Self employed and filing taxes

[Anonymous]

Hello eveyrone,

I have decided to take the plunge and start the mortgage process. I've been speaking with an LO and he informed me we cannot proceed until I file my taxes for 2016 and make a payment arrangment so it can be included in my DTI. 

I read in another post that  I would have to make 3 on time payments in order to proceed with the process. At that time, are they going to run my credit again? I'm confident my scores will only go up from here. Been paying down my debt like its my job, not getting into any other credit. In the garden so to speak.

[Anonymous]

According to one LO I spoke with the credit report is good for 4 months. He told me as long as I close within 120 days they wouldn't have to do another hard pull (only a soft pull close to closing). Once you file your return you will need to wait for it to be processed by the IRS and then setup the payment plan. It is usually at least a month after setting up the plan before your first payment is due. 

[Anonymous]

Pulling your credit again depends on the company and varies.  So reach out to your LO and see what their policies are.

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

If the income from 2016 is needed to qualify, then you'll need to file your 2016 taxes like the loan officer said.  If you don't need your 2016 income to qualify (meaning 2014's/2015's income would qualify) then you don't need to file your tax return (you can still pay your income taxes though, but the payments wouldn't be included in your DTI since there isn't a payment plan).

[Anonymous]

We are going FHA so I'm going to assume 2016 is needed. I profited about $20k more in 2016 also, maybe that's why 2016 is needed?

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

2016 tax returns don't need to be filed until tax day, in April.  After that, in order to not need to have filed them you'll have to have filed an extension (you'll get an email confirmation that the extension has been accepted, that is what the lenders need).  Doesn't matter what the loan program is.  However, if you need to use the income from the 2016 tax returns to qualify, then you'll need to have filed them... so I suspect that is the reason you were told they'd need to be filed.  You can ask your loan officer if you'd be able to qualify with your 2014/2015 tax returns and get your answer.