APPLICATION PROCESS · RVO
You apply for WBSO in advance with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Per R&D project you describe what you are technically developing or researching, which technical bottlenecks or uncertainties you are solving, which activities you carry out and how many R&D hours you expect. A technically concrete project description is decisive for the assessment.
CURRENT DEADLINE 2026
Still applying for WBSO in 2026?
Submit by 30 September 2026 at the latest for the final application period of 2026. Under time pressure, an informal application can be relevant.
Companies with staff can apply for WBSO for R&D activities carried out by their own employees. Self-employed professionals can also apply for WBSO. For the R&D deduction, a self-employed professional must realise at least 500 R&D hours in the calendar year and also meet the fiscal hours criterion of 1,225 hours.
The activities must concern a development project or technical scientific research. Do you first want to determine whether your company and project meet the requirements? Then see the WBSO requirements.
RVO distinguishes development projects for technically new products, production processes or software, and projects for technical scientific research.
Prepare both the company details and the technical project information. With this checklist you prevent the application from getting stuck while writing:
✓ Company
Company details and any starter details.
✓ Project
What are you going to technically develop or research?
✓ Bottlenecks
Why is the goal not achievable with known or standard technology?
✓ Solution directions
Which technical routes are you going to develop and test yourself?
✓ Activities
Which concrete R&D activities are you going to carry out?
✓ Hours
A realistic estimate of the R&D hours per project.
✓ Costs/expenditures
The allowance or, if applicable, actual costs and expenditures.
✓ Identification
At least eHerkenning level 3; with an intermediary also a chain authorisation.
Apply for eH3 and the chain authorisation in good time. According to RVO, delivery can take several weeks. An attachment may support the application, but does not replace the answers in the application form.
Source: RVO WBSO Guide 2026.
A good application follows a technical line of reasoning. Work through the steps in this order, so that goal, bottleneck, solution direction, activities and budget connect.
Do not start with the full innovation project, but determine which part truly constitutes technical development work or technical scientific research. Commercial development, implementation, regular engineering and applying existing techniques are not automatically R&D.
In a development project, it is about technical uncertainty and a solution whose operating principle is not yet established. View the WBSO requirements →
A technical bottleneck is not the same as a functional wish. “The system must become faster” does not yet say why existing technology falls short.
More concretely: With growing datasets, processing time increases exponentially because the current data structure compares every new query against the full dataset. Within the available memory and latency limits, no usable implementation is therefore possible.
RVO wants to look under the technical bonnet. Therefore describe cause, technical limit and uncertainty — not only the desired business result. Read about technical novelty for WBSO →
Explain which technically new solution directions you investigate or develop yourself. A strong application describes not only the problem and end product, but above all the technical development path in between.
For example, name an architecture, material choice, algorithmic approach, control strategy or construction, and explain why it is uncertain in advance whether it works. View the WBSO project description →
Make a realistic estimate per project of the hours your own employees spend on qualifying R&D activities. Do not automatically include all project hours: sales, project management, routine engineering, implementation and other non-technical activities usually fall outside the R&D hours.
With the first application of the calendar year, a withholding agent chooses, where applicable, between the allowance and actual R&D costs and expenditures. That choice applies to all applications in that calendar year. So calculate the consequences in advance.
WBSO costs and expenditures → · Calculate the WBSO benefit →
You submit digitally via RVO's application portal. This requires at least eH3. If you work with an intermediary, a chain authorisation is also required. RVO then checks completeness and technical content and may ask additional questions.
A convincing project description follows a verifiable technical logic:
We are developing an AI platform that processes documents faster.
With strongly varying document structures, the current segmentation method does not give sufficiently stable object boundaries. We are therefore investigating our own preprocessing and classification chain in which multiple segmentation scores are dynamically weighted. It is uncertain in advance whether sufficient accuracy is achievable within the required computing time.
The second example shows what does not work technically, which own route is being explored and what was uncertain beforehand. Precisely that technical information is what RVO needs to assess the project. Read more: writing a good WBSO project description.
Not sure whether your development work qualifies for the WBSO?
Peter Klaren personally assesses your rough project description. Free and without obligation — within one working day you receive an initial indication of the WBSO opportunities in your project and your next step.
Get my free WBSO checkWhat does such a translation from technology to application look like? In our worked-out, anonymised example dossiers you will see per project: the original situation, the technical problem solved, your own solution direction and the translation into the application.
Machine positioning
Positioning down to sensor tolerance.
Matching algorithm
Why brute-force matching did not scale technically.
Bio-based extrusion
A process principle that first had to be proven.
Crystallisation research
From unexplained phenomenon to explanatory research.
Anonymised, composite dossiers — not literal client cases.
You always apply for WBSO in advance. For employers, a minimum application period of three months applies; as a result, 30 September is the final regular submission date for the October–December period. For the self-employed, the period starts on the day of submission and runs up to and including 31 December. More on the scheme for self-employed professionals: WBSO for self-employed professionals.
| Situation | Latest moment |
|---|---|
| Employer – start next month | Last day of the preceding month |
| Employer – start 1 January | By 20 December at the latest |
| Self-employed | Period starts on the day of submission |
| Final application period of the calendar year | By 30 September at the latest |
Have you decided to apply for WBSO, but is there insufficient time to complete the full technical application before the deadline? Then an informal application can offer a solution. You subsequently complete the substantive application.
Please note: if you ultimately do not want to proceed with the informal application, withdraw it. Otherwise, for withholding agents it counts towards the maximum of four applications per calendar year.
An informal application safeguards a submission moment, but is no replacement for strong technical substantiation. Therefore agree in advance what you submit directly and when you supplement. Source: RVO WBSO Guide 2026.
RVO first checks whether your application is complete. An adviser with technical knowledge of the field then assesses, among other things, the nature of the activities, the technical content and any costs and expenditures.
If the project description contains insufficient information, RVO may ask additional questions. Upon award, you receive a decision with an R&D declaration (S&O-verklaring) listing the approved projects, hours and any costs or expenditures.
Processing can take longer when RVO is waiting for answers or supplements. Follow-up in the customer journey: WBSO additional questions letter · objection against a WBSO decision · WBSO administration.
Source: RVO WBSO Guide 2026.
You can submit a WBSO application yourself via RVO. With relatively simple projects and sufficient experience with the scheme, that can be a perfectly fine choice.
A specialist can mainly add value when technical novelty is hard to delineate, multiple projects or entities are involved, software development must be substantiated, sizeable costs or investments are declared, or RVO asks additional technical questions.
Klaren Subsidieadvies maps the projects together with your technical staff, translates the technical development into the WBSO framework, drafts the application and guides any questions from RVO.
Have your project assessed before submission
You will receive an initial indication of the WBSO opportunities in your project and your next step. Are there possibilities? Then we schedule a short intake — this is also free of obligation.
No. WBSO must be applied for in advance; activities from before the application period do not count.
Yes, but only for future R&D activities within the requested period. Previously carried out activities remain out of scope.
Withholding agents can submit a maximum of four applications per calendar year. There is no maximum for the self-employed.
Yes. One application may contain multiple R&D projects.
Yes, at least eH3. If an intermediary submits the application, a chain authorisation is also required.
The statutory period depends on the type of applicant and the choice between allowance or actual costs and expenditures. Additional questions can extend the processing time.
Yes, in certain situations you can submit an extra application, for example for a new project or when you expect more hours. The annual maximum of four applications applies to withholding agents.
Then an informal application can be relevant. You supplement it substantively later; withdraw it if you do not proceed.
Substantively checked by Peter Klaren
WBSO specialist · Last substantive check: 19 September 2026 · Primary source: RVO WBSO Guide 2026
Looking ahead to 2027? See Applying for WBSO for 2027 → with announced rates, the proposed hourly amount of € 33 and the application deadlines.
SOURCES AND SUBSTANTIVE REVIEW
Reviewed by Peter Klaren, WBSO specialist since 2004. Last substantively updated: 21 September 2026.
