WBSO hours registration: Fast, clear and RVO-proof

Want to set up your WBSO time registration quickly, clearly and RVO-proof? We take you through how to do this! You have submitted the WBSO (Wet Bevordering Speur- en Ontwikkelingswerk) application yourself or in cooperation with your intermediary and successfully received confirmation of approval from the RVO (National Office for Enterprising Holland). You can now start working on the approved R&D project.

But during the project you need to adhere to a number of administrative requirements that have been drawn up from the RVO. Consider these as the conditions for the approved WBSO application. One of these requirements is the hour registration. Subsidie Op Maat takes you through how you can set up your WBSO hour registration quickly, clearly and according to RVO guidelines.

Some rules of thumb when it comes to WBSO hours registration:

• The way of recording is free for the recipient of the R&D. So this can be in an Excel sheet, your own time recording program or even just on paper.
  
• Hours records for an R&D project should be kept for at least 7 years after a project is completed.
  
• Hours incurred must be recorded in the timesheets within ten working days.
  
• Only employees on their own payroll can log hours.
  
• A registration of more than 8 hours per day is only possible if the extra hours are actually paid. If the company uses a time-for-time compensation for all hours worked in excess of 8 per day, you can therefore register a maximum of 8 hours per day in the WBSO time registration.
  
• Within an R&D statement, you may shift R&D hours between projects. For example, if you spend less time on a project, you may transfer the remaining hours from that project to one or more other approved R&D projects that require more hours in the same fiscal year.
  
• The RFO uses an FTE guideline of 1,750 working hours per year. So if you register more hours, this will raise questions from the RFO.

• Finally; do not record R&D hours on sick and/or leave days. You can get a cross-check during a WBSO audit where your business records are laid next to your WBSO records.

Keeping track of operations

Make it easy on yourself by updating the WBSO administration on a regular basis, for example weekly. This will prevent confusion about what took place, when, and in which project when different activities are mixed up. Each participant in the project is free to keep their own WBSO time records.

The RFO does not require this to be done by one project manager. We advise to keep the time registration centralized, and thus to have it done by one person for the entire project. Determine in advance of the project who fulfills which role. By registering the WBSO hours centrally, you reduce the chance of noise, differences in interpretation or forgetting to document project hours.

WBSO hours administration

The WBSO administration therefore records on which days which employee performed R&D. But also how many hours per day this has cost. The combination of keeping track of the activities with the corresponding hours ensures that you have a correct and RVO-proof WBSO time registration.

We recommend that the participant also register the hours not related to the WBSO by project. This will prevent blind spots in the registration of hours. For these "non-project hours" you are not required to indicate what the work was during this time.

After hours have been spent on the WBSO project by one of the project members, they should be registered in the project administration within 10 working days. That is why we advise to update the administration on a weekly basis. In this weekly project administration also mention when a project member has been ill and/or has taken leave.

The time registration does not have to be sent to the RFO. However, the WBSO time registration must be available if the RFO wishes to conduct an audit. The RFO has made an Excel template available which meets all conditions when it comes to the WBSO time registration. Use this document to work quickly, clearly and according to the guidelines. If you have any questions about registering hours on a WBSO project please contact us. Subsidie Op Maat supports the entire process from WBSO application to administration.