For newer, GST-registered businesses without full tax returns yet, your Business Activity Statements can be used as evidence of genuine income.

If your business is genuinely trading but hasn’t produced a full tax return yet, your BAS statements can tell a lender the story your tax return can’t yet.

I’m Albert from Awesome Lending Solutions. If your business is registered for GST and lodges regular Business Activity Statements, but you don’t yet have a full tax return that reflects your current, genuine trading position – perhaps because your business is newer, or your most recent tax return is significantly out of date compared to how the business is performing now – a BAS-only loan might be worth considering. This approach uses your BAS statements as the primary evidence of your business’s income and trading activity, rather than relying on a tax return that may understate your true current position.

I’ll walk you through how BAS-only lending works, what lenders are looking for in your statements, and how to check whether it’s the right pathway for your specific situation.

What BAS-only lending actually involves

A Business Activity Statement is lodged with the Australian Taxation Office, typically quarterly, and reports your business’s GST obligations along with your reported turnover for that period. Because these are lodged regularly and reflect your most current trading activity, they can provide a more up-to-date picture of your business’s income than a tax return, which may reflect a financial year that ended some time ago and doesn’t capture more recent growth or changes in your business.

For a BAS-only loan, lenders typically want to see at least the last 12 months of BAS statements, showing a consistent or growing pattern of turnover, alongside business bank statements confirming the trading activity reflected in those statements. Some lenders will combine this with whatever tax return information is available, even if it’s from an earlier period, to build a fuller overall picture.

Who BAS-only lending genuinely suits

This pathway tends to suit GST-registered businesses that are genuinely trading well currently but don’t have a tax return that reflects this – a business that’s grown significantly in its second year of operation while the most recent tax return still reflects a weaker first year is a common example. It can also suit businesses that have recently changed structure or direction, where the current trading pattern doesn’t match historical tax return figures for a legitimate, explainable reason.

It’s less relevant if you’re not registered for GST, since BAS statements wouldn’t be available as evidence in the first place, and in that case, other alternative documentation paths – like an accountant’s declaration or a low doc approach more broadly – would be more relevant to explore instead.

• GST-registered businesses with genuinely current, strong trading activity
• Businesses whose most recent tax return understates current performance
• Businesses that have recently changed structure or direction
• Not relevant if you’re not registered for GST

How lenders assess your turnover from BAS statements

Lenders reviewing BAS-only applications typically look at the reported turnover across multiple statements to identify a genuine trend, rather than relying on a single strong quarter that might not be representative of your typical trading pattern. They’ll also generally apply their own assessment of what proportion of your reported turnover translates into genuine income available to service a loan, since turnover isn’t the same as profit, and lenders need to make a reasonable estimate of your actual business costs and margins.

This is another area where the specific lender’s policy genuinely matters – some are more sophisticated and generous in how they estimate your true income from turnover figures, while others apply a more conservative, blanket approach that may understate your genuine financial position.

Combining BAS statements with other evidence

BAS-only lending doesn’t necessarily mean BAS statements are the only piece of evidence considered. Many lenders will combine your BAS statements with an accountant’s letter providing context on your business’s margins and typical expenses, business bank statements confirming the activity reflected in your BAS lodgements, and whatever tax return information is available, even from an earlier or less representative period.

The stronger and more complete this combined package, the more confidently a lender can assess your genuine income, which is why we work with you to gather as complete a picture as possible, rather than relying on BAS statements alone if additional supporting evidence is available.

How we help with BAS-only applications

We review your BAS lodgement history with you to identify the genuine trend in your business’s turnover, work with you and your accountant to gather supporting context and documentation, and match you with lenders on our panel whose BAS-only policies are best suited to how your specific business is trading. This is a genuinely narrower part of the lending market than standard full documentation loans, which makes knowing exactly which lenders offer competitive, currently available BAS-only products particularly valuable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be registered for GST to use a BAS-only loan?
Yes – since the loan relies on your Business Activity Statements as evidence, GST registration and regular BAS lodgement are a genuine prerequisite for this pathway.

How many BAS statements do lenders typically want to see?
Generally at least the last 12 months, so lenders can identify a genuine trend in your turnover rather than relying on a single, potentially unrepresentative period.

Can I combine BAS statements with an old tax return?
Yes, many lenders will consider your BAS statements alongside whatever tax return information is available, even if it’s from an earlier or less representative period, to build a fuller overall picture of your business.

Will a BAS-only loan have a higher interest rate?
Sometimes, reflecting the lender’s assessment of the alternative documentation involved, though this varies by lender. We’ll compare current BAS-only offers across our panel to find the most competitive option for your situation.

What if my BAS turnover fluctuates seasonally?
This is worth explaining clearly to the lender, ideally with context from your accountant, since a lender reviewing a longer BAS history can generally identify and account for genuine seasonal patterns rather than treating them as inconsistency.

Can I move to a standard loan later once I have full tax returns?
Yes, often through refinancing once you have complete financials available, which could open up more competitive standard loan terms and a wider range of lenders at that point.

Does a BAS-only loan require a larger deposit?
Sometimes, depending on the lender, since this pathway is viewed as carrying a degree of additional risk compared to a standard full documentation application. We’ll confirm the specific requirement for lenders suited to your situation.

Trading well but don’t have a current tax return? Send us your BAS history and we’ll check which lenders would consider your situation.

Phone: 02 7904 9560