The RJk: Guidelines for micro and small legal entities

The short answer

The RJk is the separate bundle of the Dutch Accounting Standards Board for micro and small legal entities. Section M governs the micro entity, A the general subjects, B the items, C special small organisations and D contains the law, decrees and guidance on tax-based accounting policies. A small legal entity may follow the full RJ bundle instead.

Updated 30 October 2026

Key facts

Who the RJk applies to

The RJk is written for legal entities that meet at least two of the three criteria for micro or small on two consecutive balance sheet dates, with the figures of the group included. An intermediate holding company that uses the consolidation exemption of art. 2:408 DCC counts only its own figures. In the first and second financial year the figures at the first balance sheet date decide (art. 2:398(1) DCC). A personal holding company that does not provide central management to its subsidiary does not form a group with that subsidiary and tests its own figures (RJk M1.109).

Outside the RJk fall investment companies and public-interest entities, which may not use the small or micro regime (art. 2:398 DCC). A small legal entity that applies IFRS also loses the exemptions of art. 2:396 DCC (RJk A1.105). And a subsidiary that uses the group exemption of art. 2:403 DCC need not draw up its annual accounts under Title 9; the RJk assumes the situation without that exemption (RJk A1.101).

The structure: sections M, A, B, C and D

The RJk covers the subjects that often occur at small legal entities. For the rest it refers to a specific chapter or paragraph of the RJ bundle. If a subject is not covered anywhere, the board chooses an accounting treatment that gives relevant and reliable information, within the general policies of chapter A2 (RJk A1.202).

Mandatory or voluntary: how to read the RJk

The RJk uses no bold-type firm statements. Whether something is mandatory you see from the text: a reference to a statutory article or the word "must" means mandatory. If it says the legal entity "may consider" something, it is voluntary. That distinction comes from the EU Accounting Directive: a Member State may not ask small undertakings for more in the notes than the directive itself does.

The RJk concerns the prepared annual accounts, the layout of the accounts. What you file is governed by the law and chapter A6 and appendix D4: a small legal entity files the abridged balance sheet with notes without a profit and loss account (art. 2:396(8) DCC), a micro entity only the abridged balance sheet (art. 2:395a(8) DCC).

The micro entity in the RJk

• Components. A balance sheet and a profit and loss account, each with comparative figures (RJk M1.201). The prescribed notes fall away (art. 2:395a(6) DCC); a few disclosures go below the balance sheet.
• Exceptional situations. If the annual accounts fall seriously short without additional information, for example with material uncertainty about continuity or measurement on a liquidation basis, the micro entity gives that information anyway (RJk M1.202, based on art. 2:362(4) DCC). For financial years from 1 January 2026 it also files that information (RJk M1.401).
• Measurement. The same rules as for small (RJk M1.301), with one exception: for other operating costs no accruals need to be recognised; state that below the balance sheet (art. 2:395a(3) DCC).
• Current value. Only current cost for tangible and intangible fixed assets and realisable value for agricultural inventories. Market value is not permitted for a micro entity, so no investment property or financial instruments at fair value (RJk M1.303).
• Transition. Whoever applies the micro regime for the first time accounts for it as a change in policy and adjusts the comparative figures, but need not explain the change (RJk M1.304).
• M2. Micro healthcare providers have followed chapter M2 since the 2026 edition, with the models from the Regulation on public annual reporting under the WMG. Since the 2027 edition M2 also applies to micro youth care providers and certified institutions, already from financial year 2026.

Tax-based policies in the annual accounts

Micro and small entities may measure their assets and liabilities and determine their result under the tax rules of corporate income tax (art. 2:395a(7) DCC and art. 2:396(6) DCC). It is all or nothing: all tax-based policies that apply to the legal entity, and that fact is stated in the notes. The Decree on tax valuation policies adds four points:

• the difference in equity on the switch goes directly into equity at the start of the financial year; the comparative amount may remain unchanged (art. 1);
• a tax reinvestment reserve is shown separately under equity (art. 2(1));
• the profit and loss account also shows the costs that are not tax deductible and, separately after profit before tax, corporate income tax (art. 2(2));
• a small legal entity, not a micro entity, states for which items the tax valuation differs materially from the ordinary rules, also in the filed notes (art. 3).

Deferred taxes do not belong in annual accounts on tax-based policies (RJk D3.1.204 and D3.2.204). The guidance in D3 gives accounting options, not binding rules. The presentation and disclosure rules of Title 9 continue to apply. More on the difference: tax or commercial annual accounts.

Choosing the full RJ

The RJ bundle is written for all legal entities under Title 9; for small legal entities a separate bundle is also available (RJ 100.201 and 100.202). A small BV (private limited company) may therefore follow the RJ bundle. Reasons to do so: the bank or an investor wants annual accounts at RJ level, the group already reports under the RJ, or the BV will soon grow to medium-sized.

• You then follow the RJ bundle as a whole, including firm statements and the disclosures the RJk only suggests. The statutory exemptions for small entities in art. 2:396 DCC remain in force: no audit requirement, no management report, no public profit and loss account.
• The notes name the chosen bundle (art. 2:362(10) DCC). A hybrid in which you pick the lightest rule per subject does not fit that.
• If a small legal entity grows to medium-sized and must therefore change policies, it follows chapter 140 of the RJ bundle (RJk A3.101).

Case: from micro to small at Webwinkel Lindeboom BV

Webwinkel Lindeboom BV (fictitious, financial year = calendar year) prepares its annual accounts on tax-based policies.

From financial year 2025 Lindeboom is small. What changes:

• Notes are added, containing among other things the accounting policies (art. 2:384(5) DCC), the average number of employees and the statement that tax-based policies have been applied. Those notes are filed with the balance sheet; the profit and loss account is not.
• Lindeboom now also states for which items the tax valuation differs materially (art. 3 Decree on tax valuation policies), for example a delivery van on which € 24.000 of reinvestment reserve has been written off for tax, so that the tax carrying amount is lower than the ordinary one.
• The exemption for accruals falls away. Prepaid rent of € 6.000 now goes on the balance sheet; Lindeboom adjusts the 2024 comparative figure and explains it (art. 2:363(5) DCC).

If Lindeboom falls below two micro limits again on 31 December 2027, it is micro again from financial year 2027.

What the 2026 and 2027 editions changed

The 2026 edition (financial year 2026) made the RJk readable more independently with examples and references to specific RJ paragraphs; according to the RJ these are clarifications. New in substance were, among others, the waiver of the right to call in a loan after a covenant breach (B9.206), the no-deferral rule on initial recognition (B15) and publication of additional micro information (M1.401). The 2027 edition adds qualitative criteria for separate disclosure (A2.113a). Everything per chapter: Changes to the RJ 2026 and 2027.

How it works at Jaarrekening.io

For a small legal entity Jaarrekening.io asks which bundle it follows; without a choice the notes name the RJk. A micro entity always follows the RJk. For the micro entity the questionnaire has a separate question on whether additional information is needed for a true and fair view, for example with doubt about continuity; for financial years from 2026 that information also goes into the publication version. What the RJk only suggests is a voluntary question in the app.

Sources

• Art. 2:395a DCC: micro legal entities (wetten.overheid.nl)
• Art. 2:396 DCC: small legal entities (wetten.overheid.nl)
• Art. 2:398 DCC: first financial year and exceptions (wetten.overheid.nl)
• Decree on tax valuation policies (wetten.overheid.nl)
• Foreword to the RJk bundle, 2026 annual edition (pdf, rjnet.nl)
• Foreword to the RJk bundle, 2027 annual edition (pdf, rjnet.nl)
• RJ-Uiting 2025-10: final amendments to the RJk bundle (A2, A3, A4, A8, B2, B10 and B18)

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