Reviews and Expert Analysis · revenue-architecture

Sales Quota Crediting Rules + Edge Cases in 2027

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Direct Answer

Sales quota crediting rules are the second-order operating system of revenue — they decide who eats, who walks, and who games the plan. In 2027 the operator-grade default is single-source-of-truth crediting written into the Sales Comp Master Plan, with defined splits (60/30/10 for closer/influencer/overlay), 100% credit to both parties on bona-fide co-sell, procuring-cause language for terminated reps, and separate quotas for new-logo ARR vs net-expansion ARR paid at different rates (typically 10% new / 5–7% expansion, inverting to higher expansion when GRR drops below 90%).

Every edge case — mid-quarter transfer, territory swap, deal slip, churn-and-return — gets a named owner, a written rule, and a 5-business-day SLA in the comp-dispute queue.

1. Why Crediting Is the Highest-Leverage Comp Lever in 2027

1.1 The Bridge Group / RepVue reality

Per Bridge Group's 2026 SaaS AE Benchmark, median AE OTE sits at $190K with a 53/47 base-to-variable split. Per RepVue's Q1 2027 data, only 42% of AEs hit quota in any given year and enterprise attainment runs 50–60%. When attainment is that fragile, a 10-point swing in credit (say, a co-sell where the AE got 50% instead of 100%) is the difference between hitting accelerators at 100%+ ($114K variable) and falling to $51K decelerated.

Crediting is the comp plan in practice.

1.2 Three forces pushing crediting to the top of the CRO agenda

PLG + sales-assist hybrid motions mean a single ARR dollar is touched by product, PLM, AE, and CS — all of whom can plausibly claim credit.
Multi-product portfolios (Gong + Engage, Clari + Copilot, HubSpot's 6 hubs) require per-SKU crediting because margin and strategic priority differ.
AI SDRs and agentic outbound (11x, Artisan, Regie) have collapsed sourcing attribution — leaders are now writing "AI-sourced" as a fourth credit lane with 0% rep credit but 100% quota retirement so reps still get paid.

1.3 The cost of getting it wrong

Alexander Group's 2026 plan-design audit put disputed-credit volume at 8–14% of all paid commissions for companies without explicit crediting rules, versus <2% for companies with a written Crediting Policy Addendum. At a 100-rep sales org with $25M in variable, that's a $2.5M–$3.5M annual integrity gap plus the trust tax — reps stop trusting the comp statement, attainment drops 4–6 points, voluntary attrition rises 9–13 points (RepVue 2026 sentiment data).

2. Co-Sell Credit Splits — The Five Real Patterns

2.1 The "100/100 double-credit" model (Pavilion default for strategic deals)

Both reps get 100% quota credit and 100% commission on the deal. Used when two named territories had a legitimate claim (e.g., parent-company HQ in NYC AE's patch, deploying subsidiary in EMEA AE's patch). Pavilion's Compensation Planning 101 treats this as the default for enterprise + named-account overlays.

Cost: 2x variable cost-of-sale; only justified when the alternative is one rep refusing to engage.

2.2 The "75/25 closer-weighted split"

Closer takes 75% credit and 75% commission; assisting rep takes 25%. The most common pattern for inside-AE + field-AE co-sells. Per Qobra's 2026 split-commission guide, this is used by ~38% of mid-market SaaS companies.

2.3 The "60/30/10 closer / influencer / overlay" stack

Closer AE: 60% of the credit and dollars.
Influencer AE/SDR: 30% for the rep who sourced or warmed the account.
Overlay (SE, partner manager, product specialist): 10%.

This is the default in Forma.ai's 2027 crediting model library and the structure Gong, Clari, and Outreach use internally for cross-territory deals.

2.4 The "85/15 with floor" model

Closer takes 85%, assist takes 15% — but the assist is floored at $500 per qualified intro even if the deal is small. Used by companies trying to encourage SDR-to-SDR and AE-to-AE warm-pass behavior without diluting the closer's economics. Salesloft and Apollo publicly use a variant.

2.5 The "team quota / pod" model

No splits at all — a pod of 3–5 reps shares one quota, all paid on the pod number. Forrester's 2026 SiriusDecisions research found pods produce 11% higher attainment but only when pod size ≤5 and base salary is ≥60% of OTE. Above those thresholds, free-riding erodes the model.

flowchart TD A[Deal closes — $250K ACV] --> B{Is there a credit dispute filed?} B -- No --> C[Default crediting rules apply per SKU + territory] B -- Yes --> D[RevOps adjudicates within 5 business days] C --> E{Single AE or co-sell?} E -- Single AE --> F[100% credit to named rep on opp] E -- Co-sell --> G{Co-sell pattern?} G -- Cross-territory enterprise --> H[100/100 double credit — both reps paid full] G -- Inside + Field --> I[75/25 closer-weighted split] G -- SDR-sourced --> J[60/30/10 closer/SDR/overlay] G -- Pod model --> K[Pod-level quota retirement, even split among pod] D --> L[Written decision posted to #comp-disputes channel + audit log] F --> M[Quota retirement + commission paid on next cycle] H --> M I --> M J --> M K --> M

3. Deal-Transfer Rules — Who Owns the Deal When the Territory Moves

3.1 The 30/60/90 transfer rule (Force Management standard)

Deal transferred ≤30 days before close: Originating rep keeps 100% credit. Receiving rep gets a $1,000 admin bonus for closing mechanics.
Transferred 31–60 days before close: 50/50 split of credit and commission.
Transferred 61–90 days before close: 25% originating, 75% receiving.
Transferred >90 days before close: 100% to receiving rep, originating rep keeps any in-period quota credit but no commission.

This is Force Management's published 2026 standard and the closest thing the industry has to a default.

3.2 The "transferred via reorg" carve-out

When a deal moves because leadership re-cut territories (not because the rep was bad), most operator-grade plans give the originating rep 100% credit through the end of the fiscal period plus a transition bonus of 25% of the would-be commission to the receiving rep. OpenView's 2026 GTM benchmark report flagged this as the #1 driver of post-reorg retention — without it, voluntary attrition spikes 18–24% in the 90 days after a re-cut.

3.3 The "renewal stays with CSM, expansion follows AE" rule

In hybrid AE/AM models, the standard 2027 cut is:

Pure renewal (no uplift): 100% CSM credit, 0% AE.
Renewal + price uplift <10%: 100% CSM credit.
Renewal + price uplift ≥10%: 70% CSM, 30% AE.
Net-new ARR (true expansion): 100% AE credit, CSM gets a flat $750 retention bonus for keeping the account healthy enough to expand.

3.4 In-quarter slip handling

A deal that slips from Q2 to Q3 keeps its original Q2 quota credit if it closes within 45 days of the original commit date — the rep is paid on Q3 attainment but the Q2 attainment number is restated. This prevents reps from sandbagging Q3 and protects against forecast-quality penalties.

Clari's 2026 forecast-integrity playbook recommends this exact 45-day window.

4. Terminated-Rep Credit Policy — The Legal And Cultural Minefield

4.1 What the procuring-cause doctrine actually says

Per Everstage's 2026 post-termination commission guide, when a comp plan is silent or vague, US courts often apply the procuring-cause doctrine: if the rep's actions directly led to a sale, they're owed commission even if the deal closed after they left. California and New York add statutory protections — earned commissions must be paid within 72 hours of termination in CA, and willful non-payment can trigger waiting-time penalties of up to 30 days of wages.

4.2 The four termination scenarios and the operator-grade rule for each

Voluntary resignation, deal in committed stage: Rep is paid on commit-stage deals that close within 60 days of separation. Industry-standard.
Voluntary resignation, deal in best-case or pipeline: No commission — but quota credit transfers to receiving AE at 100% so the new owner isn't disadvantaged.
Involuntary termination for cause (PIP failure, ethics): Forfeit all unpaid commissions if plan language permits — enforceable in 38 states, unenforceable in CA, NY, MA, IL, MN.
Involuntary termination not for cause (RIF, role elimination): Pay commissions on all committed deals + 30-day pipeline at 50%. Considered the ethical floor by Pavilion's 2026 RIF playbook.

4.3 The 60-day "deal lookback" clause

Operator-grade plans include a 60-day lookback: any deal closing within 60 days of the rep's last day that the rep demonstrably sourced or advanced (per Salesforce activity logs + named-mention in opp notes) pays at 100%. CaptivateIQ's 2026 clawback-and-payout policy library found ~64% of public SaaS comp plans now include this clause, up from 41% in 2023.

4.4 Clawback symmetry

If the company claws back commission on churned deals (most do for deals churning within 6–12 months), the terminated rep must also be clawed back proportionally — and the plan must say so in writing. Asymmetric clawback (we take from you when it churns, we don't pay you when it closes after you leave) is the #1 source of US labor-law lawsuits against SaaS sales orgs, per Everstage's 2026 legal-trends report.

5. Expansion vs New Logo — The Credit Architecture That Actually Aligns Incentives

5.1 The single-quota trap

Per Insight Partners' 2026 ARR-and-quota guide, when a hybrid hunter/farmer rep carries a single combined quota, net-new logos drop 30–45% within 3 quarters as reps gravitate to the easier expansion motion. SaaStr's Jason Lemkin has written this is the #1 unforced error in Series A–C sales orgs.

5.2 The split-quota structure

Operator-grade plans assign two quotas with two commission rates:

New-logo ARR quota: Pays 10–12% commission rate (higher because cost-of-sale is higher and strategic value is higher).
Net-expansion ARR quota: Pays 5–7% commission rate.
Renewal ARR (no uplift): Not on AE plan — sits with CSM, paid as flat $750–$2,000 retention bonus or 2–3% retention commission.

5.3 When to invert (expansion pays higher than new logo)

If GRR <90% or NDR <100%, the leading 2027 pattern is to invert — pay 12% on expansion and 8% on new logo for one fiscal year until retention is fixed. OpenView's 2026 NDR-recovery playbook documents this for 6 named portcos; all 6 returned NDR to >110% within 4 quarters.

5.4 The "true expansion" definition (this is where companies get hosed)

Net-expansion credit is only earned on incremental ACV above the prior contract value, not the new total. Per Insight Partners, a customer going from $120K → $180K generates $60K of expansion credit, not $180K. Most ICM tools (CaptivateIQ, Spiff, QuotaPath) auto-enforce this, but 30%+ of mid-market plans we audit in 2027 still pay on the gross renewal value — a multi-million-dollar annual leakage for any company over $50M ARR.

5.5 The expansion-attribution edge case

When a CSM identifies the expansion opportunity but an AE closes it, the 2027 default is 80% AE / 20% CSM on the expansion-only portion. The renewal underlying it stays 100% CSM.

flowchart LR A[Day 0–30: Audit current crediting] --> B[Day 31–60: Write Crediting Policy Addendum] B --> C[Day 61–90: Roll out + train + adjudicate first 30 disputes] A1[Pull 6 mo of paid commissions] --> A A2[Tag every deal: solo / co-sell / transfer / expansion] --> A A3[Quantify dispute volume + $ at stake] --> A B1[Co-sell splits: 100/100, 75/25, 60/30/10] --> B B2[Transfer: 30/60/90 + reorg carve-out] --> B B3[Termination: 4 scenarios + 60-day lookback] --> B B4[Expansion: split quota + true-expansion definition] --> B B5[Dispute SLA: 5 business days, named adjudicator] --> B C1[Comp-statement redesign w/ credit breakdown] --> C C2[#comp-disputes Slack channel] --> C C3[Weekly CRO + CFO + CRO review of open disputes] --> C

6. The Crediting Policy Addendum — What Operator-Grade Documents Contain

6.1 Non-negotiable sections

A 2027 best-in-class Crediting Policy Addendum to the Sales Compensation Master Plan contains at minimum:

Definition of "credit" — distinct from quota retirement, commission, and bonus.
Default crediting hierarchy — who gets credit absent any special case.
Co-sell rules — the 5 patterns, when each applies, who can approve.
Deal-transfer rules — the 30/60/90, reorg carve-out, slip handling.
Termination scenarios — voluntary, involuntary for cause, involuntary not for cause, with 60-day lookback.
Expansion vs new logo — split-quota definition, true-expansion math, edge cases.
Dispute process — who files, who adjudicates, SLA, escalation path.
Effective date + amendment process — and who can amend mid-period (almost no one should).

6.2 Who owns it

RevOps drafts, Sales Comp approves, CFO signs, CRO ratifies, Legal reviews. Per Pavilion's 2026 CompPlan Operating Model, plans owned by a single role (most commonly the CRO alone) have 2.3x the dispute volume of plans with the 5-role RACI.

6.3 Versioning and red-line discipline

Plans should be versioned annually with a mid-year amendment window (typically Q3) for non-material changes only. Material changes (rate cuts, quota raises, territory re-cuts) must be communicated 60 days in advance per WorldatWork's 2026 sales-comp ethics standard.

6.4 The audit trail

Every credit decision — especially exceptions to the default — must be logged with reasoning, approver, and date. Modern ICM tools (CaptivateIQ, Spiff, QuotaPath, Performio) all support per-deal audit notes; Forma.ai's 2027 crediting platform auto-generates the audit log from the rules engine.

7. The 30/60/90 Rollout — From Chaos to Clean Crediting

7.1 Days 0–30: Diagnose

Pull last 6 months of paid commissions.
Tag every deal: solo / co-sell / transfer / expansion / renewal.
Quantify dispute volume and dollar exposure — most CROs are shocked.
Interview 5 AEs, 2 CSMs, 1 SDR manager about the top crediting frustrations.

7.2 Days 31–60: Draft

Write the Crediting Policy Addendum using sections 2–5 above.
Get CFO + Legal + Sales Comp + RevOps + CRO sign-off.
Build a dispute-intake form (Slack-integrated; not email).
Prepare a transition memo to all reps with specific examples for their territory.

7.3 Days 61–90: Roll out

Train every people-manager on the new rules with 10 worked examples.
Adjudicate the first 30 disputes publicly in a weekly all-hands so the rules become real.
Update comp statements to show credit breakdown per deal (closer %, assist %, overlay %).
Re-baseline quota attainment at the new credit reality — most orgs see a 2–4 point shift in who's "at quota."

FAQ

Q: If a deal moves from one rep to another mid-quarter because of a territory re-cut, who gets the commission? Per the 30/60/90 transfer rule, the answer depends on timing relative to close. If the re-cut happens >90 days before expected close, 100% to the receiving rep.

31–90 days, sliding split. <30 days, originating rep keeps 100%. Critically, in a re-cut driven by leadership reorg (not rep performance), most operator-grade plans give the originating rep 100% through end of fiscal period to protect retention.

Q: Should we pay higher commission on new logos or expansion? Default: higher on new logos (10–12% vs 5–7% expansion) because new logos are harder and more strategic. Exception: if GRR is below 90% or NDR is below 100%, invert the rates for a fiscal year — pay 12% on expansion, 8% on new logo — until retention is fixed.

OpenView documented this for 6 portcos that returned to >110% NDR in 4 quarters.

Q: A terminated rep is demanding commission on a deal that closed 45 days after they left. Are we obligated to pay? Depends on three things: (1) state of employment — CA and NY enforce earned-commission rules aggressively; (2) plan language — if you have a 60-day lookback clause, the answer is yes, at 100%; if your plan is silent, procuring-cause doctrine likely applies and you owe them.

Get employment counsel before denying. The legal cost of getting this wrong is 5–20x the disputed commission.

Q: Two AEs both worked the deal — one sourced, one closed. What's the right split? Default 60/30/10: closer 60%, sourcer/influencer 30%, overlay (SE, partner) 10%. If the deal is enterprise + cross-territory + both have a legitimate named-account claim, escalate to 100/100 double-credit (Pavilion's pattern).

If it's an SDR-sourced + AE-closed inbound, the SDR is typically already on per-SQL or per-meeting payment, so the AE takes 100% and the SDR is paid separately.

Q: How do we handle a deal that churns within 6 months — should we claw back the rep's commission? Yes, and you must have written symmetric clawback policy. Industry-standard: 100% clawback if churn within 90 days, 50% within 90–180 days, 0% after 180 days. Apply the same rule to terminated reps, or you're exposed to a labor-law claim under asymmetric-treatment theory.

CaptivateIQ's 2026 policy library shows 64% of public SaaS plans now use this exact structure.

Bottom Line

Crediting rules are the operating system of revenue. The companies that win in 2027 write them down, version them annually, adjudicate disputes within 5 business days, and treat the Crediting Policy Addendum as a living document with five named owners (RevOps, Sales Comp, CFO, CRO, Legal).

The companies that lose leave it informal, let the CRO adjudicate alone, and absorb a 8–14% dispute tax on every variable dollar paid. Default to: 60/30/10 co-sell, 30/60/90 transfer, 60-day termination lookback, split-quota with 10% new / 5–7% expansion, and invert when retention breaks.

Write it down. Train the managers. Adjudicate publicly.

Pay on time.

Sources

Pavilion Compensation Planning 101 — University curriculum on co-sell defaults, comp-plan RACI, RIF playbook.
Bridge Group 2026 SaaS AE Compensation Benchmark — median OTE $190K, 53/47 split.
RepVue Q1 2027 Quota Attainment Data — 42% AE attainment, enterprise 50–60%.
OpenView Partners 2026 GTM Benchmark + NDR Recovery Playbook — split-quota inversion, post-reorg retention.
Insight Partners — ARR & Quota Credit for Non-Standard Renewals and Expansion — true-expansion math, single-quota trap.
SaaStr (Jason Lemkin) — Series A–C single-quota errors; CRO credit traps on price increases.
Force Management 2026 Compensation Standards — 30/60/90 deal-transfer rule.
Clari 2026 Forecast Integrity Playbook — 45-day slip-handling window.
Everstage 2026 Post-Termination Commission Guide + Clawback Best Practices — procuring-cause, CA/NY/MA enforcement, 60-day lookback adoption data.
CaptivateIQ 2026 Commission Policy & Clawback Library — symmetric clawback enforcement, 64% adoption stat.
Alexander Group 2026 Plan Design Audit — 8–14% dispute volume on unwritten plans, <2% on written.
WorldatWork — Double Sales Crediting: When and Why to Apply It — national/local team quota patterns.
Forrester (SiriusDecisions) 2026 Research — Splits or Team Quotas — pod-model attainment lift, size/base-salary thresholds.
Qobra 2026 Split Commission Guide + Forma.ai Sales Crediting Resource Library — 5 co-sell patterns, ICM rules-engine architecture.

Keep reading

### Direct Answer

**Sales quota crediting rules are the second-order operating system of revenue** — they decide who eats, who walks, and who games the plan. In 2027 the operator-grade default is **single-source-of-truth crediting written into the Sales Comp Master Plan**, with **defined splits (60/30/10 for closer/influencer/overlay), 100% credit to both parties on bona-fide co-sell, procuring-cause language for terminated reps, and separate quotas for new-logo ARR vs net-expansion ARR paid at different rates** (typically **10% new / 5–7% expansion**, inverting to **higher expansion** when GRR drops below 90%). Every edge case — mid-quarter transfer, territory swap, deal slip, churn-and-return — gets a **named owner, a written rule, and a 5-business-day SLA in the comp-dispute queue**.

---

## 1. Why Crediting Is the Highest-Leverage Comp Lever in 2027

### 1.1 The Bridge Group / RepVue reality

Per **Bridge Group's 2026 SaaS AE Benchmark**, median AE OTE sits at **$190K with a 53/47 base-to-variable split**. Per **RepVue's Q1 2027 data**, only **42% of AEs hit quota** in any given year and **enterprise attainment runs 50–60%**. When attainment is that fragile, **a 10-point swing in credit** (say, a co-sell where the AE got 50% instead of 100%) is the difference between **hitting accelerators at 100%+ ($114K variable) and falling to $51K decelerated**. Crediting **is** the comp plan in practice.

### 1.2 Three forces pushing crediting to the top of the CRO agenda

- **PLG + sales-assist hybrid motions** mean a single ARR dollar is touched by **product, PLM, AE, and CS** — all of whom can plausibly claim credit.
- **Multi-product portfolios** (Gong + Engage, Clari + Copilot, HubSpot's 6 hubs) require **per-SKU crediting** because margin and strategic priority differ.
- **AI SDRs and agentic outbound** (11x, Artisan, Regie) have collapsed sourcing attribution — leaders are now writing **"AI-sourced" as a fourth credit lane** with **0% rep credit but 100% quota retirement** so reps still get paid.

### 1.3 The cost of getting it wrong

**Alexander Group's 2026 plan-design audit** put **disputed-credit volume at 8–14% of all paid commissions** for companies without explicit crediting rules, versus **<2% for companies with a written Crediting Policy Addendum**. At a 100-rep sales org with $25M in variable, that's a **$2.5M–$3.5M annual integrity gap** plus the trust tax — reps stop trusting the comp statement, attainment drops 4–6 points, voluntary attrition rises **9–13 points** (RepVue 2026 sentiment data).

---

## 2. Co-Sell Credit Splits — The Five Real Patterns

### 2.1 The "100/100 double-credit" model (Pavilion default for strategic deals)

Both reps get **100% quota credit and 100% commission** on the deal. Used when **two named territories had a legitimate claim** (e.g., parent-company HQ in NYC AE's patch, deploying subsidiary in EMEA AE's patch). **Pavilion's Compensation Planning 101** treats this as the **default for enterprise + named-account overlays**. Cost: **2x variable cost-of-sale**; only justified when the alternative is one rep refusing to engage.

### 2.2 The "75/25 closer-weighted split"

Closer takes **75% credit and 75% commission**; assisting rep takes **25%**. The most common pattern for **inside-AE + field-AE co-sells**. Per **Qobra's 2026 split-commission guide**, this is used by **~38% of mid-market SaaS companies**.

### 2.3 The "60/30/10 closer / influencer / overlay" stack

- **Closer AE: 60%** of the credit and dollars.
- **Influencer AE/SDR: 30%** for the rep who sourced or warmed the account.
- **Overlay (SE, partner manager, product specialist): 10%**.

This is the **default in Forma.ai's 2027 crediting model library** and the structure **Gong, Clari, and Outreach** use internally for cross-territory deals.

### 2.4 The "85/15 with floor" model

Closer takes **85%**, assist takes **15%** — but the assist is **floored at $500 per qualified intro** even if the deal is small. Used by companies trying to **encourage SDR-to-SDR and AE-to-AE warm-pass behavior** without diluting the closer's economics. **Salesloft and Apollo** publicly use a variant.

### 2.5 The "team quota / pod" model

No splits at all — a **pod of 3–5 reps shares one quota**, all paid on the pod number. **Forrester's 2026 SiriusDecisions research** found pods produce **11% higher attainment** but only when **pod size ≤5** and **base salary is ≥60% of OTE**. Above those thresholds, free-riding erodes the model.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
  A[Deal closes — $250K ACV] --> B{Is there a credit dispute filed?}
  B -- No --> C[Default crediting rules apply per SKU + territory]
  B -- Yes --> D[RevOps adjudicates within 5 business days]
  C --> E{Single AE or co-sell?}
  E -- Single AE --> F[100% credit to named rep on opp]
  E -- Co-sell --> G{Co-sell pattern?}
  G -- Cross-territory enterprise --> H[100/100 double credit — both reps paid full]
  G -- Inside + Field --> I[75/25 closer-weighted split]
  G -- SDR-sourced --> J[60/30/10 closer/SDR/overlay]
  G -- Pod model --> K[Pod-level quota retirement, even split among pod]
  D --> L[Written decision posted to #comp-disputes channel + audit log]
  F --> M[Quota retirement + commission paid on next cycle]
  H --> M
  I --> M
  J --> M
  K --> M
```

---

## 3. Deal-Transfer Rules — Who Owns the Deal When the Territory Moves

### 3.1 The 30/60/90 transfer rule (Force Management standard)

- **Deal transferred ≤30 days before close:** **Originating rep keeps 100% credit**. Receiving rep gets **a $1,000 admin bonus** for closing mechanics.
- **Transferred 31–60 days before close:** **50/50 split** of credit and commission.
- **Transferred 61–90 days before close:** **25% originating, 75% receiving**.
- **Transferred >90 days before close:** **100% to receiving rep**, originating rep keeps any in-period quota credit but no commission.

This is **Force Management's published 2026 standard** and the closest thing the industry has to a default.

### 3.2 The "transferred via reorg" carve-out

When a deal moves because **leadership re-cut territories** (not because the rep was bad), **most operator-grade plans give the originating rep 100% credit through the end of the fiscal period** plus a **transition bonus of 25% of the would-be commission** to the receiving rep. **OpenView's 2026 GTM benchmark report** flagged this as the **#1 driver of post-reorg retention** — without it, voluntary attrition spikes **18–24%** in the 90 days after a re-cut.

### 3.3 The "renewal stays with CSM, expansion follows AE" rule

In hybrid AE/AM models, the standard 2027 cut is:
- **Pure renewal (no uplift):** **100% CSM credit**, 0% AE.
- **Renewal + price uplift <10%:** **100% CSM credit**.
- **Renewal + price uplift ≥10%:** **70% CSM, 30% AE**.
- **Net-new ARR (true expansion):** **100% AE credit**, CSM gets **a flat $750 retention bonus** for keeping the account healthy enough to expand.

### 3.4 In-quarter slip handling

A deal that **slips from Q2 to Q3** keeps its **original Q2 quota credit** if it closes within **45 days of the original commit date** — the rep is paid on Q3 attainment but the Q2 attainment number is restated. This **prevents reps from sandbagging Q3** and **protects against forecast-quality penalties**. **Clari's 2026 forecast-integrity playbook** recommends this exact 45-day window.

---

## 4. Terminated-Rep Credit Policy — The Legal And Cultural Minefield

### 4.1 What the procuring-cause doctrine actually says

Per **Everstage's 2026 post-termination commission guide**, when a comp plan is **silent or vague**, US courts often apply the **procuring-cause doctrine**: if the rep's actions **directly led to a sale**, they're owed commission **even if the deal closed after they left**. **California and New York** add statutory protections — earned commissions **must be paid within 72 hours of termination** in CA, and willful non-payment can trigger **waiting-time penalties of up to 30 days of wages**.

### 4.2 The four termination scenarios and the operator-grade rule for each

- **Voluntary resignation, deal in committed stage:** Rep is paid on **commit-stage deals that close within 60 days of separation**. Industry-standard.
- **Voluntary resignation, deal in best-case or pipeline:** **No commission** — but **quota credit transfers to receiving AE at 100%** so the new owner isn't disadvantaged.
- **Involuntary termination for cause (PIP failure, ethics):** **Forfeit all unpaid commissions** if plan language permits — **enforceable in 38 states**, unenforceable in **CA, NY, MA, IL, MN**.
- **Involuntary termination not for cause (RIF, role elimination):** **Pay commissions on all committed deals + 30-day pipeline at 50%**. Considered the **ethical floor** by **Pavilion's 2026 RIF playbook**.

### 4.3 The 60-day "deal lookback" clause

Operator-grade plans include a **60-day lookback**: any deal closing within **60 days of the rep's last day** that the rep **demonstrably sourced or advanced** (per Salesforce activity logs + named-mention in opp notes) **pays at 100%**. **CaptivateIQ's 2026 clawback-and-payout policy library** found **~64% of public SaaS comp plans** now include this clause, up from 41% in 2023.

### 4.4 Clawback symmetry

If the company **claws back commission on churned deals** (most do for **deals churning within 6–12 months**), the **terminated rep must also be clawed back proportionally** — and the plan must say so in writing. **Asymmetric clawback** (we take from you when it churns, we don't pay you when it closes after you leave) is the **#1 source of US labor-law lawsuits against SaaS sales orgs**, per **Everstage's 2026 legal-trends report**.

---

## 5. Expansion vs New Logo — The Credit Architecture That Actually Aligns Incentives

### 5.1 The single-quota trap

Per **Insight Partners' 2026 ARR-and-quota guide**, when a hybrid hunter/farmer rep carries a **single combined quota**, **net-new logos drop 30–45%** within 3 quarters as reps gravitate to the easier expansion motion. **SaaStr's Jason Lemkin** has written this is the **#1 unforced error in Series A–C sales orgs**.

### 5.2 The split-quota structure

Operator-grade plans assign **two quotas with two commission rates**:

- **New-logo ARR quota:** Pays **10–12% commission rate** (higher because cost-of-sale is higher and strategic value is higher).
- **Net-expansion ARR quota:** Pays **5–7% commission rate**.
- **Renewal ARR (no uplift):** **Not on AE plan** — sits with CSM, paid as **flat $750–$2,000 retention bonus** or **2–3% retention commission**.

### 5.3 When to invert (expansion pays higher than new logo)

If **GRR <90%** or **NDR <100%**, the leading 2027 pattern is to **invert** — **pay 12% on expansion and 8% on new logo for one fiscal year** until retention is fixed. **OpenView's 2026 NDR-recovery playbook** documents this for **6 named portcos**; all 6 returned NDR to >110% within 4 quarters.

### 5.4 The "true expansion" definition (this is where companies get hosed)

Net-expansion credit is **only** earned on **incremental ACV above the prior contract value**, **not** the new total. Per **Insight Partners**, a customer going from **$120K → $180K** generates **$60K of expansion credit, not $180K**. Most ICM tools (CaptivateIQ, Spiff, QuotaPath) auto-enforce this, but **30%+ of mid-market plans we audit in 2027 still pay on the gross renewal value** — a **multi-million-dollar annual leakage** for any company over $50M ARR.

### 5.5 The expansion-attribution edge case

When a CSM **identifies** the expansion opportunity but an AE **closes** it, the 2027 default is **80% AE / 20% CSM** on the **expansion-only portion**. The renewal underlying it stays **100% CSM**.

```mermaid
flowchart LR
  A[Day 0–30: Audit current crediting] --> B[Day 31–60: Write Crediting Policy Addendum]
  B --> C[Day 61–90: Roll out + train + adjudicate first 30 disputes]
  A1[Pull 6 mo of paid commissions] --> A
  A2[Tag every deal: solo / co-sell / transfer / expansion] --> A
  A3[Quantify dispute volume + $ at stake] --> A
  B1[Co-sell splits: 100/100, 75/25, 60/30/10] --> B
  B2[Transfer: 30/60/90 + reorg carve-out] --> B
  B3[Termination: 4 scenarios + 60-day lookback] --> B
  B4[Expansion: split quota + true-expansion definition] --> B
  B5[Dispute SLA: 5 business days, named adjudicator] --> B
  C1[Comp-statement redesign w/ credit breakdown] --> C
  C2[#comp-disputes Slack channel] --> C
  C3[Weekly CRO + CFO + CRO review of open disputes] --> C
```

---

## 6. The Crediting Policy Addendum — What Operator-Grade Documents Contain

### 6.1 Non-negotiable sections

A 2027 best-in-class **Crediting Policy Addendum** to the Sales Compensation Master Plan contains **at minimum**:

- **Definition of "credit"** — distinct from quota retirement, commission, and bonus.
- **Default crediting hierarchy** — who gets credit absent any special case.
- **Co-sell rules** — the 5 patterns, when each applies, who can approve.
- **Deal-transfer rules** — the 30/60/90, reorg carve-out, slip handling.
- **Termination scenarios** — voluntary, involuntary for cause, involuntary not for cause, with 60-day lookback.
- **Expansion vs new logo** — split-quota definition, true-expansion math, edge cases.
- **Dispute process** — who files, who adjudicates, SLA, escalation path.
- **Effective date + amendment process** — and who can amend mid-period (almost no one should).

### 6.2 Who owns it

**RevOps drafts, Sales Comp approves, CFO signs, CRO ratifies, Legal reviews.** Per **Pavilion's 2026 CompPlan Operating Model**, plans owned by **a single role** (most commonly the CRO alone) have **2.3x the dispute volume** of plans with the **5-role RACI**.

### 6.3 Versioning and red-line discipline

Plans should be **versioned annually** with a **mid-year amendment window** (typically Q3) for **non-material changes only**. Material changes (rate cuts, quota raises, territory re-cuts) **must be communicated 60 days in advance** per **WorldatWork's 2026 sales-comp ethics standard**.

### 6.4 The audit trail

Every credit decision — especially exceptions to the default — **must be logged with reasoning, approver, and date**. Modern ICM tools (CaptivateIQ, Spiff, QuotaPath, Performio) all support **per-deal audit notes**; **Forma.ai's 2027 crediting platform** auto-generates the audit log from the rules engine.

---

## 7. The 30/60/90 Rollout — From Chaos to Clean Crediting

### 7.1 Days 0–30: Diagnose

- Pull **last 6 months of paid commissions**.
- Tag every deal: **solo / co-sell / transfer / expansion / renewal**.
- Quantify **dispute volume and dollar exposure** — most CROs are shocked.
- Interview **5 AEs, 2 CSMs, 1 SDR manager** about the top crediting frustrations.

### 7.2 Days 31–60: Draft

- Write the **Crediting Policy Addendum** using sections 2–5 above.
- Get **CFO + Legal + Sales Comp + RevOps + CRO** sign-off.
- Build a **dispute-intake form** (Slack-integrated; not email).
- Prepare a **transition memo** to all reps with **specific examples** for their territory.

### 7.3 Days 61–90: Roll out

- Train **every people-manager** on the new rules with **10 worked examples**.
- Adjudicate the **first 30 disputes publicly** in a weekly all-hands so the rules **become real**.
- Update **comp statements** to show **credit breakdown per deal** (closer %, assist %, overlay %).
- Re-baseline **quota attainment** at the new credit reality — most orgs see a **2–4 point shift** in who's "at quota."

---

## FAQ

**Q: If a deal moves from one rep to another mid-quarter because of a territory re-cut, who gets the commission?**
Per the **30/60/90 transfer rule**, the answer depends on **timing relative to close**. If the re-cut happens **>90 days before expected close**, 100% to the receiving rep. **31–90 days**, sliding split. **<30 days**, originating rep keeps 100%. **Critically**, in a re-cut driven by **leadership reorg (not rep performance)**, most operator-grade plans give the **originating rep 100% through end of fiscal period** to protect retention.

**Q: Should we pay higher commission on new logos or expansion?**
**Default: higher on new logos** (10–12% vs 5–7% expansion) because new logos are harder and more strategic. **Exception: if GRR is below 90% or NDR is below 100%**, invert the rates for a fiscal year — pay **12% on expansion, 8% on new logo** — until retention is fixed. **OpenView documented this** for **6 portcos that returned to >110% NDR in 4 quarters**.

**Q: A terminated rep is demanding commission on a deal that closed 45 days after they left. Are we obligated to pay?**
**Depends on three things:** (1) **state of employment** — CA and NY enforce earned-commission rules aggressively; (2) **plan language** — if you have a **60-day lookback clause**, the answer is **yes, at 100%**; if your plan is silent, **procuring-cause doctrine likely applies** and you owe them. Get **employment counsel** before denying. The legal cost of getting this wrong is **5–20x** the disputed commission.

**Q: Two AEs both worked the deal — one sourced, one closed. What's the right split?**
**Default 60/30/10**: closer 60%, sourcer/influencer 30%, overlay (SE, partner) 10%. **If the deal is enterprise + cross-territory + both have a legitimate named-account claim**, escalate to **100/100 double-credit** (Pavilion's pattern). **If it's an SDR-sourced + AE-closed inbound**, the SDR is typically already on **per-SQL or per-meeting payment**, so the AE takes **100%** and the SDR is paid separately.

**Q: How do we handle a deal that churns within 6 months — should we claw back the rep's commission?**
**Yes, and you must have written symmetric clawback policy.** Industry-standard: **100% clawback if churn within 90 days, 50% within 90–180 days, 0% after 180 days**. **Apply the same rule to terminated reps**, or you're exposed to a **labor-law claim under asymmetric-treatment theory**. **CaptivateIQ's 2026 policy library** shows **64% of public SaaS plans** now use this exact structure.

---

## Bottom Line

**Crediting rules are the operating system of revenue.** The companies that win in 2027 **write them down, version them annually, adjudicate disputes within 5 business days, and treat the Crediting Policy Addendum as a living document with five named owners (RevOps, Sales Comp, CFO, CRO, Legal)**. The companies that lose **leave it informal, let the CRO adjudicate alone, and absorb a 8–14% dispute tax** on every variable dollar paid. **Default to: 60/30/10 co-sell, 30/60/90 transfer, 60-day termination lookback, split-quota with 10% new / 5–7% expansion**, and **invert when retention breaks**. Write it down. Train the managers. Adjudicate publicly. Pay on time.

---

## Sources

- **Pavilion Compensation Planning 101** — University curriculum on co-sell defaults, comp-plan RACI, RIF playbook.
- **Bridge Group 2026 SaaS AE Compensation Benchmark** — median OTE $190K, 53/47 split.
- **RepVue Q1 2027 Quota Attainment Data** — 42% AE attainment, enterprise 50–60%.
- **OpenView Partners 2026 GTM Benchmark + NDR Recovery Playbook** — split-quota inversion, post-reorg retention.
- **Insight Partners — ARR & Quota Credit for Non-Standard Renewals and Expansion** — true-expansion math, single-quota trap.
- **SaaStr (Jason Lemkin)** — Series A–C single-quota errors; CRO credit traps on price increases.
- **Force Management 2026 Compensation Standards** — 30/60/90 deal-transfer rule.
- **Clari 2026 Forecast Integrity Playbook** — 45-day slip-handling window.
- **Everstage 2026 Post-Termination Commission Guide + Clawback Best Practices** — procuring-cause, CA/NY/MA enforcement, 60-day lookback adoption data.
- **CaptivateIQ 2026 Commission Policy & Clawback Library** — symmetric clawback enforcement, 64% adoption stat.
- **Alexander Group 2026 Plan Design Audit** — 8–14% dispute volume on unwritten plans, <2% on written.
- **WorldatWork — Double Sales Crediting: When and Why to Apply It** — national/local team quota patterns.
- **Forrester (SiriusDecisions) 2026 Research — Splits or Team Quotas** — pod-model attainment lift, size/base-salary thresholds.
- **Qobra 2026 Split Commission Guide + Forma.ai Sales Crediting Resource Library** — 5 co-sell patterns, ICM rules-engine architecture.

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