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Biscuit

Biscuit

Native Creative
Jul 8, 2003
22,277
Brighton
Del Boy said:
is a jaffa cake a biscuit or a cake?
Click to expand...

Dear Mr Boy,

As I have stated many times Jaffa Cakes are cakes, as the name suggests and contrary to the claims of HM Customs and Excise, who argued that they were biscuits. This was not an exercise in pedantry but an attempt to levy VAT on them: cakes are `food' and zero rated, while biscuits are `luxury items', and attract 17.5% tax. (Note that the McVities Jaffa Cake web site calls them `biscuits' anyway....)

The matter was settled with this test: a cake starts off soft and goes hard when it is stale, but a biscuit starts off hard and goes soft when stale. Jaffa Cakes harden when stale.

I can't find a proper report of the case, but it's consistently described on the web and I'm happy that the above is right.


Please read the following for further examples.

silicon.com:
The matter was settled over ten years ago by a VAT tribunal in a very expensive case. McVities argued that they were indeed cakes (and hence zero-rated for VAT), while HM Customs and Excise argued that they were biscuits and hence subject to 17.5 per cent VAT. McVities won the case, primarily because biscuits are hard when fresh and soft when stale whereas cakes are soft when fresh and hard when stale; Jaffa Cakes, of course, fall into the latter category. I have a recollection that McVities also baked a cake-sized Jaffa Cake for the tribunal chairman to support their legal arguments. God, I should get out more...

South China Post:
Chocolate biscuits are defined as luxury items, so liable to the tax, while cakes are basic foodstuffs and zero-rated. McVities argued that a Jaffa Cake is just that.

The famous case ended up centring on how Jaffa Cakes aged. The firm argued that a biscuit was hard when fresh and soft when stale. Jaffa Cakes, in contrast, went from soft to hard. The company won.

Solicitors:
The `when is a cake not a cake?' riddle was solved some years ago and related to Jaffa Cakes. A Jaffa Cake was found to be a cake, not a biscuit, and therefore outside the confectionery exception.


Thank you for your time.

Mr Biscuit,
 


K

Kryten

New member
Dec 20, 2003
2,360
Here, there and every where
Biscuit said:
Dear Mr Boy,

As I have stated many times Jaffa Cakes are cakes, as the name suggests and contrary to the claims of HM Customs and Excise, who argued that they were biscuits. This was not an exercise in pedantry but an attempt to levy VAT on them: cakes are `food' and zero rated, while biscuits are `luxury items', and attract 17.5% tax. (Note that the McVities Jaffa Cake web site calls them `biscuits' anyway....)

The matter was settled with this test: a cake starts off soft and goes hard when it is stale, but a biscuit starts off hard and goes soft when stale. Jaffa Cakes harden when stale.

I can't find a proper report of the case, but it's consistently described on the web and I'm happy that the above is right.


Please read the following for further examples.

silicon.com:
The matter was settled over ten years ago by a VAT tribunal in a very expensive case. McVities argued that they were indeed cakes (and hence zero-rated for VAT), while HM Customs and Excise argued that they were biscuits and hence subject to 17.5 per cent VAT. McVities won the case, primarily because biscuits are hard when fresh and soft when stale whereas cakes are soft when fresh and hard when stale; Jaffa Cakes, of course, fall into the latter category. I have a recollection that McVities also baked a cake-sized Jaffa Cake for the tribunal chairman to support their legal arguments. God, I should get out more...

South China Post:
Chocolate biscuits are defined as luxury items, so liable to the tax, while cakes are basic foodstuffs and zero-rated. McVities argued that a Jaffa Cake is just that.

The famous case ended up centring on how Jaffa Cakes aged. The firm argued that a biscuit was hard when fresh and soft when stale. Jaffa Cakes, in contrast, went from soft to hard. The company won.

Solicitors:
The `when is a cake not a cake?' riddle was solved some years ago and related to Jaffa Cakes. A Jaffa Cake was found to be a cake, not a biscuit, and therefore outside the confectionery exception.


Thank you for your time.

Mr Biscuit,
Click to expand...

:jester:
 
































E

Ezekiel Rowe

New member
Apr 23, 2004
91
Biscuit said:
I have a recollection that McVities also baked a cake-sized Jaffa Cake for the tribunal chairman to support their legal arguments. God, I should get out more...
Click to expand...


Isn't that a contradiction? A normal jaffa isn't cake sized, so it isn't a cake....and what defines cake size.
 


Biscuit

Biscuit

Native Creative
Jul 8, 2003
22,277
Brighton
Ezekiel Rowe said:
Isn't that a contradiction? A normal jaffa isn't cake sized, so it isn't a cake....and what defines cake size.
Click to expand...

Just because it isn't normal size doesn't mean that it isn't a 'normal' Jaffa Cake.

Cake, isn't a size. Hense Jaffa Cakes being 'small compared' with other, more substantial cakes. Either way, it most certainly isn't a Biscuit.
 


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