WBSO — R&D Tax Credit

WBSO — R&D Tax Credit

Offers Dutch companies and professionals tax credits to offset payroll costs for qualifying technical and research projects.

WBSO (Wet Bevordering Speur- en Ontwikkelingswerk) is the Dutch government's R&D tax credit program, administered by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZK). The program reduces payroll tax liability for companies and self-employed individuals conducting qualifying technical R&D, covering two categories: development of technically new physical products, production processes, or software; and technical-scientific research of an explanatory nature. WBSO does not disburse cash — it reduces wage-tax remittances in the periods when qualifying R&D is performed.

In 2026, the fixed hourly wage deduction rate for companies is €29 per hour applied to qualifying R&D hours. Self-employed individuals receive a flat annual deduction of €15,979, with a supplementary starter credit of €7,996 for first-time applicants. Applications must be submitted in advance — no retrospective claims are accepted — and companies may submit up to four times per year. The 2026 application window runs on a rolling quarterly basis with a final cut-off of 30 September 2026; the statement deadline for 2025 WBSO declarations was 31 March 2026. Eligibility extends to both corporate entities and individual entrepreneurs conducting R&D activities in the Netherlands.

To apply, companies submit project descriptions through the RVO online portal using eHerkenning authentication. The application must describe the technical novelty of the work and the hours and costs involved. Because the credit is applied against payroll tax due rather than paid as a subsidy, companies with minimal payroll tax liability — including very early pre-revenue startups — should verify their net benefit before planning cash flow around WBSO. The program is sector-agnostic and open to companies of any size operating in the Netherlands.