Businesses relocating to the Isle of Man can access several government-backed incentives, administered through Locate Isle of Man. The two headline schemes are the Financial Assistance Scheme — capital and operating support for businesses in eligible sectors that are starting up, expanding or relocating — and the Employee Relocation Incentive, a grant towards the first-year salary of a relocating employee in a role that can't be filled locally. There is also a National Insurance Holiday scheme, though its eligibility has narrowed. The amounts are not fixed: the Financial Assistance Scheme is awarded case by case and linked to job creation, and the Employee Relocation Incentive is capped at £10,000 per position but otherwise assessed individually. These terms change, so confirm the current position with Locate Isle of Man before you budget around them. What follows is a plain guide to what's on offer and how the practical side of moving actually works.
What financial support is available for businesses moving to the Isle of Man?
The Island actively wants to attract businesses, and it backs that with money rather than marketing. Support is administered by Locate Isle of Man, the relocation arm of the Isle of Man Department for Enterprise, a single point of contact for incoming companies and people.
The incentives fall into a few buckets:
- Capital and operating grants for the business itself, through the Financial Assistance Scheme.
- A grant towards relocating key staff, through the Employee Relocation Incentive.
- A National Insurance Holiday for qualifying new residents, where eligibility currently applies.
- The tax backdrop — a 0% standard company rate and no Capital Gains Tax or Inheritance Tax — which isn't an "incentive" you apply for, but is a large part of the reason businesses move here.
None of these are automatic. Each is assessed against eligibility criteria, and the figures are reviewed periodically. Treat the sections below as a map of what exists, not a quote — the amounts depend on your sector, your plans and the current terms set by Locate Isle of Man.
The Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS)
The Financial Assistance Scheme is the main grant route for businesses. It offers support towards capital and operating costs for companies in eligible sectors that are setting up, expanding or relocating to the Island. The point of it is to encourage genuine economic activity, so awards are tied to outcomes — particularly job creation on-Island.
What it deliberately is not is a fixed percentage or a published cap you can read off a table. There is no flat rate to quote here. Each application is assessed on its own merits — the sector, the scale of investment, the number and quality of jobs created — and the level of support is decided case by case. That makes it genuinely useful for a serious relocation, but it also means anyone promising a specific FAS figure before you've applied is guessing.
Eligibility centres on the sector and on the economic benefit to the Island, so the first practical step is checking whether your activity qualifies. Locate Isle of Man assesses this directly, and the criteria are the kind of thing that gets refreshed, so it's worth confirming current eligibility with them rather than relying on a second-hand summary.
Thinking about whether your sector qualifies and what the move would actually cost to run? We can talk it through before you commit to anything.
The Employee Relocation Incentive (ERI)
Moving a business often means moving the people who run it, and that's where the Employee Relocation Incentive comes in. It's a grant towards a relocating employee's first-year net salary, capped at £10,000 per position. It's aimed at roles that can't be filled from the local labour market — so it supports bringing in genuine skills the Island doesn't already have, rather than subsidising jobs a resident could do.
A few practical points define how it works:
- It's paid in arrears, not up front — the position has to be filled and the employee in place.
- A minimum salary applies, so it's geared towards skilled, properly-paid roles.
- It covers a percentage of the first-year salary up to the £10,000 ceiling — and that percentage, along with the minimum-salary threshold, is set by Locate Isle of Man and is exactly the kind of figure that changes.
So the honest version is this: the £10,000-per-position cap is the number to plan around, but don't bank on a specific percentage or salary floor without checking. Those terms are set by Locate Isle of Man and reviewed from time to time, so confirm the current position before you build them into a hiring budget.
What other support is there?
Beyond the two headline grants, there's a National Insurance Holiday scheme, which has at points offered qualifying new residents a period of relief on National Insurance contributions. The important caveat is that its eligibility has narrowed, so rather than repeat a figure that may no longer apply, the right move is to check the current criteria directly with Locate Isle of Man. It may still be relevant to your situation — but only the live eligibility rules will tell you.
Then there's the tax backdrop, which sits underneath all of the above. The Island's standard company tax rate is 0% (10% applies to banking and retail profits over £500,000, and 20% to Isle of Man land and property income), and there is no Capital Gains Tax, no Inheritance Tax and no stamp duty. Personal income tax runs at 10% and 21%, with a cap on the total an individual pays. None of this is something you apply for — it's simply the environment a relocated business operates in. We cover how it fits together in our guide to Isle of Man tax, and the wider move to the Isle of Man hub pulls the tax and relocation picture together.
One honest note worth making: moving to the Island doesn't automatically remove every UK obligation. UK Inheritance Tax, for instance, can still reach UK-situated assets and people who remain UK-domiciled. A relocation is a strong position, not a magic switch — which is exactly why the set-up is worth getting right.
How do you actually access these incentives?
The grants are applied for, not granted on arrival. The route runs through Locate Isle of Man and the Department for Enterprise, who assess eligibility, talk through your plans and handle the formal applications. They are the people to start with, and they're set up to make first contact easy.
Where the work really lands, though, is everything alongside the grant application: incorporating or registering under Isle of Man company law, getting your tax and National Insurance position right, setting up payroll for relocated staff (so an Employee Relocation Incentive claim is clean when it's paid in arrears), and staying compliant from day one. That's where a local partner earns its keep — we handle the back office so you can concentrate on getting the business running.
We've built that kind of foundation before — including taking on a residential estate that arrived with no usable accounts and constructing five years of historical records from scratch, then running its bookkeeping and IT day to day. Relocating is a tidier version of the same job: get the systems right at the start and the rest is far less painful.
For the wider picture of moving a business here — the steps, the timeline and the decisions — our guide to moving your business to the Isle of Man is the place to start, and if it's the people moving too, see work permits and residency.
Planning a move and want the set-up, payroll and compliance handled so your grant claims run smoothly? Tell us where you're headed and we'll map out the practical side.
Frequently asked questions
What grants are available for businesses moving to the Isle of Man? The two headline schemes are the Financial Assistance Scheme (capital and operating support for eligible sectors, awarded case by case and linked to job creation) and the Employee Relocation Incentive (a grant towards a relocating employee's first-year salary, capped at £10,000 per position). A National Insurance Holiday scheme also exists, though its eligibility has narrowed. All are administered by Locate Isle of Man, and current terms should be confirmed with them.
What is the Financial Assistance Scheme? It's the Island's main business grant, offering support towards capital and operating costs for companies in eligible sectors that are starting up, expanding or relocating. There's no fixed percentage or published cap — awards are assessed individually and tied to job creation, so the level of support depends on your specific plans.
How much is the Employee Relocation Incentive? It's a grant towards a relocating employee's first-year net salary, capped at £10,000 per position, for roles that can't be filled locally. It's paid in arrears and a minimum salary applies. The exact percentage of salary it covers and the salary threshold are set by Locate Isle of Man and can change, so confirm the current terms before relying on them.
Is it worth relocating a business to the Isle of Man? For many businesses, yes — the combination of grant support, a 0% standard company tax rate and no Capital Gains or Inheritance Tax is a genuinely strong proposition. The caveat is that the benefit depends on your sector, your structure and getting the set-up and ongoing compliance right, and a move doesn't automatically cancel every UK obligation. It's worth taking advice tailored to your situation.
