Applying for a loan with self-employed income

Danvers23

I’m applying for a personal loan, so obviously as part of this they ask my income. The problem is it feels like the questions are set up for employed people but I’m self employed (director of my own ltd company).

When it says ‘income before tax’ if I put £49k, that assumes a take-home of about £36k but because I’ve already paid corporation tax and take my income as dividends, I actually keep most of that £49 (£45k)

I worked out that to have a take home of £45k I would need to be on a salary of about £64k….so should I put that in the income box??

Grumpy_chap

The lender will usually wish to see trading history for 2 years as per SA302s (minimum) or possibly the trading accounts.

Danvers23

Yeah that’s what I did when applying for a mortgage, but this is a personal loan with an online application and just one question - ‘income before tax’ 

Grumpy_chap

You have to answer the question correctly.  Put what your actual income before tax is, not what you think it is equivalent to.

Danvers23

But I have already paid most of my tax - corporation tax - before it hits my bank account, so I’m not sure what actually constitutes answering the question ‘what is your income before tax’ correctly. 

Grumpy_chap

You have not paid corporation tax.
The Ltd Co of which you happen to be a shareholder and Director has paid the corporation tax.

macman

It's your dividend and salary income, plus any other income, before you pay income tax on it. Nothing to do with your company profits.