Knowledge base
Answers about hours, R&D credits, invoices and mileage
How to keep hours that add up, what Dutch regulators ask for and how to invoice without retyping. Every article starts with the short answer.
Time tracking
Tracking hours, leave and mileage: what the rules ask and what you do each day.
- What is automatic time tracking, and how automatic is it really? Capturing signals versus deciding: which sources exist, why you confirm, and what stays private.
- Tracking hours: spreadsheet, timer or app? Paper, Excel, timer or automatic: honest pros and cons and the columns you actually need.
- How do you measure productivity without monitoring your employees? Why monitoring backfires, and which team-level numbers actually say something about productivity.
- Mileage log and mileage allowance in the Netherlands: what do you need to record in 2026? What the Dutch tax office wants in a mileage log, the 500 km rule, 2026 car benefit and the €0.25 allowance.
- The Dutch hours criterion: how do you track 1,225 hours and prove them? What counts towards 1,225 hours, how to prove it, and why your non-billable hours are usually the gap.
- Recording leave in the Netherlands: what does the law say and how do you set it up? Dutch statutory leave, expiry dates, what to keep and a simple route from request to record.
Approval and invoicing
From logged hours to an invoice that adds up.
- What are billable hours, and how do you calculate your utilisation? What counts as billable, how to calculate your utilisation, and where billable time quietly leaks away.
- How do you approve timesheets before invoicing? Who approves hours, what to check, how to decline with a reason and which pitfalls to avoid.
- How do you create an invoice from logged hours? From timesheet to invoice: period, grouping, breakdown, what not to invoice and avoiding double invoicing.
WBSO and R&D hours
What the Netherlands Enterprise Agency asks of your hour records, and how to keep it up.
- What is the WBSO, and what does RVO expect from your hour records? Who can use the Dutch R&D tax credit, the 2026 numbers, and what RVO expects from your hour and project records.
- How do you keep WBSO hour records that hold up in an audit? Per employee, per project, per day: how to keep R&D hours so they match your project records.
- How do you describe WBSO hours? Examples from weak to better Weak and better descriptions for software, products and processes, and how to write down technical problems.
- What mistakes do companies make in their WBSO hour records? Eight mistakes that stand out in a WBSO audit, and what to do about each one.
- WBSO for software teams: how do you back up development hours with commits and AI sessions? What counts for software teams, and how commits, pull requests and AI sessions back up your WBSO hours.
- Can you track WBSO hours automatically? What you can automate for WBSO hours, what a person still decides, and how to set it up in Half5.
AI and MCP
Logging time from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, and what happens to your data.
- What is MCP, and why can your AI assistant suddenly log your hours? The open standard behind AI assistants that work with your software, explained in plain language.
- How do you let Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor log your hours? Connecting your assistant, example prompts, what happens after logging and the habits that prevent mistakes.
- How does log_work, the MCP tool an agent uses to log your hours in Half5, work? The fields, the four outcomes, how Half5 picks the client and what the other five tools do.
- What does an AI agent share when it logs your hours, and how do you keep that limited? What an agent sends, what the AI provider and Half5 see, and how you manage consent and memory.
By industry
What makes time tracking hard in your trade, and what helps.
- How should an accounting or bookkeeping firm set up its time tracking? Short advice, peak seasons and fixed fees: how to track hours per client without working late.
- How do lawyers track time per matter, including the short client contacts? Per matter, down to the minute: short contacts, billing units, fee specifications and confidentiality.
- How do installers keep track of hours, job sheets and drives without evening paperwork? Job sheets, travel time, urgent call-outs and van drives: how an installation business keeps its hours straight.
- How do developers and software teams track hours without reconstructing the week on Friday? Context switches, support questions, commits, AI sessions and fixed prices: time tracking that fits how developers work.
- How does a marketing, creative or consulting agency keep project hours under control? Retainers, revision rounds and scope creep: see in time where the budget is going.
Integrations
Hours into your accounting package, without retyping.
- How do I invoice my hours in Moneybird? Set up contacts, ledger accounts and VAT, and get approved hours into Moneybird as draft invoices.
- How do I invoice my hours in Exact Online? Set up accounts, revenue GL accounts and VAT, and get approved hours into Exact Online as draft invoices.
- How do I invoice my hours in WeFact? Set up debtors and VAT, and get approved hours into WeFact as draft invoices you can send.
- How do I invoice my hours in e-Boekhouden? Set up relations and ledger accounts, and turn approved hours into e-Boekhouden invoices, without a draft stage there.
