Home loans with an ABN under two years: what lenders count

“Two years of trading” sounds like one rule. In practice lenders start the clock in different places. Most look at when your ABN was registered, and some look at when you actually started trading.

If a lender needs you to be registered for GST (goods and services tax), it checks that date as well. Some want six months of GST registration and others want twelve, while some lenders that aren't banks will accept a GST registration of any length.

Your ABN's start date is public

Anyone can look up an ABN on the government's ABN Lookup service, which shows the date it became active (“Active from”) and, if you're registered for GST, the date that started too. Lenders can check it themselves. When you applied for your ABN, the date you gave was meant to be when you expected to start business activities, and it couldn't be more than six months ahead.

Source: Australian Business Register, ABN Lookup (an ABN record's "Active from" and GST "Registered from" dates) and "What you need for your ABN application" (last modified 14 November 2022), read 29 October 2026.

Before you talk to a lender, look up your own ABN and note the date. If you were trading before that date, or your business has changed structure, tell your broker: it can change which lenders count your time in full.

Where a lender has a path for one to two years in business, the core is usually one year's tax return and the notice of assessment that goes with it (the tax office's summary of your taxable income and tax), and a lender may assess that one year on its own. Several add something more recent: business activity statements (BAS, the regular GST report your business lodges with the tax office), a few months of business bank statements, or proof that nothing is overdue with the tax office.

If your first tax return covers only part of a year

Say you started trading in March, so your first return covers about four months. A lender may use the income on that return as your income for the year, without scaling it up to twelve months, which gives a lower figure than those months would suggest. Some lenders do scale it up.

Where your return doesn't show enough, a lender may check your income another way: your BAS, your business bank statements and a letter from your accountant. Some will also consider interim financials (accounts your accountant prepares part-way through the year). Cash flow projections are rarely accepted for a home loan.

Expect to need a bigger deposit. Shorter-history loans often lend a smaller share of the home's value than the same lender would after two years, and some won't add LMI (lenders mortgage insurance, which protects the lender when your deposit is small) to let you borrow more. A few specialist lenders go further, usually at a higher rate or with a fee in place of LMI.

Some professions have their own rules for a new practice. A broker can tell you whether yours is one of them.

With an ABN under two years, some banks may consider your application if you've gone straight from being an employee to contracting for the same business, doing the same work, with no gap in between. Some lenders' written policies also consider earlier work in the same field for a different employer. A broker can check whether either route applies to you.

If you contract for one client through your own ABN, lenders also look at how the arrangement actually works. Several sort contractors into two kinds:

• Like an employee: one client, regular hours, and the client pays your tax and super. Some lenders assess this as employment, so the two-year ABN rule may not apply at all.
• In business for yourself: you invoice under your own ABN and manage your own tax. Lenders assess this as self-employed, though some set the two-year rule aside when the client is your old employer.

Which side you fall on depends on the details, so bring your contract, recent invoices or payslips, and your last payslips from your old job, to help show when that job ended.

A new company or trust gets a new ABN with a new start date, which can make an established business look new on paper. If the change was made for tax reasons and the same people still own and run the business, some lenders may count your earlier trading history. A broker can check how a particular lender treats the change. Our guide for the self-employed covers how lenders read company and trust income.

Specialist lenders that offer low doc loans (where you declare your income and back it with an accountant's letter, BAS or business bank statements instead of tax returns) often set their minimums in months of ABN and GST registration, some well under a year. The trade-off is usually a higher rate and a bigger deposit. Our self-employed guide's low doc section explains how they work.

• Counting turnover as income.Lenders use your net profit, what's left after business expenses, plus add-backs, the expenses a lender agrees to add back to your profit. Our self-employed guide explains add-backs.
• Counting cash jobs.Cash jobs you haven't declared can't be counted as income.
• Forgetting the first year's set-up costs.Tools, a vehicle and equipment bought in your first year can reduce the profit shown on that year's return, so be ready to explain what you bought.
• Not talking to your accountant first.Your accountant usually aims for you to pay as little tax as you legally can, but a lower taxable profit can reduce the income a lender uses, even with add-backs. If you're planning to buy, tell your accountant before your return is lodged. A broker can talk it through with your accountant too.

Our tool asks whether your ABN has been registered for two years or more. Answer “No, under 2 years” and lenders that need two years are greyed out with the reason, while lenders that may consider a shorter history stay in your list, for a broker to confirm.

The tool doesn't ask how many months you've traded or when your GST registration started, so a lender still in your list may want more time in business than you have.

This is an illustration, not a quote.

Mia: Mia is a landscaper in Geelong. She set up her landscaping business about fourteen months ago, and she's buying her first home on her own.

Taxable income (sole trader, latest tax return)

$110,000 a year

ABN registered

Under two years

People on the loan

1, no dependants

Living expenses

$2,800 a month

Other debts

None

Home price

$650,000

Loan

$520,000, owner-occupied, 30 years (an LVR of 80%, meaning the loan is 80% of the home's value)

What moved the figure

• Your ABN, its “Active from” date, and your GST registration date if you have one.
• Your latest tax return and notice of assessment.
• Your business activity statements since that return, and recent business bank statements.
• If you contract to one client: your contract and recent invoices or payslips.
• If that client is your old employer: your last payslips from that job.
• Statements for any other debts, including credit cards and car loans.