Verifying Income: Self Employment

In order to verify your self-employment income without Open Banking, you need to have been self-employed in the UK for a minimum of 3 months. If you do not have access to a tax return we can only accept an accountant's reference letter or, alternatively, you can connect via open banking. We will not be able to reference your self-employment income if you are not able to supply these or at least 3 months of accounts.

• For a sole trader, we will verify your net profit before tax.
• For a director, although you are an employee and an owner of a company, we verify your salary plus dividends, therefore, require self-employment documents.
• For a partner, we will verify your net profit before tax plus shares. 

To verify your self-employment income you'll need to enter your income details. In order for our referencing team to verify this, you will need to provide evidence of this income by uploading one of the following documents:

• SA302
• Accountant's reference letter
• Tax return (SA100)

Please see the criteria for these documents below:

SA302:

This is a summary of the tax year. If you complete your own Self-Assessment tax return, you can download your SA302 from your HMRC online account. Follow the instructions here.

Alternatively, if your SA302 has been prepared by your accountant, then we would require a signed letter attached from your accountant that confirms the submission.

What we are looking for:

• Your name.
• The document is dated within the most recently completed fiscal year.
• Total income. Please note: we take the overall income including the personal allowance.
• Internet receipt barcode or letter from accountant to confirm submission.

Accountant's reference letter:

This is acceptable with a minimum of 6 months of accounts to be considered.
We can only accept an accountant's reference if we are able to validate the accountant. This means the accountant must work for a professional accountancy business or belong to a professional accounting body such as ACCA).

What we are looking for:

• Your name and nature of your self-employment (sole trader, director, partner).
• Date the document was prepared, this must be within a month of referencing.
• Finalised figures and dates for the most recently completed fiscal year. We cannot accept any previous figures or estimated figures.
• Their name and job title.
• Company letterhead and signed by your accountant.

Tax return (SA100):

This must be a tax return that has been fully submitted to HMRC. We cannot accept un-submitted or incomplete tax returns. 

What we are looking for:

• Your name and nature of your self-employment (sole trader, director, partner).
• Dated within the last completed financial year. We cannot accept any previous tax returns.
• We will verify your total income before tax, as stated on the tax return.
• Proof of submission. Below is how you know your tax return is submitted:
  • It has an internet receipt barcode on the left of the page.
  • It has the Copy Only watermark across the page.
  • The online form will state 100% complete on the form.
  • A letter from the accountant to confirm submission.

If you are a contractor and unable to supply any of the above documents, we are able to accept a contract or a reference letter from the company employing you for your services. Please see here for the criteria of the documents.

Please see here for assistance in completing the Income section of your RentPassport™.

Please note: If your RentPassport™ is not connected to an agent, sections not auto-verified will appear as self-certified. All manual reviews by our referencing team will be undertaken once you have connected to an agent for a tenancy application.