Self-employment verification and comfort letters for mortgages and business loans: properly worded, documentation-backed, and delivered in a business day or two — not a week before your rate lock expires.
If you're self-employed and buying a home, refinancing, or applying for a business loan, at some point an underwriter asks for a “CPA letter”: a comfort letter from a licensed CPA confirming things like your self-employment status, how long you've owned your business, or that using business funds for your down payment won't harm the company.
Then comes the surprise: many CPAs simply refuse to write them — especially for people who aren't already their clients, and often even for people who are. The refusal isn't laziness; badly worded letters create real liability, so many firms ban them outright. That leaves you days from closing with an underwriter waiting on a letter nobody will write.
We write them — promptly, correctly worded, and grounded in documentation. Most letters go out within a business day or two of receiving your paperwork.
A properly drafted comfort letter states facts a CPA can support from records: that you are self-employed and have been since a stated date; that you own a stated percentage of the business; that tax returns for given years report the figures they report; or that, based on stated information, a withdrawal for a down payment is not expected to impair the business's operations.
What no legitimate CPA letter does is guarantee your income, certify your ability to repay a loan, or audit your business on a lender's timeline. Underwriters occasionally ask for exactly that; part of our job is supplying language that satisfies the lender's checklist while staying inside what professional standards allow. Lenders accept these letters every day — the wording just has to be right.
To write yours, we'll typically need: the lender's specific request, your filed tax returns for the years referenced, and documentation of business ownership. If we can't support a statement with documentation, we'll tell you immediately — before your closing clock runs out.
Comfort letter engagements are flat-fee, quoted as soon as we see the lender's request — typically a few hundred dollars, scoped in one phone call. Everything is handled virtually: secure document upload, a short verification review, and a signed letter on firm letterhead delivered as a PDF your loan officer can file the same day.
And if the reason your own CPA declined is that you don't really have one — returns self-prepared, or a different storefront each year — the letter engagement is a natural moment to fix that. A meaningful share of our tax preparation clients arrived as a comfort letter with a deadline.
Why won't my current CPA write a comfort letter?
Many firms prohibit them because badly worded letters can create liability — some lenders ask CPAs to effectively guarantee loan repayment, which no professional standard permits. The solution is a letter drafted to say what documentation supports, and no more. That's exactly the engagement we offer.
How fast can I get the letter?
Usually within one to two business days of receiving the lender's request and your supporting documents. Rush closings are common in this work — say so up front and we'll tell you honestly whether the timeline is feasible.
Do I have to be in Maryland?
No. Comfort letters are prepared from your documents and delivered electronically; we handle them for borrowers nationwide.
What does it cost?
A flat fee quoted after we see the lender's specific request — typically a few hundred dollars depending on what must be verified.
Will the lender actually accept it?
Lenders accept properly worded CPA letters routinely. If an underwriter demands language outside professional standards, we work with the loan officer on acceptable alternative wording — a conversation we have regularly.
Send the lender's request and we'll quote the letter today — and tell you exactly what documentation we need.