with a real business and real cash flow whose paperwork lags the business. Subbies and tradies on an ABN. Farmers between harvests. FIFO contractors invoicing through their own entity. A new business owner in year one or two. Anyone whose accountant is still working on last year. If the business account tells a good story, a low doc home loan with no tax returns tells it to a lender this month.
Who we see
The common thread is that the income is real and the tax return is late, small, or both. It is the situation our self-employed home loans page is built around. A contractor who moved from wages to an ABN eighteen months ago has a strong business account and no lodged return for a full year yet. A farmer’s return depends on when the harvest was sold. A tradie’s return is the smallest number the accountant could legally produce. Right outcome at tax time, wrong document for a loan. Our guide on home loans with one year of tax returns covers the borrower one step along, with a single return in hand.
Two things that do not stop a file
An ATO payment plan is read by many lenders as management, not a mark against you. Our guide on home loans with an ATO payment plan explains how. And if the business needs a vehicle as well, the same evidence carries a truck loan without full financials. The order matters, because each new loan is a commitment on the next application.
From the broker’s desk: most of these conversations start with a business owner whose own bank said to come back when the returns are done. Their BAS is lodged, their business account is healthy, and the house they want is on the market now. That is not a file with a gap in it. It is a file with different evidence, and the lenders who read that evidence write these loans every week.
What are the steps to get a low doc home loan with no tax returns?
Short answer: lodge any BAS that is outstanding. Get six to twelve months of business bank statements together. Ask your accountant for a letter. Know your deposit. Then talk to a broker who works with the lenders that write these loans. The right lender depends on which evidence you hold and how much deposit you have.
Six steps
- Lodge your BAS. Every outstanding quarter. Four lodged quarters is the single strongest low doc document, and it costs nothing but getting it done.
- Clean up the business account. Six to twelve months of statements with client payments in and business costs out. Personal spending running through it weakens the picture, so start separating now if you have not.
- Ask your accountant for a letter. Signed, on letterhead, confirming your income. Some lenders want it, some do not, and having it ready widens the panel.
- Check your ABN and GST dates. ABN Lookup shows both. Twelve to twenty-four months is the common range lenders like, and GST is compulsory from $75,000 turnover.
- Know your deposit and your credit file. Every lender sets its own deposit requirement on low doc, and more deposit opens more lenders. A clean credit file matters more when the income evidence is lighter.
- Call us before you talk to a bank. We compare the options across the panel and give a solid recommendation based on your circumstances. On a low doc file that means matching your evidence to the lender that reads it best, with the refinance to full doc planned from day one.
Choosing who runs it
Low doc is where a broker’s panel matters most. The lenders that write these loans well are not the ones on the billboards. Our list of questions to ask a mortgage broker in WA applies here. Add one. Ask which lenders on their panel accept BAS and bank statements for a home loan, and how many self-employed files they have settled that way this year. If they answer with a list and a number, you have found the right person for a low doc home loan with no tax returns.
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Start with a chatThis guide is general information for the Australian market, not advice about your situation. Lender credit policy changes, and what applies to you depends on your circumstances. Pilbara Finance is a credit representative (478535) of Mortgage Specialists Pty Ltd, Australian Credit Licence 387025.