Dixons Retail plc v Revenue and Customs Commissioners C-494/12, [2013] All ER (D) 239 (Nov)
According to settled case-law, the concept of “supply of goods” in Art 5(1) of the Sixth Directive and Art 14(1) of Directive 2006/112 did not refer to the transfer of ownership in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the applicable national law but covered any transfer of tangible property by one party which empowered the other party actually to dispose of it as if he was its owner. The Court had likewise held that that concept was objective in nature and that it applied without regard to the purpose or results of the transactions concerned and without its being necessary for the tax authorities to carry out inquiries to determine the intention of the taxable person in question or for them to take account of the intention of a trader other than that taxable person involved in the same chain of supply. It followed that transactions constituted supplies of goods within the meaning of Art 5(1) of the Sixth Directive and Art 14(1) of Directive 2006/112 provided that they satisfied the objective criteria