{"id":3501,"date":"2023-11-16T10:35:17","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T23:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecovisclarkjacobs.com.au\/?p=3501"},"modified":"2023-12-01T10:36:39","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T23:36:39","slug":"what-you-should-know-before-visiting-your-mortgage-broker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecovisclarkjacobs.com.au\/de\/what-you-should-know-before-visiting-your-mortgage-broker\/","title":{"rendered":"What You Should Know Before Visiting Your Mortgage Broker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking to borrow or refinance?\u00a0 Here are five things your accountant wants you to know first.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If you currently have a mortgage or you are in the market to acquire one, you will know that 2023 is an expensive year to be alive! Before you head to your bank or mortgage broker, below are some things to be aware of first.<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Any tax debt will work against you<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There may be a few exceptions but, as a general rule, the majority of lenders will not finance to retail clients (i.e. for your home loan or investment property) if you have tax debt.\u00a0 This is even the case if your debt is in a complying payment arrangement. What this means is, if you are purchasing, you will likely need to reduce your deposit funds by any tax debts, as you will need to pay these out first.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    1. There are impacts to lodging your tax return early<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      If you were thinking about borrowing (or refinancing) and you absolutely blitzed it in 2023, chances are you\u2019ve already been to visit your accountant to get your 2023 tax returns done (nice work!). If you\u2019re self-employed and 2023 was a larger than usual year for you, it\u2019s quite likely that you\u2019ll owe the Australian Taxation Office at lodgement time. If you lodge through a tax agent, that means you have until either March or May next year to lodge.<\/span><\/p>\n

      In a normal scenario, our advice would be to have your returns prepared early (so you know what is due) but to hold off lodging the returns to the Australian Taxation Office until the actual return is due. Historically it has been the case that to be able to use your 2023 accounts for financing purposes, the bank would need copies of Business Activity Statements lodged and a letter from your accountant confirming your income and that your return was finalised. We are hearing more and more from clients and their brokers that banks are requiring physical lodgement of their tax returns. Whilst pragmatically, if you want to borrow from a certain bank, you need to play by their rules, it is worth DOUBLE CHECKING that they definitely need lodgement of the returns.<\/span><\/p>\n

      There are a few reasons for this:<\/span><\/p>\n