Profit & Loss Loans in Nashville
Can a CPA-prepared profit & loss statement get you a mortgage — no tax returns? Yes. For established businesses, the P&L carries the file.
A P&L-only loan qualifies you on a profit and loss statement prepared by your CPA, instead of your tax returns. For an established self-employed borrower, that one swap changes everything: the document deciding your file is the one that shows what your business actually earns, not the one engineered — correctly, legally, smartly — to minimize what you owe the IRS.
The detail most people miss, and the one that saves files: the P&L doesn't have to follow the calendar. Most mortgage documentation quietly assumes every business was born on January 1 — prior-year returns, year-to-date figures. A trailing twelve-month P&L measures your most recent full year of operations wherever it happens to fall. For a business that launched in June, that's not a technicality; it's the difference between a file that shows a fragmented startup year and a file that shows a real operating record. I closed exactly this deal for a fund manager two other lenders had turned down — the full story is in the Case File.
How it works. Your CPA or licensed tax preparer produces a P&L covering the required period — their credential is part of what the underwriter relies on, which is why a self-prepared spreadsheet can't carry a file. Some programs verify the P&L against bank statements; ours are underwritten in-house, so the person deciding your file is someone I can walk over and talk to, and I can tell you early whether yours works.
Who this fits. Established business owners with a real CPA relationship. Practices, agencies, firms — businesses with clean books whose tax returns are doing exactly what tax returns should do. And, case by case, newer businesses backed by a long career in the same field.
The honest trade. Pricing typically runs somewhat higher than a comparable conventional loan. I'll show you the actual numbers for your scenario before you commit to anything — the comparison that matters is rarely this loan versus conventional, it's this loan versus waiting for the paperwork to catch up to the career.
Michael DiLucchio (NMLS #1638482) is a mortgage lender with Guild Mortgage in Nashville, Tennessee, specializing in bank statement, asset depletion, and P&L mortgage programs for self-employed borrowers and business owners. If you're a CPA with a client in this position, send me the scenario — I'll give you a straight answer you can pass along.
Can I get a mortgage using a P&L instead of tax returns?
Yes. P&L-only programs qualify established self-employed borrowers on a CPA-prepared profit and loss statement, so an optimized tax return doesn't decide the file.
Who has to prepare the P&L?
A licensed tax professional — typically your CPA. A self-prepared spreadsheet doesn't carry a file; the preparer's credential is part of what the underwriter relies on.
Does the P&L have to cover a calendar year?
No — a trailing twelve-month P&L measures your most recent full year of operations wherever it falls on the calendar. For businesses that didn't launch on January 1, this is the whole ballgame.
My business is under two years old. Am I out?
Not necessarily. When a longer career history in the same field backs up a younger business, exceptions can be made — this case file is that exact scenario, closed.
Is this more expensive than a conventional loan?
Typically somewhat, yes — the trade for the different documentation. For a borrower whose returns can't tell the real story yet, the alternative is usually waiting years.
🪩