Self-employed, company and trust
Self-employed, company and trust structures
The clients the Big Four find hardest are usually the ones with the strongest balance sheets. Complexity is not risk. It is just work that somebody has to do properly.
Who this is for
Business owners, company directors, consultants and professionals whose income arrives through a discretionary trust, a company, distributed dividends, retained earnings or several of those at once.
What usually goes wrong
An automated servicing calculator wants one number in one box. Your income is a structure. So the calculator either understates what you earn or declines to read it at all, and a file that should be straightforward becomes a compliance exercise. Add distributions that vary year to year and the automated answer is almost always the wrong one.
What to bring to the first conversation
- Two years of company or trust financials, if you have them
- Your structure diagram, or just an explanation of who owns what
- Your accountant’s contact details
- What the funding is for
None of it is required to start. It just makes the first conversation more useful.
How we run it
Four steps, in this order.
Read the structure as it is
Trust distributions, company profit, add-backs, retained earnings and director loans, presented the way a credit assessor needs to see them.
Alongside your accountant, not around them
Your accountant already knows how your income is built. We work with them rather than asking you to explain it twice.
Lenders that assess your kind of income
Some read trust and company income well. Others do not. That is the single biggest determinant of the outcome on a file like yours.
Low doc and asset lending where it fits
For some positions, a low doc or asset-backed approach is the correct instrument. For others it is an expensive shortcut. We say which.
Refinancing and restructuring
A loan that fitted when you signed it may be the wrong shape now. Refinancing is the obvious move. Restructuring is usually the valuable one.
NextInvestment and portfolio
One investment property is a purchase. Four is a structure. The difference matters long before you reach four.
Talk to somebody about self-employed, company and trust.
One conversation, no documents needed to start, and nothing leaves this office.