Open secret, unless HMRC says otherwise
We all know that the Treasury can get fiercely secretive about consultations. So TS was not surprised to hear the following story. We understand that PwC wanted to advise some of their clients about what was going on with the Treasury’s enquiries on corporate taxation and the EC Treaty. The open secret is that it wants to cut back interest relief and drop the taxation of dividends. So PwC flagged it up on their client extranet. The Treasury then took offence, asking for it to be taken down, which the firm did. Is it really necessary to keep things under wraps quite so much? After all, we do know about the general tenor of the consultation.