Which Lenders Accept a BAS Statement as the Sole Income Proof for an Alt-Doc Loan?

The self-employed mortgage market entered a new phase in the first quarter of 2025, when three non-bank lenders revised their credit manuals to treat a single quarterly Business Activity Statement as a standalone income verification document. On 3 February 2025, La Trobe Financial released version 7.1 of its Lite Doc Application Guide, dropping the accountant‑letter requirement for loans where the sole income evidence is a lodged BAS and the LVR does not exceed 70%. Six weeks later, Bluestone’s Alternative Income Verification Policy, effective 1 April 2025, mirrored the move, while Resimac quietly expanded its Alt Doc Express pathway to accept BAS‑only files for self‑employed purchasers with a credit score above 680.

The policy shift arrives as the Reserve Bank of Australia holds the cash rate at 3.85% for a sixth consecutive meeting, a posture that stabilises serviceability buffers but keeps the floor assessment rate at 8.50‑9.50% for most alt‑doc products. For sole traders and company directors who run GST‑registered entities, the BAS has always been the bluntest record of top‑line revenue. Until late 2024, however, a lodged statement almost always needed a companion document: an accountant’s letter, six months of business bank statements, or a trade‑based profit‑and‑loss statement endorsed by a registered tax agent. The recent changes, driven by non‑bank appetite for refinancing volume as $98 billion in fixed‑rate loans matured across 2023‑24, have opened a narrow lane that a self‑employed borrower can now walk with a single BAS. This article catalogues which lenders accept the statement as sole income proof, the hard LVR, DTI and buffer limits attached, and the underwriting conditions that can still cause a decline.

What a BAS statement reveals — and what it hides

A BAS is a tax‑office summary, not a financial statement. Lenders that use it as sole income proof perform a distinct set of calculations.

Gross sales versus assessable income

Lenders annualise the total sales figure reported on the BAS (G1 for a quarterly statement) by multiplying it by four. If the applicant lodges monthly, the multiplier is 12. The resulting number is treated as gross annual revenue and then discounted by an industry‑specific net‑profit margin to arrive at assessable income. For a plumber with an ANZSIC division‑E classification, a non‑bank may apply a 50% margin to gross sales; a consultant operating under ANZSIC division‑M might receive 60%. A retail business with high cost of goods sold could see the margin drop to 35%. These margins are set in each lender’s credit policy and cannot be negotiated at broker level.

The gap between gross sales and assessable income is the first source of application failure. A sole trader reporting $120,000 in quarterly sales on the BAS will generate an annualised gross of $480,000. After a 45% margin, only $216,000 flows to the serviceability calculator, which is then taxed at the borrower’s marginal rate plus the Medicare levy.

GST reconciliation and the annualised income multiplier

BAS figures include GST. A lender must strip out the GST component before annualising. If the borrower is registered on a cash basis, the BAS amount already reflects actual GST received. An accrual‑basis BAS reports GST on invoices issued, not cash collected, which can inflate revenue. La Trobe Financial’s Lite Doc Guide v7.1 (February 2025) states that for BAS‑only applications, the lender will use the “GST‑exclusive total sales” after dividing the G1 figure by 1.1, unless the borrower supplies a reconciliation showing a different effective GST rate due to mixed supplies. Bluestone’s Policy (1 April 2025) takes a simpler approach: it multiples the G1 amount by 10/11 and then annualises, regardless of cash or accrual registration, unless an ATO portal discrepancy triggers a second‑layer review.

Sole trader vs company BAS: different lender treatment

A company BAS lists total sales and GST, but the income belongs to the entity. Lenders that accept company BAS as sole proof for an alt‑doc loan must also accept that the director’s income is evidenced by the combination of the company BAS and the director’s personal tax return notice of assessment ported through the ATO portal. Resimac’s Alt Doc Express program requires the most recent personal NOA when a company BAS is used, effectively adding a second document. By contrast, a sole trader BAS maps directly to the individual borrower, allowing a true single‑document pathway at Bluestone and La Trobe for LVRs up to 70%.

Lender policy matrix: BAS‑only acceptance by product and LVR cap

Only a handful of non‑banks treat a lodged BAS as sufficient standalone evidence. The table below translates each policy into concrete numbers.

La Trobe Financial — Lite Doc, BAS‑only under 70% LVR

La Trobe’s February 2025 update to the Lite Doc Application Guide permits the most recent quarterly BAS as the sole income document when:

• The loan purpose is a purchase or rate‑and‑term refinance (cash‑out capped at $100,000).
• The LVR is at or below 70% (for properties in a capital city postcode; 65% for regional).
• The borrower’s credit score is ≥600 (Equifax).
• The annualised, GST‑exclusive sales figure, after applying the lender’s margin table, produces a DTI of ≤6.0.
• The loan amount does not exceed $2,000,000.

La Trobe does not require business bank statements for this tier, but it will pull the ATO portal income statement to verify that the BAS has been lodged and that the entity has no outstanding PAYG withholding or superannuation liability exceeding $10,000. Buffer: 1.5% over the product rate, assessed at the higher of floor rate (currently 8.75%) or product rate plus buffer. Example: a 6.49% variable rate on a Lite Doc loan is assessed at 8.75%, not 7.99%.

Bluestone — Alternative Income Verification, standalone BAS for prime credit

Bluestone’s 1 April 2025 Alternative Income Verification Policy allows a single lodged BAS for the “Prime Plus” tier. Conditions:

• LVR ≤70% for purchase, 65% for refinance with cash‑out.
• Minimum credit score 700.
• Annualised income calculated as (G1 × 10/11 × 4) then discounted by a fixed 45% for all industries except professional services, where 55% applies.
• DTI hard cap of 5.5.
• Loan amount ceiling $1,500,000.
• The BAS must be the most recent lodging period and dated within 45 days of application.

Bluestone’s serviceability calculator applies an assessment rate of 9.25% for loans with LVR >60%, and 8.75% for LVR ≤60%. The buffer incorporated into that rate is 2.5% above the 6.74% reference rate (Bluestone’s Bright product rate as of May 2025). A borrower earning $180,000 post‑margin would satisfy serviceability for a $700,000 loan at these rates, assuming no other debt, but would breach the 5.5 DTI cap if the loan exceeded $990,000. The lower of the two constraints governs.

Resimac — Alt Doc Express, BAS with no accountant letter

Resimac’s Alt Doc Express pathway, expanded in mid‑March 2025, now allows a lodged BAS as the sole income proof for:

• Purchases only (no refinance cash‑out).
• LVR ≤75% with credit score ≥680, or 70% for scores 650‑679.
• Maximum loan $1,250,000.
• GST‑exclusive annualised income calculated by (G1/1.1) × 4, with a margin of 50% for trades and 60% for professional services.
• DTI cap 6.0.

Resimac imposes an assessment floor of 8.50% for all alt‑doc loans regardless of product rate, meaning a borrower’s actual repayments are measured against an 8.50% rate. The policy note also requires the borrower to have been GST‑registered for at least 12 months and to show a lodged BAS in the ATO portal within the last 30 days; a “prepared but not lodged” BAS is ineligible.

Pepper Money — Resolve Alt‑Doc, BAS accepted but rarely sole proof

Pepper’s Resolve product suite (Product Guide version 12, March 2025) lists “lodged BAS” as acceptable income evidence, but it almost always requests six months of business bank statements alongside. A Pepper credit assessor can waive the bank statements at their discretion if the BAS is accompanied by a Notice of Assessment for the same period and the NOA’s declared income is within 10% of the lender‑calculated annualised, post‑margin figure. In practice, this makes a true BAS‑only file rare. The LVR cap is 70% for BAS‑led applications, DTI 5.0, and the loan size capped at $1,000,000. Assessment rate: 9.00% with a 1.5% buffer embedded.

Liberty Financial — Liberty Alt Doc, flexible but rarely sole proof

Liberty’s Alt Doc product does not publish a standalone BAS‑only tier. A lodged BAS is an acceptable document, but Liberty underwriters typically request the corresponding bank account statement showing the GST remittance leaving the account, or an accountant’s letter confirming business turnover. The practical outcome is that Liberty does not operate as a single‑document lender for BAS. The maximum LVR when BAS is the primary income document is 65% and the DTI cap is 4.5, making it the tightest entry among non‑banks.

Brighten — Brighten Prime Alt‑Doc, recent BAS‑only addition

Brighten added a BAS‑only option to its Prime Alt‑Doc product on 18 March 2025. The feature is available for:

• Purchase and rate‑and‑term refinance.
• LVR ≤65% (all postcodes).
• Annualised income derived using the formula (G1 × 4) for quarterly lodgers, then reduced to 55% of that figure for all industries. The 55% is a fixed margin; Brighten does not vary it by ANZSIC.
• DTI cap 5.5.
• Loan amount ceiling $1,500,000.
• Assessment rate 9.25%, equivalent to a 2.5% buffer over the product rate.

Brighten’s policy requires the borrower’s ATO portal to be free of any overdue lodgements or outstanding payment arrangements in excess of $5,000. The portal is checked at pre‑approval and again three days before settlement.

The hidden DTI and serviceability buffers on BAS‑only loans

Borrowers often mistake the BAS accept‑hotel for a soft‑touch credit assessment. The opposite is true: because a single statement offers no year‑on‑year trend, lenders compensate with tighter DTI limits and higher assessment floors.

How lenders annualise BAS revenue and factor net profit margins

Every lender applies a margin to gross sales. The margin is a proxy for net‑profit‑before‑tax and is defined in each credit policy. The table below shows the margins for the main BAS‑only lenders as of May 2025:

These margins mean a tradesman reporting $100,000 in quarterly GST‑exclusive sales will see an annualised gross of $400,000 and an assessable income of $200,000 at La Trobe, $180,000 at Bluestone, and $200,000 at Resimac. The same borrower might be assessed at $160,000 at Pepper and $220,000 at Brighten — a $60,000 spread that determines loan capacity.

Current floor assessment rates and their DTI outcomes

All alt‑doc lenders assess the borrower’s capacity at a floor rate, not the product rate. The floors sit between 8.50% and 9.25% as of mid‑2025. On a $500,000 loan, the difference between an 8.50% assessment and a 9.25% assessment is approximately $2,400 per annum in required surplus income. With a $200,000 assessable income, after tax and living expenses, that gap can be the margin between an approval and a decline.

The DTI caps interact with the floor rates indirectly: a lender will first verify that the loan amount divided by assessable income is below the hard DTI cap (5.0‑6.0 depending on lender), then run the full serviceability calculator. A low‑margin borrower may pass the DTI cap but fail serviceability because of high living expenses. A self‑employed applicant with three dependants and a $1,500 monthly car lease will see the Henderson Poverty Index‑derived living expense benchmark rise, consuming the surplus.

The impact of GST registration method on income calculation

A cash‑basis registrant reports only the GST actually collected, while an accrual‑basis registrant reports GST on invoices issued. If an accrual‑basis BAS shows $50,000 in sales including GST for a quarter, the lender’s standard 10/11 reduction yields $45,455. However, if $10,000 of that is receivables that may never be collected, the figure overstates real cash income. La Trobe and Resimac will accept the standard reduction without adjustment; Bluestone reserves the right to request a cash‑flow statement if the credit assessor identifies a material gap between the BAS total sales and the business bank account credits over the same period. Brighten does not adjust for cash vs accrual but will flag a portal income‑tax return comparison if available.

When a BAS is not enough: the four conditions that kill an application

A lodged BAS can meet the documentary requirement but still fail underwriting when any of these four conditions is present.

1. Mismatched ATO portal data

All BAS‑only lenders access the ATO portal in real time. If the portal shows a “balance” for the relevant period that does not match the borrower‑supplied BAS, or if a previous BAS has been amended and the portal record has not updated, the assessor will pause. Resimac’s policy (March 2025) states that a discrepancy exceeding $5,000 requires a written explanation from a tax agent, which effectively kills the single‑document pathway.

2. Deductions‑heavy P&L that sinks net profit

A borrower might submit a BAS alongside a profit‑and‑loss statement voluntarily, believing it strengthens the file. If the P&L shows net profit well below the margin‑derived assessable income, the lender will use the lower figure. For instance, a sole trader with a $500,000 annualised gross from the BAS who then produces a P&L showing $80,000 net profit will see the loan assessed on $80,000, blowing up the DTI. Lenders are required to take the most conservative evidence. Applicants should avoid submitting any supplementary financial statement unless their accountant confirms it aligns within 10% of the margin‑based figure.

3. The primary residence address discrepancy

A BAS carries the business address. If that address differs from the borrower’s residential address and the applicant claims to operate from home, lenders will request proof that the business is genuinely home‑based — usually a utility bill in the same entity’s name or a council notice. This verification can add two weeks and often claws back the simplicity of a BAS‑only lodgement.

4. ATO payment plan in the portal

Any existing ATO payment plan, even for a prior year’s income tax debt, creates a liability that must be disclosed. La Trobe’s system treats a payment plan as a commitment in the serviceability calculator and will reduce borrowing capacity dollar‑for‑dollar against the outstanding balance. A $30,000 plan reduces the maximum loan by approximately $30,000‑$35,000. Pepper’s Resolve product will not proceed if the total ATO debt exceeds 10% of the borrower’s annualised income.

Actionable takeaways for a BAS‑only application

Before lodging an alt‑doc enquiry, self‑employed borrowers should run through these five checks. The list is not boilerplate advice; it reflects the current policy thresholds of the lenders mapped above.

1. Lock the LVR at or below 70% before approaching a lender. A 70% LVR opens La Trobe, Bluestone, and Resimac (if credit score ≥680). At 75% LVR, only Resimac accepts BAS‑only, and then only for purchases. Above 75% LVR, the pathway closes for all lenders as of May 2025. Reducing the loan amount by sourcing a 30% deposit plus stamp duty changes the conversation from a policy fit to a credit‑risk fit.

2. Calculate the assessable income yourself using each lender’s margin. Use the GST‑exclusive quarterly sales figure (G1/1.1) multiplied by four, then apply the margin from the table in this article. Compare the result against the loan amount to see if the DTI is under 5.5. If the ratio exceeds 5.5, Brighten (55% margin) is the only BAS‑only lender with a DTI cap at 5.5, and even then it caps LVR at 65%. A DTI above 6.0 will force a second‑document pathway or a deep‑discount product from a specialist non‑conforming lender.

3. Log into the ATO portal and check for overdue lodgements, payment plans, and superannuation guarantee charge amounts. Resolve any outstanding liability before application. A payment plan of $5,000 may be acceptable, but anything above that risks a policy decline at the underwriting stage. Brighten’s hard stop is $5,000; La Trobe’s is $10,000 but will include open payment arrangements in the commitment calculation.

4. Do not volunteer a profit‑and‑loss statement unless the net profit matches the margin‑derived figure within 10%. If the business has an unusually high cost structure that makes margins above 20% unrealistic, consider whether a full‑doc low‑doc (accountant‑letter) pathway, which uses actual net profit, might produce a better outcome with a lender that allows LVR above 70%.

5. If you operate through a company, budget for a second document. Only sole traders can reliably close a file with a single BAS. Company directors will always need a personal NOA (Resimac) or a letter from the company accountant confirming the director’s share of profit (La Trobe). That additional document may stretch the lodgement timeline but will not alter the LVR cap if kept within the same lender’s BAS‑only tier.

The BAS‑only lane is narrow, but it has widened enough in 2025 to move a self‑employed borrower from the “no‑document” category to a firm credit approval within 14 days. The application must be built to the exact guardrails set out above, without the padding that kills a minimalist file.