Annual accounts for an agricultural business: livestock, harvest, land and subsidies

The short answer

An agricultural business distinguishes living animals and plants (biological assets) from harvested products (agricultural inventories). Only agricultural inventories may be valued at current value, and that is then the net realisable value (art. 8 Besluit actuele waarde (Dutch decree on current value)). Livestock held for sale is carried at cost or the lower net realisable value; dairy cattle and land are fixed assets. The farmland exemption is a tax scheme.

Updated 30 October 2026

Key facts

First the legal form: maatschap or BV?

Many agricultural businesses are a maatschap, vof or sole proprietorship. These generally do not fall under Title 9 and file no annual accounts with the KVK; they prepare a balance sheet and profit and loss account for the income tax return. See the annual accounts of a maatschap. What follows applies to the agricultural BV and the cooperative.

Animal, crop or harvest: where does it go on the balance sheet?

RJ 220 counts as agricultural inventories the harvested products of a living animal or plant of the business itself: milk in the tank, potatoes in the barn. Living animals and plants are biological assets and are expressly excluded (para. 101). The balance sheet item follows from the use.

Only with agricultural inventories do you therefore have a choice. If you choose current value, you derive the net realisable value from sales contracts or, if there are none, from the market price at the balance sheet date (RJ 220.329). If frequent market prices exist, the increase in value may go directly into the result (art. 2:384(7) DCC).

Subsidies: when a receivable?

You process income support and other subsidies as soon as it is reasonably certain that you meet the conditions and will also receive the money (RJ 274.107). An operating subsidy falls in the result of the year in which the subsidised costs were incurred or the revenue was forgone (para. 108). If it was granted on 31 December but not yet paid, it appears as 'subsidies receivable' under receivables. An investment subsidy for a barn or manure processor you deduct from the book value, or you show it as an amount received in advance that is released over the useful life (para. 112 and 113).

Farmland exemption: tax, not commercial

The farmland exemption exempts value changes of agricultural land from tax, to the extent that they did not arise from business operations or a change of designation. It is in the Income Tax Act 2001 (art. 3.12) and, via art. 8 of the Corporate Income Tax Act 1969, also applies to a BV. It changes nothing in the valuation in the annual accounts: if the BV sells land above book value, the gain on disposal is result. Only the tax charge turns out lower than the rate would suggest.

Worked example: calves, potatoes and a granted subsidy

A fictitious BV with arable farming and calf fattening prepares its balance sheet.

• Calves. There are 50 calves with a cost of € 300 per animal. Due to a price drop the net realisable value is € 280. Valuation: 50 × € 280 = € 14,000; the write-down of € 1,000 is an expense.
• Potatoes. In the barn lie 400 tonnes with a cost of € 110 per tonne: € 44,000. The quoted price at the balance sheet date is € 150 per tonne and the selling costs are € 10 per tonne. Valued at net realisable value the lot is on the balance sheet at 400 × € 140 = € 56,000, € 12,000 above cost.
• Subsidy. For the growing season € 18,000 has been granted; payment follows in February. The BV records € 18,000 as subsidy receivable and as income of the financial year.

Four mistakes on the farmyard

• Carrying living livestock at current value because the rule for agricultural inventories would apply.
• Putting dairy cattle and fattening cattle in one item.
• Booking a subsidy at application, or only on receipt.
• Using the farmland exemption as a reason to revalue land on the balance sheet.

Size class: land counts at cost

For an agricultural BV or cooperative the usual size criteriaapply. The balance sheet total counts on the basis of acquisition and production cost (art. 2:396(1) DCC), so a revaluation of land does not push you over the threshold. If in doubt, use the audit requirement check.

What BVs in this sector file

Arable farming, livestock farming, horticulture and nurseries fall under SBI section A, agriculture, forestry and fishing (SBI 01–03). Forestry and fishing count in the same section.

In balance sheet class small, section A had a median solvency of 69.3% for financial year 2024, lower than the 73.4% of all balance sheets in that class together; the median current ratio was 2.19, lower than the national figure (3.28). The national figure is high because of the many holding companies.

The balance sheet class follows only the balance sheet total, not the statutory size class. The dataset names no legal form; it covers all XBRL filings with this SBI section, mostly of BVs. Source: KVK Handelsregister Open Dataset Jaarrekeningen (KVK Business Register open dataset of annual accounts), processing by Jaarrekening.io, CC BY 4.0. Data downloaded and processed on 2 November 2026. Explanation and all sectors: solvency per sector and current ratio per sector.

Jaarrekening.io and the agricultural business

Jaarrekening.io follows the annual accounts route of Title 9 and is therefore intended for the agricultural BV and the cooperative. For the maatschap, the vof and the sole proprietorship, the bookkeeping and tax modules are intended. You import the trial balance as an XAF audit file or as an Excel or CSV file; counts and valuations of livestock and harvest you record yourself beforehand.

Sources

• Art. 2:364 DCC: layout of the balance sheet
• Art. 2:384 DCC: accounting policies
• Art. 2:386 DCC: depreciation
• Art. 2:396 DCC: small entity
• RJ-Uiting 2017-4: draft guideline 220 Inventories
• RJ-Uiting 2021-4: draft guideline 274 Government grants, adopted on 21 April 2021
• Besluit actuele waarde (Dutch decree on current value)
• Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst): farmland exemption
• Corporate Income Tax Act 1969 (Wet op de vennootschapsbelasting 1969), art. 8

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