Treasury examines corporation tax shake-up The second would extend the real estate investment trust regime to include all privately owned businesses, freeing them of corporation tax but paying taxable dividends to shareholders. Stephen Herring, BDO senior tax partner, said a far more radical approach to tax reform was needed for the sector, but he added that neither of the options would be "excessively expensive." He feels they are "Treasury friendly" because they would not reduce the tax take and were already operating in other sectors. Mr Herring hopes the Treasury would opt for a "big bang"" approach to implementing any changes. The Government indicated last year it wanted to give a higher priority to mid-company issues and BDO feels the tax reforms would provide an ideal platform. A round table discussion with tax advisers, hosted by BDO, reflected unease about the way corporation tax was dominating reform discussions. One taxman suggested that the view in the Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs was that the days of corporation tax "are numbered."