MBI Properties – High Court of Australia notes that, on general principles, an executory contract entails two supplies for GST purposes

The High Court of Australia observed that (under general principles):

[The] entering into and performing [of] an executory contract will in general involve the supplier making at least two supplies: a supply which occurs at the time of entering into the contract, in the form of both the creation of a contractual right to performance and the corresponding entering into of a contractual obligation to perform; and a supply which occurs at the time of contractual performance, even if contractual performance involves nothing more than the supplier observing a contractual obligation to refrain from taking some action….

This is a helpful backdrop for the rule in ETA s. 133, which assimilates all subsequently provided property or services under an agreement to the supply which occurs when the agreement is entered into (subject to exceptions, e.g., for leases under s. 136.1).

Neal Armstrong. Summaries of Commissioner of Taxation v MBI Properties Pty Ltd, [2014] HCA 49 under ETA s. 133 and s. 123(1) – supply.