The EU countries have got themselves tied in knots over VAT. Example: in the UK chocolate milk-shake powder counts as "cocoa" taxed at zero rate, and strawberry milk-shake powder is a "soft drink" taxed at 17.5%. Biscuits with chocolate coating are taxed at 17.5% and those without chocolate coating (including ones with coating of any other flavour such as strawberry) are taxed at zero rate (which differs from "exempt" in that the manufacturers can claim back the tax they have paid on their supplies). Biscuits with chocolate are zero-rated if the chocolate is in lumps distributed throughout the biscuit and not as a coating on the surface. There has been a prosecution of a baker's shop that sold bread (zero rated) when it had not completely cooled after cooking, allegedly making it "hot take-away food" that should have been taxed at 17.5%; the baker was found not-guilty on the grounds that bread is not normally eaten hot and so cannot be "hot take-away food".
