Comment by MichaelBurge

> Isn't it fraud to declare something as income that's not actually income?

Mortgage fraud is a thing that exists, so it's not like labeling it as a crime lets you forget about it.

> don't you have to pay tax on it?

If you're borrowing at 30x leverage like some government loans give, taxes on the down payment is a small increase in cost-of-leverage which is more than made up for by the reduced interest rates.

Anyways, my point is, there's good reason to look at the same income viewed in multiple ways. Adding an employer into the mix is at least a separate person(which is probably why they waived the requirement in OP's case), while tax returns are filed by the potential fraudster/"entrepreneur".