BAS vs Bank Statements: Which Is Better for Your Home Loan?

How BAS-based lending works

BAS (Business Activity Statement) lending uses your quarterly GST turnover as the basis for income assessment. The lender takes your total GST-registered income over the past 4 quarters and applies a "net income ratio" — typically 50–70% — to arrive at an assessed annual income.

For example: if your BAS shows $200,000 in annual turnover and the lender uses a 60% ratio, your assessed income is $120,000.

BAS lending works best when:

• Your business has high turnover relative to your taxable income
• You're registered for GST
• Your BAS statements are lodged on time and consistently
• Your turnover is relatively stable across quarters

How bank statement lending works

Bank statement lending assesses income based on actual deposits into your business account over a 3–6 month period. The lender averages your monthly deposits and annualises the result.

For example: if your business account shows average monthly deposits of $12,000 over 6 months, your assessed annual income is approximately $144,000.

Bank statement lending works best when:

• You have consistent, regular income deposits
• You're not registered for GST (e.g., turnover under $75,000)
• Your BAS statements show lower turnover than your actual bank deposits
• You have a clean, well-organised business bank account

Which gives you a higher assessed income?

This depends entirely on your specific numbers. In general:

• If your business has high turnover but many cash expenses, BAS-based lending often gives a higher assessed income
• If your business has lower turnover but strong net cash flow (e.g., service businesses with low overheads), bank statements may give a better result

A good broker will run the numbers both ways and recommend the approach that maximises your borrowing capacity.

Can you use both?

Some lenders allow you to use both BAS statements and bank statements together — using whichever produces the higher income figure. This is less common but worth asking about.

The bottom line

There's no universal answer to "BAS or bank statements?" — the right choice depends on your specific income structure and which lender you're applying to. This is exactly why working with a specialist broker matters: we know which lenders use which methods and how to present your application for the best possible outcome.