How to get your BAS and financial statements for a loan

Why do lenders ask for BAS and financial statements?

A business loan or a self-employed home loan is assessed on what the business actually earns, not just on what you say it earns. Tax returns look back over a full year, often a year or more old by the time you apply. BAS and current financial statements fill the gap with more recent figures. Together they show turnover, whether tax is being reported and paid, how profitable the business is and how much it owes.

Lenders differ in what they accept, but the pattern is consistent: they want documents that are recent, lodged and consistent with each other. That is why getting this paperwork in order is worth an afternoon.

What is a BAS, and what does it show?

The ATO describes the business activity statement as the way you report taxes, including GST and PAYG, to the ATO. The due date for lodging and paying appears on the statement itself. Depending on your business, you might report monthly or quarterly. For a lender, a BAS is a window into sales, GST collected and credits claimed, and any PAYG withholding or instalment amounts.

What a lender typically looks for on a BAS:

• Reported sales, and whether they are steady, growing or seasonal.
• Whether statements have been lodged on time.
• Consistency with the figures in your bank statements and tax returns.
• Any sign of a gap in lodgements.

How do I get my lodged BAS from the ATO?

If you manage your own tax:

1. Log in to ATO online services for business. The ATO says you reach your accounts through the Accounts and payments menu.
2. Choose the account type you need, such as the activity statement account.
3. Open the account to see its transactions. The ATO says you can filter by date range and download the results as a CSV or HTML file, and the activity statement account shows a tax type summary and transactions.
4. Save or print what the lender needs. Where a lender asks for the lodged statements themselves, look in your accounting software or ask your agent.

If a registered tax or BAS agent lodges for you, ask them to email copies of each lodged statement. They also have access to the ATO’s systems for agents. Lenders sometimes ask for a statement to be signed or reviewed by your accountant, so tell your agent what the lender wants.

What if I cannot log in to ATO online services?

The ATO publishes help for linking and signing in, and you can call it on 13 28 65. Sole traders reach ATO online services through a linked myGov account, while businesses use online services for business with the right access. If you are locked out, allow extra time, because identity checks and linking can take days. Our guide on how to get an ATO account statement also covers access and what to do if you owe tax.

How do I get financial statements?

Financial statements usually mean:

Statement	What it shows
Profit and loss	Income and expenses over a period, and the resulting profit
Balance sheet	Assets, liabilities and equity at a point in time
Year-to-date figures	Performance since the start of the current financial year
Aged debtors and creditors	Who owes you and who you owe, and how overdue

There are two main sources:

• Your accountant. They can prepare or review the statements, and lenders often prefer this for larger loans.
• Your accounting software. Most packages produce profit and loss and balance sheet reports on request. Make sure the books are reconciled first so the numbers hold up.

If the books are behind, catch up before you apply. A profit and loss that does not agree with your BAS or bank statements invites questions. Our guide on business loan documents lists what lenders commonly request.

What if I do not have up-to-date financials?

Do not panic, and do not guess. Options include:

• Asking your accountant for a quick year-to-date report.
• Using your bank statements, which can sometimes carry the application. Our bank statement business loans page explains how.
• Looking at a low doc route, where a lender accepts a smaller set of documents. See low doc business loans.
• Getting an accountant’s letter to confirm trading history. Our guide on how to get a letter from your accountant shows the steps.

Each option has trade-offs, and lender policies vary. A broker can match your paperwork to the lender who needs the least to say yes.

Who suits this guide?

• Small business owners applying for finance.
• Sole traders and contractors applying for a home loan.
• Business owners who lodge their own BAS and want to know where it lives.
• Borrowers with a new accountant or a recent change in agent.
• Anyone who has been asked for “your latest financials” and is not sure what that means.

What mistakes should I avoid?

• Lodging late and then applying. A gap in lodgements can slow or stop an application.
• Sending unreconciled books. Numbers that do not tie to the bank statements raise questions.
• Mixing personal and business spending in one account without any explanation.
• Handing over drafts. Provide final, lodged versions where you can.
• Ignoring GST or PAYG debts. If an amount is owing, deal with it openly. Our BAS and GST debt loans page looks at how finance can help.
• Altering a document. Never change figures to look better.

An illustrative example

A café owner needs working capital. Her last two tax returns are fine, but they are more than a year old and trading has grown since. She downloads transaction listings for her activity statement account from ATO online services, asks her bookkeeper for a year-to-date profit and loss and balance sheet, and provides matching bank statements. Because every document agrees, a lender can see the growth without chasing her for more. This is an illustration only and describes no real client.

How does Ownright help?

We tell you which documents a lender actually needs before you start. Trevor Scott leads a team with more than 40 years of finance experience behind it, and we arrange finance Australia-wide from Knoxfield, Victoria. We look at small business loans, working capital loans and self-employed home loans, and we know which lenders will work with limited or slightly late paperwork. We do not promise approval, but we can often save you from gathering what you do not need.

A short checklist

• Recent BAS or activity statement transaction listings.
• Year-to-date profit and loss and balance sheet.
• Last two years of tax returns and notices of assessment.
• Business bank statements.
• A note on any gaps or unusual items.
• An ATO account balance if you owe anything.

See also our guide on getting your last two years of tax returns.

How do monthly, quarterly and annual reporting differ?

Some businesses report monthly, some quarterly, and the ATO notes it may change a business’s reporting frequency. For a lender, the frequency only affects how many statements they look at. A quarterly reporter might be asked for the last four quarters, while a monthly reporter might be asked for the last six or twelve months. The principle is the same: they want a recent, continuous picture of turnover. Gaps are what cause delays, so if a period was not lodged, fix that first.

Seasonal businesses should flag this early. A lender looking at only the last quarter of a seasonal operation can misjudge the picture, and a broker can explain the pattern with twelve months of figures. Our seasonal business loans page covers how that works.

What do lenders compare your BAS against?

They tend to cross-check three things: the BAS, the bank statements and the tax return. Differences are normal, since timing, GST and non-cash items all affect the numbers, but big unexplained gaps raise questions. Before you submit, look at the totals yourself:

• Do BAS sales roughly match deposits into the business account once GST is considered?
• Do expenses look plausible against the profit and loss?
• Are there personal transfers mixed into business income?
• Do the figures sit sensibly alongside the last tax return?

If something does not line up, a short note from your accountant or bookkeeper can settle it before the lender raises it.

What if I do not have a bookkeeper or accounting software?

Many small operators run on spreadsheets and bank statements. That is workable, but it is slower to produce a polished profit and loss. Options include asking an accountant or bookkeeper to prepare year-to-date figures, moving to accounting software going forward, or applying through a low doc or bank statement pathway where the lender relies on other evidence. A broker can tell you which path suits the amount you need and the lender in mind. In the meantime, keep business and personal spending separate. It makes every future application simpler.

Sounds like you are lining up business finance?

Sounds like you’re looking for a business loan that fits the paperwork you have. We’re the lending experts in BAS-based and low doc business lending, so click the button below and see if you qualify.