A bicameral conference committee meeting has been set for Sept. 9, Wednesday to reconcile provisions of the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act (TIMTA), a measure sought by both Malacañang and business as a priority reform.

Marikina Rep. Romero Federico S. Quimbo (2nd district), chairman of the House committee on ways and means, expects the two chambers to promptly agree on a final version, which they will endorse for the President’s signature.

“I think we only need one (meeting),” Mr. Quimbo told reporters on the sidelines of a briefing last week, adding that a small group of Congress members and staff have met for a pre-bicameral talk.

Mr. Quimbo cited three conflicting points yet to be resolved: retaining the three-year prescriptive period for the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to approve tax perk claims as recommended by the Board of Investments (BoI); the confiscatory powers of government if the tax incentives are found unused; and the set of fines.

The House and Senate approved separate versions of the TIMTA in June, or just before Congress took a six-week break after the second regular session.

Investment promotion agencies, such as the BoI and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, hand out incentives to export firms to attract investors.

Among the other differences of the House and Senate bills is how the tax incentives database will be published.

In the House proposal, it will be consolidated in a list to avoid violating confidentiality rules, Mr. Quimbo earlier said. In the Senate version, it will be a detailed breakdown under a special Tax Incentives Information of the country’s annual budget. A Tax Incentives Tracking Program will also be created to be administered by the Finance department, the BIR, and the Bureau of Customs.

The House version, which draws most provisions from the agreed-upon TIMTA bill drafted by the Finance and Trade departments, provides more detail: the Finance department will maintain a tax incentives database for deals entered into by the investment promotion agencies, while the National Economic and Development Authority will do a cost-benefit analysis on the impact of these incentives to the Philippine economy.

Prior to reaching an agreement in May, the two agencies maintained opposing positions over the TIMTA bill.

Also to be resolved is whether the BoI will be given the power to validate the tax perks given before the BIR can apply the adjustments from a company’s tax assessment.

Asked whether one TIMTA version will prevail over the other, Mr. Quimbo only said that he hopes for a “cordial” meeting with counterparts from the Senate.

Also sought for comment, Senate committee on ways and means chairman Juan Edgardo M. Angara said via text: “We intend to have maximum flexibility going into this week’s bicam meeting so as to come up with the best possible bill and taking into account the feedback received from the private and public sector stakeholders.”

Congress is separately working on a proposal to craft a uniform tax incentives package for all firms operating in the country to replace existing grants given to industries at varying rates. These remain at the committee level.