The Case

Value added tax Supply of goods or services. In dealing with an appeal concerning whether or not attendees at Weight Watchers' meetings who received literature paid for a single supply or not, the court held that it was necessary to look at the transactions from the viewpoint of the typical consumer rather than the supplier. The extent of the linkage between the relevant transactions had to be considered from an economic point of view, rather than a physical, temporal or other standpoint. So regarded the question was whether it would be artificial to split them into separate supplies. The fact that the supplier had charged a single price for the aggregate of the transactions was a relevant circumstance but was not conclusive because that price might be apportioned.