Can I get a mortgage if I pay myself in dividends?

Yes. Dividends are accepted, but lenders want to see them declared consistently across about two years with matching T5 slips and corporate financial statements, because dividends are paid at the owner's discretion and can be turned off. Salary is simpler for a lender to verify, which is why the questions tend to be shorter when income is taken as salary.

Do lenders count retained earnings as income?

Not automatically. Retained earnings belong to the company until they are paid out. Some lenders will look through to corporate income where the borrower owns the business outright and the accountant's statements support it, but many will not, so the choice of lender matters a great deal for incorporated business owners.

Should I talk to my accountant before applying for a mortgage?

Before filing, ideally. How you pay yourself in a given tax year is largely fixed once the return is filed, and it shapes what a lender can use for the following two years. If a purchase or refinance is likely within about two years, the accountant and the mortgage broker should compare notes before the filing rather than after it.

Answers › Self-Employed Mortgages

I pay myself in dividends. Why does the lender keep asking about it?

Answered by Rajiv Verma, Mortgage Broker · Updated August 2026 · About a 4 minute read

The direct answer

Because tax planning and mortgage planning are not the same job, and they often pull in opposite directions. Your accountant is minimising tax. A lender is looking for income it can rely on for twenty-five years. Salary is the format lenders read most easily. Dividends absolutely can work — they just need consistency and more documentation, and retained earnings sitting in the company are treated differently again. None of this is a problem if the two conversations happen before you file, rather than after.

THE SHORT VERSION

Salary is the simplest income for a lender to verify and use
Dividends work, but lenders want to see them repeated, not declared once
Retained earnings are not automatically counted as your personal income
Some lenders will consider corporate income; many won’t
Talk to your accountant and your broker together, before filing — not in the same week you apply

Why lenders treat these differently

Salary comes with a T4, a pay pattern and a straightforward history. It’s the format the whole system was built around.

Dividends are declared at your discretion. That’s exactly what makes them efficient for tax and awkward for lending — a lender has to satisfy itself the payment will keep coming, when it can be turned off at will. Consistency across two years, with matching T5s and corporate filings, largely answers that.

Retained earnings are the company’s money, not yours, until they’re paid out. Some lenders will look through to corporate income where you own the business outright and the accountant’s statements support it. Many will not. This is where broker access to a wider lender panel earns its keep.

The part nobody tells you.

The most expensive mortgage decision many incorporated business owners make is a tax decision, taken eighteen months earlier, by someone who was never told about the mortgage.

Your accountant is doing their job well. They just weren’t asked “and what does this do to his borrowing in two years?” — because nobody asked them.

If you plan to buy or refinance within about two years, that conversation needs to happen before the filing, not after. Afterwards, the return is the return.

What lenders will want to see

Two years of personal tax returns, with the assessments
T5 slips for dividends declared
Corporate financial statements, usually two years
Confirmation the company is in good standing and taxes are current
Your ownership percentage, which determines whether corporate income can be considered at all

Neither approach is wrong

I’m not telling you to switch to salary. Paying yourself in dividends may be saving you a great deal of money, and a mortgage is one transaction against years of tax treatment.

What I am saying is that it’s a trade-off, and it should be a decision rather than an accident. Sometimes the right answer is a period of salary before an application. Sometimes it’s the same structure and a different lender. You can only choose if you know it’s a choice.

What to check

How you’ve been paid across the last two full tax years, and whether it’s consistent
Whether T5s exist and match the returns
Whether your accountant can produce current corporate statements quickly
Whether corporate taxes and HST are current — arrears will surface
How soon you’re likely to buy or refinance, and whether the next filing should be planned around it

What to do next

If a purchase or refinance is likely within two years, let’s map it now. Send me how you pay yourself and roughly when you want to move, and I’ll tell you what your file looks like to a lender today and what a different filing choice would change.

Then take that to your accountant. They’re the right person to decide the tax question — they just need the mortgage half of the picture.

Plan it properly →

Related questions

Answered by Rajiv Verma, Mortgage Broker · Mortgage Architects — FSRA Brokerage Licence #12728 · Licensed in Ontario · Office 289.505.0631 · Direct 647.291.7116

General educational information only and not tax or accounting advice. How you should pay yourself is a decision for you and your accountant. This page explains only how lenders tend to read the result. Position stated as at August 2026.