MANILA - Lawmakers agreed to raise the cap on tax exempted 13th month pay to P90,000, a Senate leader said Thursday.

The amendment was introduced during a bicameral conference committee meeting to reconcile the Senate and House of Representatives versions of tax reform, before President Rodrigo Duterte can sign it into law.

The tax exemption camp is currently at P82,000. The Senate version of the tax reform bill proposed keeping the current ceiling while the House version sought to raise it to P100,000.

The P90,000 number was seen as a "compromise" and will likely take effect next year, said Sen. Sonny Angara, chairman of the committee on ways and means.

"Ang bonus sa bonus na ito ay maagang Pamasko para sa ating mga ordinaryong manggagawa," Angara said.

(This bonus on top of the bonus is an early Christmas gift to the ordinary worker.)

The bicameral committee also agreed to exempt P250,000 in annual taxable income for all individual taxpayers, according to the statement from Angara's office.

The Department of Finance had originally proposed to remove the 13th month pay tax exemption and instead include it in the total P250,000 exemption for the year.