SBA Financing with Less Than 3 Years of Financials?

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June 03, 2026

by a searcher from University of Illinois at Chicago in Chicago, IL, USA

Has anyone successfully acquired a business using SBA financing where the company had less than three years of financials / tax returns? I’m looking at a business that only has 2025 tax returns but has been growing, and I’m trying to understand whether SBA lenders can get comfortable underwriting with less than the typical 3-year history if there are clean financials and supporting documentation. For reference, the 2025 tax returns SDE would be able to support the asking price. If anyone has seen this done would be great to get recommendations for SBA lenders who are comfortable looking at situations like this.
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Reply by a lender
from Eastern Illinois University in 900 E Diehl Rd, Naperville, IL 60563, USA
Great question. We have done deals via SBA loans with less than 3 years financial statements / tax returns many times, but most lenders require at least two years of performance and at least one if not two years of tax returns. With only one year of history there is nothing to compare that performance to. The further we get into 2026 and the more history there is in 2026, the more likely an argument could be made to do the loan off of 2025 and YTD and TTM results in 2026. I would be happy to have a conversation to discuss this. You can reach me here or directly at redacted
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