ALL VAT legislation will soon be consolidated into one act, the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, has promised.

The reform follows the consolidation of all the various pieces of legislation covering direct tax, which was launched yesterday.

The White Paper draft of the Taxes Consolidation Bill is the first consolidation since 1967, Mr Quinn noted.

The act will allow all income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax legislation to be available in a single up to date act.

The move will simplify business for accountants, solicitors and tax advisers making the legislation more accessible and user friendly.

It will be available in a printed format, about the size of two telephone directories, as well as on CD Rom.

At the moment the legislation is made up of the Income Tax Act 1967, the Capital Gains Tax code in 1975 and the Corporation Tax code in 1976. On top of that successive finance acts have seen 35 pieces of legislation since 1967.

As a result there are three codes which are made up of 2,000 separate sections and some 50 related schedules.