RJ 270: accounting for revenue and other income
When is a sale revenue, and for what amount? RJ 270 gives the answer for goods, services, licences, interest and dividends, and explains how to split a contract with more than one performance obligation. The core of these rules has applied since financial year 2022.
The short answer
RJ 270 determines when and for what amount you recognise revenue. You identify the separate performance obligations in a contract, set the price including discounts and variable parts, allocate it according to stand-alone selling prices, and recognise the revenue on delivery of goods or in proportion to the services performed. These rules have applied since financial year 2022; micro and small entities follow RJk B13.
Updated 30 October 2026
Key facts
| Guideline | RJ 270 The profit and loss account; for micro and small entities RJk B13 Profit and loss account |
| Legal basis | art. 2:362(5) DCC (attribution to the financial year), art. 2:377 DCC (items and net turnover), art. 2:384(2) DCC (realised profit only) |
| Revised revenue rules | Mandatory for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2022 (transition in RJ 270.701 and 270.702) |
| Alternative | Apply IFRS 15 in full and consistently, then also for construction contracts (RJ 270.101a; RJk B13.101a) |
| Public | Profit and loss account: micro and small not, medium-sized abbreviated, large in full |
What chapter 270 covers, and what is new
Chapter 270 covers the whole profit and loss account: revenue (paragraph 1), net turnover (2), expenses (3), special items (4), layout (5) and notes (6). Anyone searching for "RJ 270 new" means paragraph 1. The Council rewrote it using concepts from IFRS 15, such as the performance obligation and the transaction price.
These rules are mandatory for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2022. On transition, an entity could apply them retrospectively, as a change in accounting policy, or only to contracts concluded or amended from the effective date (RJ 270.702). For a contract from 2020 that is still running in 2026, that choice made in 2022 decides.
An entity that follows the RJ may also apply IFRS 15 instead of paragraphs 1 and 6, provided it does so in full and consistently, and then also for construction contracts instead of RJ 221. You state this in the notes (RJ 270.101a). The RJk offers small entities the same option (RJk B13.101a).
Net turnover means the income from the supply of goods and services from the entity's business, less discounts and the like and less taxes levied on turnover.
What differs per financial year: 2025, 2026 and 2027
| Financial year | What applies | What you notice |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | RJ 270 and RJk B13 as in the 2025 annual editions; the 2022 revenue rules unchanged | No new recognition rules for revenue |
| 2026 | The old rule of thumb that an incidental discount for early payment could be treated as an interest expense is no longer in RJk B13.110 (2026 edition, effective from 1 January 2026) | A discount for prompt payment then falls in line with other discounts: variable consideration that reduces revenue (RJk B13.103; art. 2:377(6) DCC) |
| 2027 | RJ 270.601 (2027 edition) also mentions the turnover ratio for a medium-sized entity that combines items into gross operating result | That figure already followed from art. 2:397(3) DCC |
Early application of a new edition is recommended, unless the edition itself provides otherwise. All changes per financial year are listed on changes to the RJ 2026–2027.
The logic in five steps
The Guidelines do not number steps; the order below is a reading aid. Unlike IFRS 15, for goods RJ 270 still looks at the transfer of the significant risks and rewards, not at the transfer of control.
- Which contract? Usually per contract, but contracts negotiated as a single package and priced in dependence on each other are assessed together (RJ 270.105).
- Which performance obligations? A promise is a separate performance obligation if the customer can use it on its own, possibly with what it already has or can buy elsewhere, and if it is distinct from the other promises in the contract. If you integrate components into a single whole, or one component significantly modifies another, it is one obligation (RJ 270.109).
- What price? The amount to which you expect to be entitled, excluding VAT and excluding what you collect for someone else. You estimate variable parts prudently so that little has to be reversed later; if the contract contains a significant financing component, you adjust for the time value of money; with a payment term of up to a year you may leave that out (RJ 270.106 to 108).
- How to allocate? With several obligations, you allocate the total price according to the price you would charge for each component separately, or according to fair value (RJ 270.109c).
- When to recognise? Goods on delivery, when the risks and rewards have passed and the amount can be determined reliably (RJ 270.110). Services in proportion to what has been performed at the balance sheet date (RJ 270.115). A licence is a supply of goods if the customer gets use of the intellectual property as it is now, and a service if you keep maintaining or improving it during the term (RJ 270.125).
Case 1: cooling installation with three years of maintenance
Koeltechniek Maasland BV delivers a cold room to a butcher on 1 October 2025 and commits to three years of maintenance. The butcher pays € 48.000 in advance for the whole. Sold separately, the cold room costs € 45.000 and the maintenance € 5.000 per year. The butcher can also have the cold room maintained by someone else, so there are two performance obligations.
| Step | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Stand-alone selling prices | € 45.000 + 3 × € 5.000 | € 60.000 |
| Cold room share | € 48.000 × 45/60 | € 36.000 |
| Maintenance share | € 48.000 × 15/60, so € 4.000 per year | € 12.000 |
| Revenue 2025 | € 36.000 on delivery + 3 months of maintenance (€ 1.000) | € 37.000 |
| Received in advance at 31-12-2025 | € 48.000 − € 37.000 | € 11.000 |
| Revenue 2026, 2027 and 2028 | € 4.000 + € 4.000 + € 3.000 (nine months) | € 11.000 |
Without the split, the BV would show € 48.000 of revenue in 2025 while it still has to provide three years of maintenance. The amount received in advance is shown under accruals and deferred income.
Case 2: licence or access to software
Planwerk Software BV sells two things in 2025. Customer A buys a perpetual licence for a scheduling module on 1 April for € 30.000, without the right to updates. Customer B pays € 36.000 in advance on the same day for three years of access to the online platform, which Planwerk continuously updates and hosts.
- Customer A gets the product as it is on the delivery date. That is a supply: € 30.000 of revenue in April 2025.
- Customer B gets access to software that Planwerk maintains throughout the term. That is a service: € 1.000 per month, so € 9.000 of revenue in 2025 and € 27.000 received in advance at 31 December 2025, of which € 12.000 is released within a year.
- Royalties that depend on the customer's sales or use are recognised by Planwerk only when those sales or that use take place (RJ 270.126).
Case 3: advisory engagement with a fixed price and a success fee
Engineering firm Kustlijn BV supports a permit application from January 2025 to December 2026 for a fixed € 240.000, plus € 30.000 if the permit is granted. Kustlijn estimates 2.000 hours, of which 800 were incurred in 2025, and invoices € 120.000 in 2025.
- Revenue 2025 from the fixed price: 800 / 2.000 × € 240.000 = € 96.000. You measure progress in hours or costs, not by invoices (RJ 270.119).
- Invoiced but not yet earned: € 120.000 − € 96.000 = € 24.000, as a liability on the balance sheet.
- The success fee depends on a decision by the municipality. As long as the chance that you will have to reverse it later is not small, it does not count towards the transaction price (RJ 270.106a). If the permit is granted in 2026, the € 30.000 falls in 2026.
If the outcome cannot be estimated reliably at the start, you recognise revenue up to the amount of the costs you are likely to recover, without profit (RJ 270.121).
Own account or for someone else, VAT and bpm
Revenue is only what you earn for your own account and risk. A travel agency that resells a flight ticket of € 500 and keeps € 40 commission has € 40 of revenue if the airline operates the flight and sets the price. Whoever is itself answerable to the customer, bears inventory and credit risk and sets the price is the seller (RJ 270.105a to 105c). VAT is never revenue, and a car dealer does not count the bpm (motor vehicle tax on registration) (RJ 270.105d and 270.201a).
Per size class
| Class | Recognition | Presentation and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Micro (assets ≤ € 450.000, net turnover ≤ € 900.000, < 10 employees) | RJk B13 via the rules for small (RJk M1.301); with tax-based accounting policies, the tax profit calculation | Profit and loss account with the items of art. 2:395a(5) DCC, not public; no notes |
| Small (assets ≤ € 7,5 million, net turnover ≤ € 15 million, < 50 employees) | RJk B13: goods on transfer of risks, services in proportion, licence as supply or service; contract components separately (B13.101b) | May combine items into gross operating result (art. 2:396(4) DCC); the method of attributing revenue in the accounting policies (B13.109); P&L not public |
| Medium-sized (assets ≤ € 25 million, net turnover ≤ € 50 million, < 250 employees) | RJ 270 in full | Nature of the performance obligations, attribution method, revenue per category and capitalised contract costs (RJ 270.601); when combining items, the turnover ratio (art. 2:397(3) DCC), categories may be given in percentages and no disclosure of barter; no turnover split by line of business and area (art. 2:397(4) DCC) |
| Large | RJ 270 in full | Everything in RJ 270.601 in amounts, including revenue from barter; net turnover by line of business and area (art. 2:380 DCC) |
If a small entity opts for the full RJ, it applies RJ 270 while keeping the exemptions of art. 2:396 DCC; see the RJk for micro and small entities.
Special items and costs of obtaining a contract
Income and expenses of exceptional size or frequency are disclosed by every class except micro by amount and nature (art. 2:377(8) DCC); medium-sized and large entities show them gross (RJ 270.404), for small this is optional (RJk B13.112). A referral commission or other direct costs of winning a contract you capitalise if the contract is likely to be concluded and the costs can be determined reliably (RJ 270.303).
Common mistakes
- Treating the invoice date as the revenue date for subscriptions and maintenance invoiced in advance.
- Counting a bonus or success fee before the uncertainty is resolved.
- Deducting a customer who does not pay from revenue instead of recording an impairment of the receivable (RJ 270.113 and 270.117).
How it works in Jaarrekening.io
For a medium-sized or large entity, Jaarrekening.io asks in the notes about the main performance obligations and the timing of recognition, net turnover per category, capitalised contract costs and, for a large entity, revenue from barter (RJ 270.601). How you split a contract is up to you; the app does not calculate a transaction price.
Sources
- Art. 2:377 BW: items of the profit and loss account and net turnover (wetten.overheid.nl)
- Art. 2:396 BW: small entities, combining items into gross operating result
- Art. 2:397 BW: medium-sized entities, turnover ratio
- Dutch Accounting Standards Board: the Guidelines and the compendia (rjnet.nl)
- Dutch Accounting Standards Board: Forewords per annual edition, with the changes per financial year
Frequently asked questions
What is new in RJ 270?
The revenue rules in paragraph 1 of RJ 270 have been rewritten using concepts from IFRS 15: performance obligations, transaction price, variable consideration and allocation across the parts of a contract. They are mandatory for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2022. You still recognise goods when the significant risks and rewards pass, and services in proportion to the performance delivered.
Does a small BV have to apply RJ 270?
A small BV normally follows the RJk, chapter B13. It has the same core: assess the parts of a contract separately, estimate variable consideration prudently, recognise goods on delivery and services in proportion. In the notes it sets out the method used to attribute revenue (art. 2:384(5) DCC). The extensive disclosures of RJ 270.601 apply only to medium-sized and large entities, or to a small BV that opts for the full RJ.
When do I recognise revenue on a prepaid subscription?
Spread over the term, in proportion to the performance delivered. What you received in advance but have not yet delivered is shown as an amount received in advance under liabilities or accruals and deferred income. A three-year subscription of € 36.000 starting on 1 April yields € 9.000 of revenue in the first financial year (April to December).
May I apply IFRS 15 instead of RJ 270?
Yes. RJ 270.101a permits IFRS 15 for revenue from goods and services, provided it is applied in full and consistently, and then also for construction contracts. You state this in the notes. RJk B13.101a gives small entities the same option.
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