Document
Business activity statements
Quarterly statements lodged with the ATO reporting GST collected and paid, and often PAYG instalments.
What an assessor reads in it
- Turnover, and whether it is stable, growing or falling across quarters
- Whether lodgements are up to date, which is a proxy for how the business is run
- Consistency against what the bank statements show arriving
How to prepare it
- Have four to six consecutive quarters, not a selection of good ones
- Lodge any outstanding quarters before applying, not during
- Be ready to explain a quarter that is materially out of line with the others
What spoils it: A gap. A missing quarter reads as either a lodgement problem or a hidden bad period, and the assessor cannot tell which.
Where it comes from
ATO — Business activity statements
General information about how Australian lenders assess self-employed income. Lender policy differs and changes, and tax and lodgement rules are set by the ATO; each page links to the body that sets the rule. Reviewed 17 August 2026.
The other documents
Business bank statementsSix to twelve months of the trading account the business actually operates through.Accountant's declarationA letter from a qualified accountant confirming that the income figure you have declared is consistent with what they know of the business.Tax returns and notices of assessmentLodged returns for you and every entity, plus the ATO notice confirming what was assessed.Contracts and invoicesFor contractors and labour-hire workers: the current contract, its history of renewal, and the invoices behind the payments.