The zelfstandigenaftrek alongside a job: why it usually does not work
Alongside a job of 32 hours or more, the zelfstandigenaftrek (the self-employed deduction) is usually out of reach. Besides the 1,225 hours, the urencriterium (the 1,225-hour test) also demands that you spend more time on your business than on your job. That comes to a working week of over 64 hours. The exception is for people who are just starting: in the first years that second condition falls away and 1,225 hours is enough. The deduction itself is €1,200 in 2026, plus €2,123 of startersaftrek (an extra deduction for starters) if you are entitled to it.
This article works it out with an ordinary working week, explains what changes if you are just starting, and shows what you do get as an entrepreneur alongside a job. That is the mkb-winstvrijstelling (a partial exemption of small-business profit) of 12.7% (2026), without the urencriterium. The tax explanation on this page follows Dutch law and is written for Dutch sole proprietorships (eenmanszaak).
This is general information, not tax or legal advice. basestep calculates and explains; you file yourself. If you are unsure about your situation, consult an adviser.
What is the zelfstandigenaftrek, and how much is it in 2026?
A fixed amount you may deduct from your profit before income tax is calculated, if you are an entrepreneur for income tax and meet the urencriterium. In 2026 it is €1,200. The amount has been lowered step by step in recent years and is therefore much smaller than it once was. If you read older articles with amounts of several thousand euros, you are reading about a different time.
If your profit is lower than the deduction, or you have a loss, the unused part is not lost. You may carry it forward over the following nine years, to a year in which your profit is higher than that year’s zelfstandigenaftrek. If you have reached the AOW age (the Dutch state pension age) at the start of the year, you get half.
The startersaftrek is an increase of the zelfstandigenaftrek for people who are just starting: €2,123 in 2026, on top of the €1,200. You get it if you were not an entrepreneur in at least one of the five preceding years and applied the zelfstandigenaftrek no more than twice in that period. Together that is €3,323 off your profit in 2026, if you meet the urencriterium.
- Zelfstandigenaftrek 2026: €1,200, with the urencriterium and entrepreneurship.
- The unused part can be carried forward for nine years; half at AOW age.
- Startersaftrek 2026: €2,123 on top, at most three times in the first five years.
Why is the second condition the stumbling block?
Because the first condition, 1,225 hours a year, is achievable alongside a job and the second is not. About 25 hours a week on your business alongside a job is hard but doable; many makers manage that in evenings and weekends. But the urencriterium also demands that you spend more time on your business than on your other work. If you work 32 hours in employment, you must spend more than 32 hours a week on the business, and then the 1,225 hours were passed long ago.
The condition is meant to reserve the deduction for people for whom the business is the main thing. From that purpose it makes sense; for people who build up a business alongside a job, it is the reason the deduction is out of reach, however hard you work. The article on the urencriterium explains the two conditions in detail.
It is good to know this in advance, and not only when you file your return. If you count on the deduction, you plan your reservation too low; if you know, you calculate without the deduction and are not surprised.
- 1,225 hours alongside a job is hard but achievable.
- More hours than your job is almost impossible alongside a job of 32 hours or more.
- Knowing is planning: calculate without the deduction until you really get it.
The calculation with an ordinary working week
Take a job of 32 hours a week. With holidays and public holidays you come to about 46 working weeks, so about 1,472 hours of employment a year. To meet the second condition, you must spend more than 1,472 hours on your business. That is on average just over 28 hours a week over 52 weeks, or just over 32 hours a week if you also take six weeks off from your business. Altogether that is a working week of 64 hours or more, all year round.
With a job of 24 hours it is different: about 1,104 hours of employment, and then the 1,225 hours for the business is both the first and the second condition. That is about 24 hours a week on the business, which together gives a working week of 48 hours. Hard, but it happens. With a job of 16 hours the second condition is no longer a problem and only the 1,225 hours still matter.
These sums are illustrations with round numbers; your working weeks and holidays determine the real outcome. The mechanism is what counts: the line lies roughly where your job and your business are the same size, and the job must stay below it.
- A 32-hour job: over 1,472 hours of business needed, a working week of 64 hours or more.
- A 24-hour job: 1,225 hours is enough, together a working week of 48 hours.
- A 16-hour job: only the 1,225 hours still count.
What changes if you are just starting?
Then the second condition falls away. If you were not an entrepreneur in one of the five preceding calendar years, you only have to meet the 1,225 hours, however much you work in employment. For a maker who starts alongside a job, that means the zelfstandigenaftrek and the startersaftrek are within reach in the first years, if the 1,225 hours are reached and can be made plausible.
That period is finite. After the starting years the second condition applies after all, and then the question comes back: has the business become the main thing, or does the job stay bigger? It is wise to think about that as early as the second or third year, because the choice to cut back your job has more consequences than just this deduction.
Also note that the urencriterium is an annual test. If you met it in year one and not in year two, you do not get the deduction in year two, not even partly. You may apply the startersaftrek at most three times in the first five years, so a year without it is not necessarily a year lost.
- Starter: only the 1,225 hours count, the job may be bigger.
- Finite: after that the second condition applies after all.
- An annual test; the startersaftrek at most three times in five years.
What do you still get as an entrepreneur, without the urencriterium?
The mkb-winstvrijstelling. If you are an entrepreneur for income tax, 12.7% of your profit in 2026, after deduction of the ondernemersaftrek (the deductions for entrepreneurs), stays outside the tax. No urencriterium applies to it, and it grows with your profit: with a small profit it is small, with a large profit it is large. For people with a well-running business alongside a job, this is the scheme that yields the most.
In addition, the ordinary deduction of costs and the investment deduction (the kleinschaligheidsinvesteringsaftrek, for investments above a threshold) remain available. If you make a loss, you can offset that loss against other income in box 1 (income from work and home), so also against your wages. That last point is a real advantage of being an entrepreneur alongside a job in the start-up years, in which costs are often higher than turnover.
The condition for everything above is that the Belastingdienst (the Dutch tax authority) sees you as an entrepreneur for income tax, and not as someone with resultaat uit overig werk (income from other work). The article on freelancing alongside a job describes the difference and the circumstances that count.
- The mkb-winstvrijstelling: 12.7% (2026) of the profit after ondernemersaftrek, without the urencriterium.
- Cost deduction, investment deduction and offsetting a loss against your wages.
- Condition: an entrepreneur for income tax, not resultaat uit overig werk.
When does it pay to cut back your job?
Not for this deduction. A deduction of €1,200 from your profit saves, depending on your rate, a few hundred euros of tax a year. Working one day less in employment costs a fifth of your wages. If you cut back your job to get the zelfstandigenaftrek, you pay much more for it than you get back. The deduction is a consequence of choosing the business, not a reason for it.
The real question is whether the business yields enough to carry the hours you put into it, and whether you still want to put in those hours alongside a job. The urencriterium is a useful mirror for that: if you are well above the 1,225 hours and feel the job is the smaller part, you have already started to see the business as the main thing. Then it pays to calculate with less employment, with all the consequences: income, pension, security, insurance.
Until that moment the honest calculation is this: calculate without the zelfstandigenaftrek, do include the mkb-winstvrijstelling, and set aside based on what you will really pay. The article on setting money aside explains those three streams.
- Never cut back your job for a deduction of €1,200.
- The criterion as a mirror: has the business become the main thing.
- Until then: calculate without the deduction, with the mkb-winstvrijstelling.
Sources
Checked on 5 September 2026. The amounts are for the year 2026 and come from the Belastingdienst; the calculations are illustrations with round numbers.
Further reading
Three places that connect to this.
From first prompt to tax return.
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