Quick answer
Annual turnover is the total income a business earns from its ordinary trading over twelve months, before any expenses are taken out. It's sales, not profit. Lenders use it as a first filter: many set a minimum, often expressed as a monthly or yearly figure, and size unsecured loans partly by it. They check it against your BAS, bank statements or financial statements rather than taking it on trust.
Key points
- Turnover is gross sales income; profit is what's left after costs
- Lenders verify it from BAS, business bank statements or accountant-prepared financials
- Say whether your figure includes GST: mixing the two is a common error on applications
- The ATO uses its own versions, GST turnover and aggregated turnover, for tax thresholds
A business can turn over $2m and still lose money, or turn over $250k and pay its owner handsomely. That’s why annual turnover is a starting point for lenders rather than a verdict. It’s simply the gross income from your normal trading across a year, before rent, wages, stock or tax come out.
Three versions of “turnover” you’ll come across
The word gets used loosely, and the differences matter when you fill in a form.
| Term | Who uses it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Annual turnover | Lenders, accountants, most application forms | Twelve months of ordinary business income, before expenses |
| GST turnover | The ATO, for GST registration | Your current or projected gross business income; registration is required at $75k or more |
| Aggregated turnover | The ATO, for small business concessions | Your turnover plus that of connected entities and affiliates; under $10m for most concessions |
If a lender asks for annual turnover, they want the first one: trading income for your business, normally excluding GST, interest received and the proceeds from selling assets.
How a lender checks the figure
Nobody takes turnover on trust. Depending on the product, a lender will match the number you give against:
- Business bank statements, typically the last three to twelve months. Online lenders often connect to your account with read-only access and read deposits directly.
- BAS lodgements, where the total sales box (G1) gives an ATO-reported figure each quarter.
- Financial statements and tax returns, which banks lean on for larger facilities.
Expect deductions from raw deposits. Transfers between your own accounts, loan drawdowns, ATO refunds and cash injections from the owner aren’t sales, and a good assessor strips them out. Our guide to how lenders read your bank statements goes through this in detail.
Why the number matters so much in lending
For unsecured products, turnover drives two decisions. First, eligibility: many lenders set a minimum turnover. Second, size: an unsecured limit is often a fraction of monthly or annual sales, because the lender’s real security is the cash moving through your account.
With property-backed lending the emphasis shifts. Equity and an exit plan carry most of the weight, so a business with modest or patchy turnover can sometimes borrow more against a property than it could unsecured.
Your turnover is lower than lenders seem to want? Tell us the full picture; low turnover isn’t always the end of the road.
Worked example: a Hobart plumber’s figures
A sole-trader plumber’s last four BAS show G1 total sales of $41k, $38k, $52k and $45k, all GST-inclusive. Added up, that’s $176k. Remove the GST component (one-eleventh) and annual turnover is $160k.
On the application, the plumber should write $160k and note that it excludes GST. Quoting $176k would mismatch the bank statements once the assessor takes GST out, and inconsistencies slow approvals. If the June quarter was unusually strong because of a single commercial job, saying so up front stops the lender assuming it will repeat.
Related terms
- Turnover: the general term, used across accounts and tax
- Gross profit: turnover minus the direct cost of what you sold
- Serviceability: the test where profit, not turnover, decides affordability
- Run your figures through our business borrowing power calculator for a rough guide
Putting your sales figures to work
Strong, steady turnover ranks among the strongest cards you can put in front of a lender, and even uneven turnover can be funded when it’s explained well. If you’d like to know what your numbers might support, the enquiry is short: allow around a minute. Asking us doesn’t trigger a credit search, and we won’t hand your file to a string of finance companies. A member of our team reviews what you’ve told us and calls back personally. Enter your genuine yearly sales, GST-exclusive if you can, so our first suggestion lines up with what lenders will see.
Frequently asked questions
Is annual turnover the same as revenue?
In everyday small business use, yes. Accountants sometimes draw a line between operating revenue and other income such as interest or asset sales. Lenders generally want trading income only, so leave out one-off items like the sale of a vehicle.
Should I quote turnover including or excluding GST?
Most lenders and accountants work with GST-exclusive figures, but bank statements show GST-inclusive deposits. Say which one you're quoting. Overstating by the GST component is easy to spot and can make an application look careless.
What turnover do I need for a business loan?
It depends on the product. Some online unsecured lenders publish minimums starting from relatively modest monthly sales, while banks focus more on profit and security. For property-secured loans, the equity in the property often matters more than turnover.
How do lenders check turnover for a new business?
With limited history, they usually annualise what you have, for example multiplying three months of deposits by four, and treat the result cautiously. Expect a smaller limit, or a request for security, until you have six to twelve months of statements.
What is aggregated turnover?
An ATO measure that adds your annual turnover to that of any connected entities and affiliates. It decides whether you count as a small business for concessions, with $10 million the threshold for most of them.