The powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee will meet this morning on Capitol Hill to "explore the growing trend towards offshore incorporation".

The hearing, with a focus on inversion transactions and enhancing US competitiveness, will take place in the Longworth House office building from 10.45 am.

The meeting had been slated for June 13 but was moved forward for undisclosed reasons.

Only invited witnesses are to testify at the hearing led by Pamela Olson, acting assistant secretary for tax policy at the US department of treasury.

A panel will also attend, including Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow, Institute of International Economics; Steven Salch, partner, Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP and Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut attorney general.

A Press statement from the committee said the hearing "is to examine the mechanics of inversion transactions and examine policy options that will deter inversions and enhance US international competition."

The committee will also hear testimony on an "inversion study" completed by the US Treasury last month.

The hearing was said to follow "a growing number of US companies moving their corporate headquarters to tax-favourable locations outside the United States. "These transactions, known as corporate inversions, have caused wide concern among lawmakers and administration officials and have gained national attention."

The focus of the controversy has been several well-known Bermuda companies including Stanley Works, Ingersoll-Rand, Cooper Industries and Nabors.

Committee Chairman Bill Thomas concluded: "The fact that companies are leaving the United States for tax reasons is a serious problem.

"Inversions are one symptom of the larger problems with our Tax Code, particularly in the area of international competitiveness. As we address the inversion issue, we must be careful not to take action that will facilitate the foreign acquisition of US companies or encourage investment capitol to flee the United States."

Meanwhile, two members of the House of Representatives that jointly put forward legislation to stop company inversions cited the hearing as "on closing the Bermuda corporate tax loophole.

Congressman Jim Maloney - who along with Congressman Richard Neal earlier this year put forth a bill on March 6 called "The Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act of 2002" - said: "I am pleased that the Republicans have, at my strong urging, finally set a date to hear testimony on the Bermuda tax loophole.

"My concern, and the concerns of the tax-paying public is obviously gaining momentum in Congress," he said.

Rep. Maloney added: "It has been more than two months since the Republicans said they would hold a hearing on this issue, and in that time corporations have been making decisions to move millions of tax dollars overseas. "It is time for Republicans to stop dragging their feet on this issue. The American people deserve better," Rep. Maloney concluded.

But advocates of this legislation are not the only ones who will earnestly follow today's hearing. Andrew Quinlan, a leading free-market advocate and president of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity said he had put forward his name to testify at the hearing but was not contacted. He said, however, that he would be present in the public gallery for the hearing.