B1-1-03, Allowable Age of Credit Documents and Federal Income Tax Returns (04/02/2025)

Credit documents include credit reports and employment, income, and asset documentation. For all mortgage loans (existing and new construction), the credit documents must be no more than four months old on the note date. When consecutive credit documents are in the loan file, the most recent document is used to determine whether it meets the age requirement. For example, when two consecutive monthly bank statements are used to verify a depository asset, the date of the most recent statement must be no more than four months old on the note date. If the credit documents are older than allowed, the lender must update them. For age requirements related to appraisals, see B4-1.2-04, Appraisal Age and Use RequirementsB4-1.2-04, Appraisal Age and Use Requirements. Also see B2-3-05, Properties Affected by a DisasterB2-3-05, Properties Affected by a Disaster for exceptions to the allowable age of credit documents for loans impacted by a natural disaster.

For some types of sources of income, Fannie Mae requires lenders to obtain copies of federal income tax returns (personal returns and, if applicable, business returns). The “most recent year’s” tax return is defined as the last return scheduled to have been filed with the IRS. For example,

The following table describes the requirements for documenting the most recent year's tax return based on the application date and disbursement date of the loan. The disbursement date coincides with the tax filing dates required by the IRS (see footnotes). The dates below can be adjusted to account for a tax filing extension announced by the IRS, provided the borrower is eligible to take advantage of the extension. The loan file must always include the last tax return filed by the borrower and the minimum number of years of tax returns as noted in the Selling Guide.

Exceptions

• For business tax returns, if the borrower’s business uses a fiscal year (a year ending on the last day of any month except December), the lender may adjust the dates in the above chart to determine what year(s) of business tax returns are required in relation to the application date/disbursement date of the new mortgage loan.
• For loans with income validated by DU, lenders may rely on the age of tax transcript methodology provided by the service. See  B3-2-02, DU Validation ServiceB3-2-02, DU Validation Service