Self-employed clients

Self-employed clients are required to submit their latest full set of accounts with their application.

If the business is in the first year of trading and no profit and loss accounts have yet been prepared, the client must provide an estimate of their expected profit or loss for the business in the first year. This estimate can be provided in two ways:

• if the client has already had an estimate completed by an accountant, they should provide a copy of this. Estimates of profit and loss accounts are usually required by financial institutions if an application for a loan is being sought to establish a business
• in the absence of estimates, the client must complete a declaration stating what they expect the profit or loss to be in the next 12 months