Document
Contracts and invoices
For contractors and labour-hire workers: the current contract, its history of renewal, and the invoices behind the payments.
What an assessor reads in it
- Continuity — same industry, same client base, minimal gaps
- Whether the rate in the contract matches what arrives in the account
- Notice periods and renewal history, as a proxy for stability
How to prepare it
- Keep the last two or three contracts, not just the current one
- Have a short written explanation ready for any gap between engagements
- Reconcile invoices to bank deposits before an assessor has to
What spoils it: Gaps that look like unemployment on a statement with nothing to explain them. The gap is rarely the problem; the silence around it is.
Where it comes from
Moneysmart — Home loans (ASIC)
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 activity statementsQuarterly statements lodged with the ATO reporting GST collected and paid, and often PAYG instalments.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.