Tax Transcripts and Their Value in Lending Transactions Part 2: Federal Tax Due Diligence

What this is: As we wrote about in Tax Transcripts and Their Value in Lending Part 1, federal tax return transcripts are the foundation of accurate, high-quality data that’s essential to verifying a borrower’s income, financial health and tax compliance. These transcripts include crucial details for lender due diligence like validated income and expenses and filing status, providing a verified snapshot that’s considered the gold standard in the lending process. 

What this means: This article will cover how to obtain this crucial information and explore how to access a broader range of federal tax data, beyond just the tax return data (such as payroll tax compliance and historical payments) and highlight how federal tax due diligence can empower lenders to make more informed, confident underwriting decisions.

How Tax Data Information is Obtained From the IRS

Traditionally, lenders obtain tax return transcripts through IRS Form 4506-C, through the Income Verification Express Service (IVES) program. Undertaking this process allows for access to verified income, but it falls drastically short in reliability; lenders often experience a high rejection rate (30-40%) due to minor errors or missing details. This outdated, manual system can lead to long wait times, incomplete data and frustrated borrowers and lenders alike.

What is Form 8821 Used for?

An alternative method of tax data acquisition is Form 8821, which allows lenders access to a much richer dataset, including a business’s compliance with payroll taxes, federal tax liens, asset seizures and payment history. Unlike Form 4506-C, Form 8821 requests multiple tax documents in one go, providing lenders with 10 or more years of financial insights that reveal hidden tax debts and compliance statuses. With this data, lenders gain visibility into missed payroll deposits, outstanding liabilities and other indicators that signal financial instability (details crucial for lender due diligence and precise credit risk assessment). In contrast to the IVES process, Form 8821 has a streamlined submission process with a significantly lower rejection rate, making it a more efficient choice for in-depth borrower analysis.

Understanding Tax Data for Loan Underwriting

Federal tax data offers far more than just a snapshot of income listed on a tax return. It includes essential information like payroll deposits, outstanding liens and the status of past-due returns. These elements provide a nuanced understanding of a borrower’s financial practices and tax compliance, which are often critical in underwriting decisions. For instance, regular payroll tax deposits suggest a stable cash flow, while missed deposits signal potential financial stress or cash flow issues.

Lenders who don’t complete comprehensive federal tax due diligence and solely rely on tax return transcripts risk overlooking these vital indicators. Form 8821 allows access to a broader dataset, giving insights into liabilities and overall tax compliance that go beyond what Form 4506-C provides. This level of data is especially valuable for underwriting small businesses with thin credit files, as it helps fill gaps in traditional credit assessment, allowing lenders to form a holistic view of a business’s creditworthiness.

Comprehensive Financial Information Equals Better Lending Decisions

Access to detailed tax data strengthens lending decisions by offering a full picture of a borrower’s financial health and compliance history. This transparency reveals not only income but also payment patterns and potential warning signs of risk, like delinquent payroll tax deposits. Studies indicate that monitoring such compliance data can significantly reduce loan defaults, as it provides early alerts to potential financial distress.

For lenders, tax compliance data enables proactive risk management by allowing them to detect issues before they escalate into full-fledged loan defaults. For instance, if a business repeatedly misses payroll tax deadlines, it may indicate financial instability. With this real-time insight, lenders can adjust terms or request additional documentation to mitigate risks.It is prudent for lenders to seek out a tax data service provider [link to TG]that will empower them to track payment patterns and detect compliance issues, such as unfiled returns or inconsistent payroll deposits, which are often precursors to more serious financial challenges.

By integrating comprehensive tax data into underwriting, lenders can reduce approval times and increase loan volume while confidently and quickly managing credit risks. A proficient tax data service provider can enable lenders to approve low-risk loans they might have otherwise declined, increasing loan portfolios and reducing credit losses. Such access to real-time, detailed tax data optimizes lending processes, making underwriting both faster and more accurate.

Conclusion 

Enhanced tax data access for federal tax due diligence equips lenders to make better lending decisions by offering a thorough view of a business’s financial standing. This additional insight ensures transparency and reduces uncertainties in the underwriting process, improving both borrower and lender experiences.

It’s important for lenders to have streamlined access to critical data to help them verify a borrower’s financial health with minimal hassle. In a landscape where compliance and data accuracy are paramount, having this information at hand not only supports stronger lending practices but also fosters trust between lenders and the small businesses they support.

This content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered, or relied upon, as legal advice.