Joan Muyskenweg 22, 3 hoog
October 21, 2025
Country: Netherlands (NL)
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The Netherlands’ R&D Tax Relief Regime
October 9, 2025
Overview of R&D Tax Relief in the Netherlands
The Netherlands has a strong innovation-friendly tax regime designed to support businesses conducting research and development activities. The two most important tax incentives for R&D in the Netherlands are the WBSO (Wet Bevordering Speur- en Ontwikkelingswerk) program and the Innovation Box. Together, they help companies lower the cost of R&D by reducing their tax burden, providing tax credits, and offering tax exemptions on income derived from innovative activities.
WBSO (R&D Tax Credit)
The WBSO program provides direct tax relief on R&D expenses, effectively lowering the effective labour costs associated with R&D activities. This is the most common R&D tax incentive in the Netherlands and is available to both small and large companies involved in technological or scientific research.
