CRA treats the provision of know-how as the supply of intangible personal property rather than a service for HST/GST purposes

CRA has ruled that the provision of know-how by a resident supplier to an unregistered non-resident constituted a supply of intangible personal property that qualified for zero-rating. This is inconsistent with some (but not all) of the income tax jurisprudence characterizing the provision of know-how as a service rather than a licensing or disposition of property.

Although the provision of services to a non-resident also potentially is zero-rated, there are differences in the two zero-rating rules.  For example, the supply here (viewed as a supply of intangible personal property) would not have been zero-rated if the non-resident had been registered for HST purposes.

Neal Armstrong.  Summary of 14 February 2012 Ruling 99181 under ETA Sched. VI, Part V s. 10.1.