Section I
Three tiers of evidence
Everyone arrives asking about "low doc loans" as if that were a product on a shelf. It is not. There is one question — can this lender reasonably verify your income — and three levels of answer. You start at the top and move down only as far as your documents force you.
Full doc
Your income proven from lodged tax returns and the ATO notices of assessment that confirm them, for two financial years.
You land here when
- ABN active and registered for GST for two years or more
- Two years of returns lodged and assessed, with no outstanding years
- Declared income high enough to service the loan on its own
Trade-off: Nothing. This is the tier with the widest lender choice, the best pricing and the highest loan-to-value ratios available. Every other tier exists because someone cannot reach this one.
Alt doc
Your income evidenced from business activity statements and business bank statements instead of lodged returns, usually with a declaration you sign and an accountant confirms.
You land here when
- ABN active, commonly for at least one to two years
- Returns not yet lodged, or lodged income that lags current trading
- Business turnover visible and consistent in BAS and bank statements
Trade-off: A higher rate than full doc, a lower maximum loan-to-value ratio, and a narrower panel of lenders willing to look at it. The gap between full doc and alt doc pricing is real and worth quantifying before choosing.
Low doc
The least documentary evidence a lender will accept while still meeting its responsible lending obligations — typically a self-declaration supported by one corroborating source rather than several.
You land here when
- Shorter trading history, or a genuinely irregular income pattern
- Income that can be corroborated but not fully documented
- Borrowers who have exhausted the tiers above rather than skipped them
Trade-off: The highest pricing of the three, the tightest loan-to-value ratio, often a risk fee, and the smallest lender panel. It is a route, not a shortcut — and a lender still has to reasonably verify your position, so "no documents at all" is not a thing that exists.
Why moving down a tier is expensive
Each step reduces what the lender can verify, and a lender prices for what it cannot see. That shows up in three places at once: a higher rate, a lower maximum loan-to-value ratio, and a smaller panel of lenders whose policy permits the tier at all. Sometimes a risk fee is added on top.
Which is why the cheapest thing you can do is often not to shop harder, but to spend two months getting your lodgements current and your accounts separated — and then apply at the tier above.
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.