help with sorting out mortgage please, am self employed and can deduct expenses meaning my profit looks lower than i need??

[PinkChick]

obviously as a child minder there are lots of things we can take of our total income to help reduce our tax bill..great..but now we want to move house and instead of seeing my earnings for 08/09 as being 17k, because i was able to take off food resources etc my profit shows as 10k..meaning much less if we need to apply for a new martgage...how can i get round this in order to ensure we get the mortgage, i have all my records showing what ive earned, paid etc etc..would they take into account my total income before all my expenses where taken off?...pretty desperate for advice right now so any would be much appreciated. Thankuyou

I'd suggest finding an independent mortgage advisor for this one. At the moment, when the mortgage market is very twitchy about risk, there are varying views on how to treat self-employed earnings depending on who you talk to. Another option is to talk to your existing mortgage provider. They have the advantage of knowing your payment history first-hand and might treat you more favourably than if you go as a new customer elsewhere.

thankyou, ill ring our IFA in morning to speak in more detail.
Unfortunatly existing mortgage company wont offer anyone any additional lending at minute so we have to move from them

tbh, you cant have your cake and eat it. you'll either have to swallow paying more tax one year or state lower pay. you can still get self cert mortgages but they often cost a lot more so would cancel out the benefit of the tax you have avoided paying.

HH is right. As an IFA and as someone who is self employed you are stuck.

Ah yes much thanks to the labour gov for stiffing all of us self employed people...there are some self cert mortgages out there now.... I have an IFA researching options for me at the moment, 6 months ago there was nothing available to us, but things are starting to change, I'll let you know what she manages to turn up shall I....I wonder if you have the same existing mortgage co as us

sorry, i dont really think its any governments fault. you've either earnt the money, or you havent. any reputable lender will take three years worth of accounts so you shouldnt have to go down the self cert morgtgages route, which were never right.

have to agree with HH - you've basically avoided paying income tax on your profits by exaggerating your actual expenses from childminding(from how your post reads to me).

And now this has backfired as you need to show a higher income to borrow more for your mortgage.

You can't have it both ways.

Yeah have to agree with others. I'd quite like to tell the Inland Revenue that I earn less than i do and therefore pay less tax, whilst also telling mortgage co. I earn twice that so can afford a bigger mortgage.

Cake, eat it?