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The IRS is giving taxpayers more time to file their 2019 tax returns—and pay any tax they owe—in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. So, the question arises: How many individuals are taking advantage of the extension? The answer is plenty.

On March 21, the IRS announced that it was extending the tax filing deadline from its traditional due date of April 15 to July 15 (IR-2020-58, 3/21/20). Taxpayers don’t have to do anything to benefit from the extension and they won’t incur any interest or penalties for doing so. Taxpayers can still obtain the usual extension to October 15, if they choose, by filing Form 4868 by July 15.

According to a recent web posting by the IRS, tens of millions of taxpayers are using the extra time. As of April 17, 2020, the IRS reported that 115,961,000 individuals had filed their 2019 tax returns, compared to 137,233,000 returns filed for 2018 by April 19, 2019. That is 21,272,000 less— a drop-off of 15.5%. The IRS also said that it had processed 18.5% fewer returns this year than last year at the same time.