The acting head of the IRS says the current tax-filing season has gone well while acknowledging the challenge the cash-strapped agency faces of administering the new tax law that will affect 2019 returns.

Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter told Congress Thursday that some 79 million refunds totaling about $226 billion have been issued as of April 6, averaging $2,900 — up $13 from last year. Around 80 percent of returns claimed a refund.

The final year under the old tax regime, 2017, has to be accounted for by taxpayers in returns by Tuesday.

The agency, pummeled for years by criticism from congressional Republicans and funding cuts, now must administer and enforce the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code in three decades.

Kautter told the Senate Finance Committee that the new law “requires extensive work by the IRS this year and next.” The paperwork alone is immense: About 450 forms and instructions will have to be amended.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the panel’s chairman, said the new burden falls on an agency with a history of mismanagement and taxpayer abuse that is laboring under funding and technology deficits.

Uber to do annual criminal checks

Uber will start doing annual criminal background checks on U.S. drivers and hire a company that constantly monitors criminal arrests as it tries to do a better job of keeping riders safe.

The move announced Thursday is another by the ride-hailing company under new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who said the changes aren’t just being done to polish the company’s image. “The announcements that we’re making are just a step along the way of making Uber fundamentally safer for drivers and riders,” he said.

Other features include buttons in the Uber app that allow riders to call 911, as well as app refinements that make it easier for riders to share their whereabouts with friends or loved ones.

Tesla removed from probe group

Federal safety investigators have booted electric car maker Tesla Inc. from the group investigating a fatal crash in California that involved an SUV operating with the company’s Autopilot system.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday it removed Tesla as a party to the investigation after the company prematurely made information public.

“Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the NTSB,” the agency said. “Such releases of incomplete information often lead to speculation and incorrect assumptions about the probable cause of a crash.”