On May 23, the House Appropriations Committee released the FY 2019 Financial Services spending bill, which provides funding for the Treasury Department, the Judiciary, the Small Business Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other related agencies. The bill totals $23.4 billion, which is the same as the FY 2018 enacted level.

For FY 2019, House appropriators kept funding steady for the IRS. The bill provides $11.6 billion for the IRS – an increase of $186 million above the fiscal year 2018 enacted level. Of the funds, $77 million are targeted to help the IRS with implementing the new tax law.

In total, the bill provides taxpayer services an additional $31 million above the fiscal year 2018 enacted level to support funding for fraud prevention and cybersecurity, as well as IRS’s customer service — such as phone call and correspondence response times. The legislation also includes provisions to safeguard taxpayer dollars at the IRS.

In the Senate, appropriators will set their FY 2019 funding level for the IRS the week of June 18.