How to Get a CPA Letter on Business vs Personal Bank Statements

The Quick Read: A CPA letter is a signed statement from your accountant that certifies what share of your business deposits goes to operating expenses, and you mainly need it when you qualify on business bank statements. On personal statements the letter usually matters less, because the lender typically skips the expense-factor step and instead checks that the deposits are real business income. Either way, ask the lender what it will accept before you contact your accountant.

• The letter supports a lower-than-default expense factor on business statements. It does not prove income by itself.
• Personal statements usually need clean, identifiable deposits more than they need a letter.
• Many accountants hesitate to sign these letters, so ask early.
• On an investment rental, a DSCR loan may make the whole question unnecessary.
• Program details vary by lender and are subject to lender guidelines.

Here is the honest answer on who each option is for. Business statements fit the owner whose revenue lands in a dedicated business account and whose overhead is lean enough that a certified expense ratio helps. Personal statements fit the owner whose income flows straight into a personal account and who wants less paperwork. The letter is a tool for the first group and a backup for the second. Neither route is better in the abstract; the right one depends on where your money actually lands.

Side-by-Side

The table below describes how the two statement types generally work across the wholesale network Lendmire places files with. Treat it as a map of common industry norms rather than a promise, since each lender’s program sheet governs.

Pricing is deliberately missing from the table. It varies by file.

Key Terms Defined

CPA letter is a signed statement from a licensed accountant. For bank statement loans, it usually certifies an operating expense percentage for your business.

Expense factor is the share of your business deposits a lender treats as overhead before it counts the rest as income. Lenders set a default, and a CPA letter can support a different one.

Commingled funds means business receipts and personal money sitting in the same account. They make it harder to show which deposits are income.

Qualifying income is the monthly figure the lender uses to judge the loan. On bank statement programs it comes from averaged deposits, not from the net profit on your tax return.

Comfort letter is the informal name the accounting profession uses for letters like this. The Certified Public Accountants Insurance trade group CPAI describes them as informal letters lenders may use to shift due-diligence burden onto the CPA.

When Business Statements Are the Better Fit

Business statements are the better fit when your revenue runs through a dedicated business account and your costs are genuinely low. In that case a certified expense ratio can lift qualifying income, and the letter is what earns it. Think of a consultant, a solo contractor, or a service firm with little payroll or inventory.

Here is how the logic runs. The lender averages your business deposits across 12 months. It strips out transfers between your own accounts, refunds, and loan proceeds. Then it applies an expense factor to what is left. Without a letter, the lender uses its own default factor. With a letter from the person who prepared or reviewed your returns, a program may allow the certified figure instead. Programs differ on the floor for that figure, so never promise yourself a number before the lender confirms it.

The strongest cases share a few traits:

• A separate business account that receives nearly all revenue.
• Overhead that you can document and your accountant is willing to certify.
• A tax return full of write-offs that makes you look weaker on paper than your deposits show.
• A CPA or other preparer who already knows the business and has a good relationship with you.

Business statements also tend to suit larger files. Across the network, loan sizes run from roughly $125,000 to $3,500,000, and borrowers at the upper end often have an entity with real operating history behind it.

The tradeoff is effort. You depend on a professional who may not want to sign. Lean businesses benefit most, while businesses with heavy payroll or inventory often get little lift from the letter, because the certified ratio may land close to the default.

When Personal Statements Are the Better Fit

Personal statements are the better fit when your pay lands in a personal account and the business has no separate account to speak of. The expense-factor step is generally skipped on these files. The lender instead needs to see that each deposit is identifiable as business income, and it removes anything that is not.

That sounds easier, and often it is. Still, it is not automatically better. A personal account that mixes paychecks, transfers, family money, and business receipts forces the lender to ask about every large credit. Some lenders want a letter of explanation for unusual deposits. Others want a CPA statement confirming that the deposits come from your business and that you own it.

Personal statements work well in these situations:

• You are a sole proprietor and your business receipts go directly to your own account.
• Your deposits are regular and easy to trace to clients or customers.
• You have no accountant relationship or your accountant will not sign an expense letter.
• You want to skip the expense-ratio certification entirely.

One caution: personal statements are not a shortcut around documentation. The lender must still confirm that the deposits it relies on are really your income. The CFPB’s compliance guide for the ability-to-repay rule says a lender has to take a step to confirm that an unidentified deposit is income rather than something like loan proceeds. That principle applies to owner-occupied consumer files and explains why clean deposits matter so much.

How to Get the CPA Letter, Step by Step

You get the letter by asking the right person, with the right documents, after you know what the lender will accept. Order matters. Many borrowers pay for a letter, then learn the program wanted different wording.

1. Confirm the requirements first. Ask your loan officer whether the program accepts a CPA letter, what percentage range it accepts, what credentials the signer needs, and whether the letter must be recent. Lender sheets differ.

2. Choose the signer. Most programs want someone who prepared or reviewed your business returns. A self-certified letter is not accepted on most files.

3. Gather what the accountant needs. That usually means 12 months of the statements you plan to submit, your filed returns, and business formation documents.

4. Send a clear request. Say what the lender needs, give the program’s wording if you have it, and ask what additional records the accountant would want.

5. Review the draft. Check the business name, the preparer’s license details, the certified percentage, and the date. A small error can mean redoing it.

6. Submit it with the rest of the file. Include the statements, the letter, and any explanation of unusual deposits.

Practitioners describe the contents of these letters fairly consistently. They name the preparer and the license, identify the business, state the certified expense percentage, reference the filed return, and carry a signature and date. No neutral source publishes a standard form, so use your lender’s version when one exists.

What If the CPA Says No?

Plenty of accountants decline, and that is a normal outcome rather than a red flag about you. The reason is liability. The Tax Adviser, an AICPA publication, notes that CPAs must be clear about the facts they affirm and must weigh the liability that comes from a lender relying on their words. A lender relying on a percentage is a lot of reliance.

If yours declines, you have a few paths. Some programs accept a CPA-prepared profit and loss statement. Some accept letters from other credentialed preparers. And you can often skip the letter and use the lender’s default factor, which costs you some qualifying income but not the whole deal. The alternative is switching to personal statements, if your deposits are clean enough to support that route.

Ask the accountant early. A refusal in week one is an inconvenience. A refusal days before closing is a crisis.

Edge Cases That Trip Up Files

Commingled accounts. If you have been depositing business receipts into a personal account, start separating them now. Going forward, route business income to a business account, and pay yourself by documented transfer. The lender still has to identify business deposits in the personal account, so keep invoices and client records handy.

Rental income in personal accounts. Rent deposits are not operating revenue in the same sense as business sales. Whether they count toward income on a bank statement program depends on the lender, so ask before assuming.

Partners and multiple entities. If you own part of a business, the lender may want your ownership share confirmed, and a CPA letter can do that. With several businesses, expect separate statements and separate documentation for each.

New businesses and falling revenue. Lenders look at the trend. A recent drop in deposits may require an explanation, and a business with a short history may face tighter treatment.

Entity vesting. A loan to an LLC for a non-owner-occupied rental can be business-purpose, subject to program terms. That changes the disclosure rules covered below.

Does an Investment Property Change the Answer?

For a pure rental purchase, it often does. DSCR loans qualify primarily on property-level rental income covering the payment, subject to lender guidelines. They do not run on your deposits, so a CPA expense letter is generally not part of the qualifying file. Bank statements on a DSCR deal usually show down payment funds and reserves rather than income. The complete DSCR loans guide walks through how that works.

The choice then becomes a question of where your strength is. If your personal or business cash flow is strong but the property’s rent is thin, bank statement income may carry the file. If the rent is strong but your traditional personal-income documentation looks weak, the DSCR route may fit better. Select lenders in the network also review sub-1.00 coverage, though leverage and terms adjust when they do.

Leverage on the alt-doc side depends on what you are buying:

• Primary residence purchase or rate-term refinance: up to 90% LTV through select lenders, with stronger files earning the top of the range.
• Owner-occupied cash-out (primary residence or second home): up to 80% LTV with a fixed expense ratio, and 75% LTV when the file uses an accountant-prepared ratio. Loan size and credit also move that ceiling.
• Investment property cash-out: tops out around 75% LTV.
• Investment property purchase on bank statements: varies by lender, so ask rather than assume.

Occupancy decides the paperwork. An owner-occupied file is a consumer mortgage, so TRID disclosures apply. A bank statement loan on a non-owner-occupied rental, including a short-term rental, is business-purpose and exempt from TRID. DSCR loans are designed for non-owner-occupied investment properties. Because they are business-purpose investor loans, they are reviewed differently from a standard owner-occupied mortgage, and the federal rule on business-purpose credit carves out that category. Consumer owner-occupied alt-doc files are available in 16 states through Lendmire.

Tax treatment can depend on how the funds are used and how the property is held; investors should keep clear records and speak with a qualified tax professional before relying on any deduction.

Which Route Should You Pick? A Simple Test

Run through three questions.

First, where does your income actually land? If it lands in a dedicated business account, business statements are the natural starting point. If it lands in a personal account, personal statements are.

Second, how big is the gap? If your overhead is lean and the default expense factor would cost you meaningful qualifying income, the letter earns its fee and effort. If your business carries heavy payroll or inventory, the certified figure may barely beat the default, and the letter may not justify the hassle.

Third, will your accountant sign? If the answer is no or maybe, test the personal statement route or the default factor before you spend weeks waiting.

A genuine toss-up exists for owners with clean business accounts and a willing CPA but modest income gaps. The letter might help, but only marginally, and the cost of delay may outweigh the benefit. In that case, a loan officer comparing both options on your actual statements is worth more than any rule of thumb.

The Verdict

Business statements with a CPA letter reward the owner with a separate account, lean overhead, and a cooperative accountant. Personal statements reward the owner with clean, traceable deposits who wants fewer moving parts. Neither is a shortcut. Both qualify on documented income under the applicable program, subject to lender guidelines, and both demand that deposits be real and explainable.

If you are buying a rental rather than a home you will live in, check the DSCR route before you invest in a letter at all.

If you are self-employed and want to see how the numbers work, Lendmire can help you compare bank statement loan options based on your deposits, the property, credit profile, leverage, and your goals.

About Lendmire

Lendmire is a non-QM mortgage brokerage (NMLS# 2371349) arranging DSCR investor loans in 41 markets, including Washington, D.C. DSCR eligibility is generally reviewed around property-level rental income rather than personal income, subject to lender and program guidelines, a fit for self-employed investors and LLC-owned portfolios. Lendmire was recognized as a Scotsman Guide Top Mortgage Workplace in 2025 and 2026.

References

1. CPAI, Third Party Verification Letters

2. CFPB ATR/QM Small Entity Compliance Guide

3. The Tax Adviser, Third-Party Verification Requests

4. eCFR 12 CFR 1026.3, Exempt Transactions