R&D tax credit (WBSO)

What is the WBSO scheme?

The WBSO R&D tax credit scheme basically means businesses pay lower wage tax and lower national insurance contributions, and self-employed entrepreneurs can deduct an (annually set) fixed amount for R&D when filing their income tax return. Startups are given extra compensation for R&D work. 2 types of projects are supported:

development projects of (parts of) technically new physical products, physical production processes or software
technical-scientific research

When do you qualify?

If you want to apply for the WBSO R&D tax credit your company and your project have to meet certain requirements.

Eligible companies are:

entrepreneurs who are subject to income tax and meet the Tax Administration’s hours criterion. They must spend at least 500 hours on R&D per calendar year.
entrepreneurs who are subject to income tax and who have employees who do research and development work
companies subject to corporate income tax (such as private and public limited companies) with employees doing research and development work

Public knowledge institutions are not eligible for the WBSO

Conditions for R&D projects

Your R&D project must meet several conditions, such as:

you develop a product, production process, software programme or perform technical scientific research
your project develops a technically new product
your research or development project is done within the EU
you solve technical problems yourself or, in case of technical scientific research, you seek an explanation for a phenomenon

If you are self-employed and you employ staff who carry out research and development, you can apply R&D tax credit for your own R&D hours as well as for those of your employees.

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency's (RVO) website offers more information on the conditions for the WBSO and lists WBSO publications.

How to apply?

To see if you are eligible for R&D tax credit, you can use the WBSO Quickscan. To find out how much tax credit you are entitled to, read more about the calculation of the tax credit benefit.

You can submit your application (in Dutch) to RVO via the online application portal eLoket (in Dutch) using eHerkenning (eRecognition) (assurance level 2+). You can apply for R&D tax credit at any time. You must however always submit an application in advance. Read more about the WBSO application process.

For more information on the R&D tax credit (WBSO) see the Tax and Customs Administration's Payroll Tax Allowances.

If you have a Message Box account, you may want to receive your WBSO orders digitally.