1,225 hours in a calendar year is the usual Dutch business-hours test for deductions such as zelfstandigenaftrek. In addition, the entrepreneur generally must spend more time on the business than on other work, unless they were not an entrepreneur in at least one of the previous five years. Belastingdienst states both tests and the exception.
Count business work, not just client invoices
Billable tasks, administration, business marketing and qualifying professional work can count when genuinely devoted to the enterprise. Keep contemporaneous diaries, calendars or job records. Private activity does not become business time by taking place at a desk. If the enterprise operates for only part of the year, the 1,225-hour floor is still generally a full-year number; it is not automatically prorated.
A numerically coherent job-and-business case
Lotte works 30 hours each week as an employee and 26 hours on her enterprise for 48 weeks. Business hours are 26×48=1,248, so she clears 1,225. Employee hours are 30×48=1,440; her business time is less than other work, so she may fail the second test unless the new-entrepreneur exception applies.
Pregnancy and disability are different
If a qualifying entrepreneur interrupts work due to pregnancy, Belastingdienst allows missed hours during a total of 16 weeks to count as worked hours toward the usual test. The separate 800-hour lowered threshold belongs to a special disability-related starter deduction with its own conditions, not a blanket pregnancy shortcut. Record the qualifying period and verify the relevant deduction before filing. The accompanying chart is a sample 1,225-hour activity allocation, not official national statistics.
