How Company Profits Really Boost (Or Don’t Boost) Your Borrowing

You can sometimes use company profits to boost home loan borrowing power, but banks won’t just take your bottom‑line profit and treat it like a salary. They look through the company to your taxable income, how consistently you pay yourself, and whether those profits are really available to cover repayments once they add a 3% serviceability buffer.

Here’s how to make your company numbers work harder for you without upsetting the ATO or your cashflow.

Banks look through your company financials to see how much profit is really available to support your home loan.

How banks actually use company income for a home loan

For self‑employed directors, most banks start with your last two years’ tax returns and financials.

They typically assess income using some mix of:

• Your PAYG wage from the company
• Dividends and trust distributions you receive
• Your share of business profit (after add‑backs)

What they usually won’t do

1. They won’t simply use gross revenue.
2. They won’t rely on profit that never reaches you in cash.
3. They rarely use one exceptional year without cross‑checking the prior year.

So if your company made $300k profit last year but you only showed $80k salary and $20k dividends, many lenders will start around $100k (plus legitimate add‑backs), not $300k.