How does the hours criterion (urencriterium) work?
The substantiation lies with you. There is no prescribed form, but there is a burden of proof: you must be able to make it plausible that you worked the hours. Hours records you keep throughout the year are stronger for that than a reconstruction afterwards from your calendar.
The limit is hard and is not applied proportionally. If you are at 1,200 hours, you do not get part of the deduction; you do not get it. That makes the last weeks of the year arithmetically important for anyone who is close.
Special situations exist, such as a reduced criterion during pregnancy and an adjusted treatment in the year you start. If you are in such a situation, that is a question for an adviser and not for a calculation model.
With training there is a line that is often overlooked, and it is sharp. Hours in which you keep existing professional knowledge up to date count: a course on a framework you already use, a trade day, keeping up in your own field. Hours for training towards something new do not count, because that is not work on your business but on your own development towards something else. So record that difference in your hours records, because it is exactly the distinction an audit asks further about.
Where is the hours criterion (urencriterium) in the law?
These legal sources come from the specialist dossiers that were reviewed on 24 August 2026. Mind the difference that becomes large in a dispute: a statutory article next to a value is where that value is found, not a justification for how it applies to your situation.
- Article 3.6 of the Dutch Income Tax Act (Wet IB 2001)describes the urencriterium and names the limit of 1,225 hours; not indexed
The links go to the statutory text on wetten.overheid.nl, in the version that applied on 24 September 2026.
What does basestep do with the hours criterion (urencriterium)?
The tax engine asks whether you meet the criterion and then calculates without the zelfstandigenaftrek if you indicate that you do not. The estimate shows that choice visibly, so you can see what causes it.
All calculations, explanations and signals in basestep are calculation support and instruction, not tax or legal advice. Amounts are estimates based on your own input; the Dutch tax authority (Belastingdienst) sets the assessment.
Where does it go wrong with the hours criterion (urencriterium)?
The two mistakes you run into most often in practice with this term, and what they cost you.
Counting all study hours
Keeping up in your field counts, training for a new profession does not. If you do not record the distinction, you may be unable to substantiate the whole block of training hours at an audit, and then the limit of 1,225 hours suddenly comes close.
Only billable hours count
Acquisition, bookkeeping and training for your business count too. If you only track invoiceable hours, you end up lower than you are allowed to.
Reconstructing afterwards
A reconstruction from your calendar is weaker evidence than records you kept throughout the year. At an audit, that is the difference.
Further reading
Three places this term is tied to, inside this glossary and beyond.