Digital Hustlers
Updated September 2026
A sole trader is the simplest structure for a creator who wants to borrow, because every dollar of profit appears on your personal tax return and lenders assess it directly. A company can reduce tax, but a lender will generally only count the wages and dividends you actually paid yourself unless they are one of the lenders that accept retained company profits. The right structure depends on your income level, your plans and your timeline for buying, and it should be set with lending in mind, not tax alone.
- Sole trader income flows straight to your personal return, which lenders find easiest to assess
- A company can help with tax, but a lender only counts what you actually take out unless they accept retained profits
- Trusts add a layer of documents and some lenders will not lend to individuals whose income comes through them
- Switching structure right before you apply resets the history most lenders want to see
- Set the structure with both tax and borrowing in mind, not tax alone
In this guide
How each structure looks to a lender
| Structure | Where the income shows | What the lender counts | Documents needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sole trader | Your personal tax return | Net business income plus accepted add-backs | Two years of personal returns, notices of assessment, financials |
| Company | Company return, then your return for wages and dividends | Wages and dividends paid to you; retained profits only with some lenders | Personal and company returns, company financials, ASIC extract |
| Discretionary trust | Trust return, then your return for distributions | Distributions to you; some lenders exclude trust income or cap it | Personal and trust returns, trust financials, trust deed |
The pattern is clear. Every layer between the platform payout and your personal return is a layer the assessor has to reconcile. That is not a reason to avoid a company or trust, but it is a reason to keep the paperwork immaculate if you use one.
The sole trader case
For a creator earning at a level where the company tax rate would not save much, or who is planning to buy within the next two years, staying a sole trader is usually the cleanest path to a home loan. Your income is visible, there is nothing to reconcile, and the widest set of lenders will assess you.
The trade-off is tax. Sole trader profit is taxed at your marginal rate, and at higher income levels that is well above the company rate. A creator with rapidly growing income often reaches the point where a company makes sense on tax grounds well before they are ready to buy. That timing tension is the whole problem this article is about.
Sole traders get the same add-backs as companies. Depreciation on cameras, lighting and computers, and one-off equipment purchases, can be added back to lift your assessable income. Have your accountant prepare a profit and loss statement even if you are not required to, because the assessor cannot add back what they cannot see.
The company case
A company pays tax at the company rate on its profits, and you take money out as wages, dividends, or a mix. On tax grounds that can be efficient. On lending grounds it creates a question the lender has to answer: how much of the company’s profit is really yours to service a loan with?
Most lenders answer it conservatively. They count the wages you paid yourself and the dividends you declared, both of which appear on your personal return. Profit left in the company is treated as belonging to the company, not to you, unless the lender has a policy of accepting retained profits for a sole director who owns all the shares. Some do, and it can make a large difference, which is another reason lender selection matters.
The trap is a creator who runs a company, pays themselves a modest wage to keep personal tax low, leaves the rest in the company, and then applies to a lender that only counts wages. On paper that person looks like a low earner. The fix is either to choose a lender that counts retained profits or to plan wages and dividends for the two years before you apply so your personal return reflects what you actually earn.
Drawing money out of a company without declaring it as wages or dividends creates a loan from the company to you. Those loans have strict repayment rules, and a lender will treat the balance as a liability. Do not fund a deposit by quietly taking money out of your company.
Talk to a lender who understands creator income
National Accounts Lending works with creators every week. Tell us how you earn and we will tell you which lenders will say yes before you apply.
The trust case
A discretionary trust distributes income to beneficiaries, which gives flexibility to split income across a family. From a lending point of view it is the hardest of the three to present. Some lenders will only count distributions that have been consistently paid to you across both years, some cap the percentage of trust income they will use, and a few will not accept trust income for a personal home loan at all.
If you already operate through a trust, a broker will steer you toward the lenders that treat trust income sensibly. If you do not, a trust is rarely worth setting up for a creator who is planning to buy soon. Splitting income across a family also has its own compliance rules under section 100A that your accountant needs to be across.
Changing structure before you buy
Lenders want to see continuity. If you close your sole trader ABN and start a new company six months before you apply, most lenders will treat the company as a new business with six months of history, even though you have been doing the same work for years. Some lenders will accept the prior sole trader history as evidence of the same business continuing, but not all, and the ones that will are the ones your broker needs to find.
The practical rule is to make the structure decision early. If you know you want a company for tax reasons and you know you want to buy in two years, set the company up now so the two-year clock runs on the structure you will apply under. If you are buying in the next six months, stay put until settlement.
The tax accountants for OnlyFans creators at National Accounts set up structures with the borrowing timeline on the table, which avoids the reset problem entirely.
A worked comparison
Consider a creator with net profit of $180,000 a year.
As a sole trader, the whole $180,000 appears on their personal return. A full-doc lender assesses on that figure, applies its own servicing calculator, and the borrowing capacity follows.
Through a company that pays them a $90,000 wage and retains the rest, a lender that only counts wages assesses them on $90,000. A lender that accepts retained profits for a sole director may assess them on the full $180,000 less company tax. The gap between those two outcomes is enormous, and it is entirely a lender selection question, not a creditworthiness question.
Through a trust that distributes $120,000 to them and $60,000 to a partner, a lender that only counts distributions to the applicant assesses on $120,000, and the partner’s distribution only helps if the partner is also on the loan.
None of these numbers are rates or predictions. They illustrate why the structure conversation and the lending conversation need to happen in the same meeting.
Common questions
Is it better to be a sole trader or a company for a home loan?
For most creators planning to buy within two years, sole trader is simpler because all profit appears on your personal return. A company can work well with lenders that accept retained profits or where wages and dividends have been planned for two years before applying.
Do banks count retained profits in my company?
Some do, for a sole director who owns all the shares. Many count only the wages and dividends you paid yourself. Which lender you apply to decides the answer.
Can I get a home loan with income from a family trust?
Yes with the right lender. Lenders vary from counting all distributions to you, to capping trust income, to excluding it. Consistent distributions across both years help.
Will changing from sole trader to company reset my history?
With many lenders, yes. Some accept prior sole trader history as continuity of the same business. Plan structure changes at least two years before you intend to apply, or wait until after settlement.
Does a company protect my privacy as a creator?
A company name on payouts and invoices can add a layer of separation between your creator name and your legal name. It does not hide the source of income from a lender, who will still see the platform payouts in the company’s bank statements.
This article is general information only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not credit advice or tax advice. Consider whether the information is right for you before acting on it. Lending criteria, fees and charges apply. National Accounts Lending Pty Ltd, ABN 82 694 226 483, Corporate Credit Representative Number 577557, authorised under Connective Credit Services Pty Ltd, ABN 51 143 651 496, Australian Credit Licence 389328. Level 2, 70 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide SA 5000.