Business Development Incentives

Grow your business in Nova Scotia

Whether starting or expanding a business, Nova Scotia has incentives to meet your needs. Give your company a financial boost by putting down roots in one of the best places in North America to invest. Sector specific incentives are outlined in the industry profiles.

Workforce incentives and programs

Payroll Rebate: This is a performance-based, financial incentive offered to qualified companies expanding or locating in Nova Scotia. The Payroll Rebate offers a return on a company’s eligible gross payroll, helping to save on eligible payroll expenses.

Workplace Innovation and Productivity Skills Incentive (WIPSI): This program provides eligible employers with a funding incentive to invest in employee skills through workforce training.

Graduate to Opportunity (GTO): The GTO is a two-year program that provides salary contributions to employers with less than 100 employees to offset the cost of hiring a recent graduate. As an eligible employer, you could receive 25% of the graduate’s annual salary in year one, and 12.5% of the graduate’s annual salary in year two.

Innovate to Opportunity (ITO): The ITO is a three-year program that provides salary contributions to small-to-medium sized businesses to offset the cost of hiring recent graduates with advanced (masters or doctoral) degrees for permanent, full-time jobs that are focused on innovation and export.

Strategic Co-op Education Incentive: This incentive provides wage assistance to private sector, government-funded, and non-profit organizations offering career-related work experiences for university and community college co-operative students. 

Atlantic Immigration Program: The Atlantic Immigration Program is a pathway to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers and international graduates from a Canadian institution who want to work and live in 1 of Canada’s 4 Atlantic provinces—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland and Labrador. The program helps employers hire qualified candidates for jobs they haven’t been able to fill locally.

The Nova Scotia Experience: Express Entry: Selects highly skilled individuals who wish to live in Nova Scotia permanently. Applicants must have at least one year of experience working in Nova Scotia in an occupation at TEER category 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the National Occupational Classification.

Capital incentives

Innovation Rebate Program: This program provides financial incentives on projects that enable Nova Scotia businesses to increase innovation capacity through private-sector capital investments or adoption of new technologies and business processes. The Innovation Rebate Program works as a rebate against a company’s direct costs.

Capital Investment Tax Credit (CITC): A refundable corporate tax credit that can be claimed for capital costs directly related to acquiring qualified property for use in Nova Scotia as part of an approved project. The tax credit is 25% of the capital cost of acquired qualified property minus related government assistance. The maximum tax credit available for each approved project is $100 million across the duration of the project.

Nova Scotia Innovation Equity Tax Credit: The Innovation Equity Tax Credit (Innovation ETC) is a non-refundable personal and corporate income tax credit available to eligible investors who invest in approved corporations.

Research & innovation incentives

Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Program: This program provides tax incentives to encourage research and development in Canada. Administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), it is the largest single source of federal government support for industrial research and development.  

Nova Scotia Research and Development Tax Credit: This incentive mirrors the federal program, and provides an additional 15% tax credit to Nova Scotia corporations that incur qualified SR&ED expenditures made in Nova Scotia, as defined by the federal Income Tax Act. 

Atlantic Innovation Fund: This program aims to increase Atlantic Canada’s innovation capacity by funding R&D projects linked to the commercialization of technology-based products, processes or services.

Canadian Technology Accelerators: Are you a high-potential, high-growth Canadian company? Do you have a market-ready technology or product? Join a Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) to explore opportunities to grow your business in 12 global tech hubs worldwide. There’s no cost to join, other than your travel and accommodation.

Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP): Provides advice, connections, and funding to help Canadian small and medium-sized businesses increase their innovation capacity and take ideas to market.

DOWNLOAD FACT SHEET: 
Do Your Research and Development in Canada. It Pays Off!

Digital media incentives

Digital Media Tax Credit: It offers a refundable tax credit of up to 50% for costs directly related to the development of interactive digital media products.  

Digital Animation Tax Credit: This refundable tax credit applies to costs directly related to the development of digital animation in Nova Scotia.

Whether starting, relocating, or expanding a business, we have the work force to meet your needs.