Self-employed
Your accountant makes you look poor. We translate.
Every write-off that saves you tax shrinks the income a bank sees. A third of our practice is self-employed borrowers — the job is matching your real earning power to the lender that knows how to read it.
The math of the problem
A worked example, start to finish
Meet an illustrative electrician, incorporated, grossing ~$240,000. After expenses, capital cost allowance on the van, and paying herself tax-efficiently, her line 15000 reads $87,000 and $95,000 over the last two years.
A strict lender sees the two-year average: $91,000. A lender that applies a 15% program gross-up sees $104,650 — and one that also adds back the $9,000 of CCA sees roughly $115,000.
Same person. Same tax returns. At a 39% GDS ceiling under the stress test, that spread is worth well over $100,000 of purchase price. The lender choice IS the qualification.
Figures illustrative; add-back and gross-up policies vary by lender and program — Copperline Mortgage Co. Inc. (fictional).
“I ran a contracting business for seven years before this desk. I know exactly what it's like to be profitable on paper you can't show a bank.”
Marcus Hale · Mortgage Broker · meet the team
The three routes
From cleanest to most expensive — in that order
Route 01
Prime, with the income read properly
Two+ years self-employed, reasonable line 15000
Lenders average your last two Notices of Assessment. Some stop there; the good ones add back legitimate paper deductions — capital cost allowance, business-use-of-home — and gross up eligible program income by 15%. Same rates as any salaried borrower.
Route 02
Insured self-employed programs
Strong file, under 20% down
Default insurers run self-employed programs that accept alternative income proof (bank statements, contracts, invoices) when the tax return understates the business. The premium is slightly higher; the rate stays prime.
Route 03
Alternative (B) lenders
Under two years in business, or aggressive write-offs
B lenders read 6–12 months of business bank statements instead of tax returns. Expect a rate roughly 1% higher and a 1% lender fee — and on these files a brokerage fee applies too, disclosed in writing up front. Often used as a 1–2 year bridge back to prime.
We always try the routes in order — and when route three is the honest answer, you'll get the full cost picture (rate, lender fee, our fee) in writing before anything is submitted. How we're paid, including on B files.
Your checklist
What self-employed files need
- Two years of T1 Generals with statements of business activities
- Two years of Notices of Assessment (and proof no tax is owing)
- Incorporated: two years of corporate financials + articles of incorporation
- 6–12 months of business bank statements (alternative routes)
- Contracts, invoices, or client letters that show income continuity
- The usual: ID, down-payment history, debts, property details
If you're applying next year
The 12-month head start
The single most valuable conversation is the one a year early — with your accountant and us at the same table (or email thread). Sometimes declaring $15,000 more income for one tax year costs a few thousand in tax and unlocks six figures of prime borrowing. Sometimes it doesn't, and a B-lender bridge is genuinely cheaper. It's arithmetic, not ideology — we'll show both columns and let the columns decide.
Book the early conversationBring the messy version.
Incorporated, seasonal, three contracts and a side business, two years of weird — we've read worse, and the wizard has a self-employed lane.