United Biscuits (UK) Ltd (No. 2). [1991] BVC 818 | Croner-i Tax and Accounting". library.croneri.co.uk . Retrieved 17 February 2021. In the United Kingdom, value added tax is payable on chocolate-covered biscuits, but not on chocolate-covered cakes. [16] [17] McVities defended its classification of Jaffa Cakes as cakes at a VAT tribunal in 1991, against the ruling that Jaffa cakes were biscuits due to their size and shape, and the fact that they were often eaten in place of biscuits. [18] McVities insisted that the product was a cake, and produced a giant Jaffa Cake in court to illustrate its point. [18] Briggs, Fiona. "Pladis unveils new TV creative for McVitie's Jaffa Cakes brand". Retail Times . Retrieved 24 March 2021.

Lovers of the treat will know the controversial history and origins of debate when McVitie's was taken to court over its classification of the Jaffa Cake as a cake to avoid VAT on chocolate-covered biscuits. They even produced a giant version to illustrate their argument. a b "What you do – and don't – pay VAT on". Which? Magazine. 24 June 2010. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012 . Retrieved 27 September 2012. In 2021, artificially intelligent binary classifiers "usually used in the field of astronomy" were trained on 92 traditional recipes of cakes and biscuits and determined Jaffa Cakes to be cakes. [25] Advertising

Graves, Mark; Batchelor, Bruce (2003). Machine Vision for the Inspection of Natural Products. Springer Science & Business Media. p.403. ISBN 978-1-85233-525-0. The sponge part of a Jaffa cake is a substantial part of the product in terms of bulk and texture when eaten. Jaffa Cakes - definitely not biscuits - prepare to take on imitators". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018 . Retrieved 28 December 2014.

These are the latest examples of “shrinkflation”, a phenomenon whereby manufacturers reduce the size of products ranging from chocolate bars to fruit juice and even toilet roll but consumers still pay the same price. Notable examples include Toblerone spacing out its signature triangles and Mars shrinking its sharing bags of Maltesers by 15%. Because McVitie's did not register the name "Jaffa Cakes" as a trademark, other biscuit manufacturers and supermarkets have made similar products under the same name. [3] The product's classification as a cake or biscuit was part of a VAT tribunal in 1991, with the court finding in McVitie's favour that Jaffa Cakes should be considered cakes and not biscuits for tax purposes. [4] In 2012 they were ranked the best selling cake or biscuit in the United Kingdom. [5] McVitie and Price's Jaffa Cakes Manufacture United Kingdom VAT & Duties Tribunals Decisions – Torq Ltd v Revenue and Customs [2005]". British and Irish Legal Information Institute . Retrieved 27 September 2012. The gelatine should never boil- we always add gelatine when the mixture isn't boiling. Remove from the heat, then stir in the gelatine powder.Abernethy, Laura (27 January 2020). "McVitie's launches new pineapple flavour Jaffa Cakes". Metro . Retrieved 7 March 2020. Jaffa Cake's lemon squeezy bar". Thegrocer.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011 . Retrieved 25 August 2010. What's not to love? The tangy Jaffa Cake has always been my go to in my weekly shop and most likely isn't going to change anytime soon. Taking all these factors into account, Jaffa cakes had characteristics of both cakes and biscuits, but the tribunal thought they had enough characteristics of cakes to be accepted as such, and they were therefore zero-rated. VAT Tribunal case LON/91/0160 (United Biscuits)". Archived from the original on 10 February 2019 . Retrieved 9 February 2019.