How much can I borrow if my taxable income is low but my add-backs are high?
Yes — your true borrowing power is usually well above what your headline taxable income suggests, because many of the deductions that lower your tax are added back for lending. Depreciation, one-off write-offs, a portion of interest, and sometimes additional superannuation and car costs can be legitimately restored to your assessable income. The uplift is often the difference between a decline and an approval.
The trap most brokers miss
Most brokers assess self-employed income from the payslip-equivalent — the net taxable figure — and never open the financial statements. That treats every non-cash and one-off deduction as though the money genuinely left your pocket, quietly understating your borrowing power by hundreds of thousands.
What you actually need
- Two years of personal and business tax returns (one year may be enough with the right lender)
- Full financial statements — profit & loss and balance sheet, not just the return
- Your most recent BAS and, ideally, up-to-date management accounts
- A broker who can read the financials and identify every legitimate add-back
Illustrative scenarios
Teaching examples built from typical situations to show how we approach the problem. Numbers only, never names.
Cafe owner — low taxable income, strong add-backs
A hospitality business owner showed taxable income of about $48,000 after depreciation, a one-off equipment write-off and interest on a business loan. A bank had assessed borrowing power at roughly $310,000.
The headline taxable figure understated real cashflow. A payslip-only assessment treated legitimate non-cash and one-off deductions as if the money had genuinely left the business.
We read the full financials, added back depreciation, the non-recurring write-off and a portion of interest, then presented a reconstructed servicing position to a lender that assesses add-backs favourably.
Assessable income was re-presented at about $92,000, lifting modelled borrowing power to around $560,000 with the right lender — an illustrative uplift of roughly $250,000 versus the payslip-only view.
Illustrative example only. This is a teaching scenario built from typical borrower situations to show how we approach the problem — not a record of a specific client, and not a prediction of your result. Your outcome depends on your lender, your financials and current lending policy.
Company director — profits retained in the business
A director paid themselves a modest $70,000 salary while the company retained about $120,000 in net profit to fund growth.
A lender looking only at the personal tax return saw $70,000 and ignored the retained company profit the director could access.
We prepared company and personal financials together and selected a lender that includes retained profits and director wages for a controlling director.
Assessable income was recognised at closer to $175,000, materially changing the borrowing outcome — an illustrative example of reading company financials, not just the personal return.
Illustrative example only. This is a teaching scenario built from typical borrower situations to show how we approach the problem — not a record of a specific client, and not a prediction of your result. Your outcome depends on your lender, your financials and current lending policy.
Why this answer is worth trusting
A multi-service financial practice recognised across 9 national award programs over 12 consecutive years (2014–2026) — including 6× Innovator of the Year finalist at the Australian Accounting Awards (recognising an integrated accounting, tax & mortgage-broking practice) and three finalist categories at the Australian AI Awards 2026.
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