As a self-employed person you undoubtedly hear regularly about "the hour criterion" (urencriterium) and the notorious threshold of 1,225 hours. Anyone who meets it gains access to a number of attractive tax benefits, such as the self-employed persons' allowance. But what exactly counts as "hours spent on the business", and what doesn't? And what if you just miss it? In this article we explain the hour criterion step by step.
Short answer
The hour criterion means that in a calendar year you spend at least 1,225 hours on activities for your business. If you meet that threshold, and are also classified as an entrepreneur for income tax purposes, you qualify for the self-employed persons' allowance and, if you are a starting entrepreneur, possibly also for the starters' allowance. Besides directly billable work, hours spent on administration, acquisition and travel time also count, provided you can plausibly demonstrate that you actually spent them on the business.
What exactly is the hour criterion?
The hour criterion is not a tax in itself, but an eligibility requirement for a number of entrepreneur facilities in income tax. The most important of these is the self-employed persons' allowance, a fixed amount you may deduct from your profit before income tax is calculated. For 2026, the self-employed persons' allowance is 1,200 euros. This amount will fall further in the coming years, which is part of a long-running policy line aimed at treating entrepreneurs and employees more equally for tax purposes.
To apply this allowance, you must meet three conditions. You must be classified as an entrepreneur for income tax purposes, you must spend at least 1,225 hours per calendar year on your business, and you must spend more time on your business than on any other activities, such as a job in paid employment. This last requirement, also known as the "majority criterion", does not apply to starters and to people who were not an entrepreneur in at least one of the five preceding years.
Which hours count?
Many self-employed people underestimate how many hours actually count. It is not just about hours in which you invoice or work at a client's premises. Time you spend on the peripheral matters of your business also counts, as long as you can plausibly demonstrate that it concerns activities for the business. Think of:
- Carrying out assignments for clients
- Administration and keeping up your bookkeeping
- Preparing quotes and invoices
- Acquisition: attracting new clients, networking and maintaining your website
- Travel time to clients or suppliers
- Preparatory work before you actually started, such as market research or writing a business plan
- Courses or training directly related to your business
What does not count is time in which you are available for assignments but factually do nothing, and time you spend on matters unrelated to your business. Simply being "on standby" is therefore not enough: the Tax Authority looks at hours actually spent, not at availability.
Why good hour registration is so important
In an audit by the Tax Authority, you must be able to plausibly demonstrate that you meet the hour criterion. A watertight hour registration is the most important piece of evidence for this. Therefore keep structural track of which hours you spend on which activities, preferably per day or per week, and keep supporting documents such as calendars, travel movements and email correspondence that support your registration. Anyone who only tries to reconstruct the hours afterwards, at the end of the year, runs the risk that the Tax Authority will consider the registration insufficiently substantiated.
A practical example
A self-employed graphic designer works on average 22 hours a week on assignments for clients. In addition, she spends about 4 hours a week on administration and invoicing, and 2 hours on maintaining her portfolio and approaching potential clients. Added up, she reaches 28 hours a week, which on an annual basis, taking holidays into account, comes out comfortably above 1,225 hours. She therefore meets the hour criterion and qualifies for the self-employed persons' allowance, provided she also meets the other conditions.
Another self-employed person combines their business with a part-time job of three days a week in paid employment. He also spends around 1,100 hours a year on his own business. Because he does not reach the 1,225 hours, he misses out on the self-employed persons' allowance for that year, even though he is indeed classified as an entrepreneur for income tax purposes. Had he been a starting entrepreneur within the first five years, it might still have been possible to meet the hour criterion if he had spread or substantiated the hours better, but the number of hours itself remains the hard limit.
Exceptions to the hour criterion
There are a few specific exceptions to the regular rules:
- Pregnancy and childbirth: the period of pregnancy and maternity leave, usually sixteen weeks, counts as if you simply worked your average number of hours, even if you actually did less during that period.
- Occupational disability: for entrepreneurs who receive an occupational disability benefit, such as Wajong, WIA, WAO or WAZ, a reduced hour criterion of 800 hours instead of 1,225 hours applies in certain cases.
- Starting entrepreneurs: for the starters' allowance the same 1,225 hours applies, but you do not need to meet the majority criterion if you were not an entrepreneur in at least one of the preceding five years. You may apply the starters' allowance a maximum of three times in five years.
These exceptions are narrowly defined and the precise application depends heavily on your personal situation, so it is wise to seek targeted advice on this if in doubt.
What should you do as an entrepreneur?
Start on time, not only in December, with structurally keeping track of your hours. Use a fixed system for this, for example hour registration in your bookkeeping software, a spreadsheet or a separate app, and be consistent in how you record hours. Where possible, split your hours by type of activity, so that in the event of an audit you can immediately show what the hours were spent on. If you combine your business with a job in paid employment, keep in mind that, besides the exceptions, you must both reach the 1,225 hours and spend more hours on the business than on the job.
Are you unsure halfway through the year whether you are on track to reach the 1,225 hours? Then make an interim total. That way you still have time to adjust where needed, for example by putting more time into acquisition, rather than finding out in January of the following year that you just missed the threshold.
Frequently asked questions about the hour criterion
Do hours I spend on following a course count towards the hour criterion?
Yes, provided the course or training is directly related to your business and contributes to your professional knowledge or skills as an entrepreneur. A course with no relation whatsoever to your business activities does not in principle count.
What happens if I fall just short of 1,225 hours?
Then you do not meet the hour criterion and you have no entitlement to the self-employed persons' allowance and any starters' allowance for that calendar year. The rest of your entrepreneur status, and for example the SME profit exemption, still simply apply, as those are separate schemes with their own conditions.
Do I have to submit my hour registration to the Tax Authority somewhere?
No, you do not have to send in your hour registration by default with your tax return. However, you must be able to produce the registration if the Tax Authority asks for it during an audit, so keep it carefully together with the rest of your records.
Does travel time to and from clients count towards the hour criterion?
Yes, travel time you make in the context of your business, for example on the way to a client or supplier, in principle counts as hours spent on your business.
Can I still get the self-employed persons' allowance as a self-employed person with a part-time job?
That is possible, provided you both reach the 1,225 hours and spend more time on your business than on your employment, unless you fall under the exception for starters. For many people with a substantial part-time job this is in practice quite a challenge, so careful hour registration is extra important here.
Does the hour criterion apply per general partnership (vof) or for each partner individually?
If you work together with others in a general partnership (vof) or professional partnership (maatschap), the hour criterion of 1,225 hours applies to each partner individually. It is therefore not enough for the business as a whole to make sufficient hours: each partner must reach the threshold themselves to qualify for the self-employed persons' allowance. If one partner works full-time and the other only a limited number of hours, it is quite possible that only the first meets the hour criterion.
The amounts mentioned, including the threshold of 1,225 hours, the self-employed persons' allowance of 1,200 euros and the starters' allowance, are the figures as they apply for 2026. These amounts change regularly due to new tax plans, so always check the current state of affairs if in doubt.
Want to be sure you reach the hour criterion, or need help setting up a watertight hour registration? Take a look at our bookkeeping for the self-employed and sole proprietorships.
Want to know more? See the official information from the Tax Authority and the explanation from the Chamber of Commerce (KVK) about the hour criterion.
