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(WAND) - Internal Revenue Service officials are encouraging the public to file their 2019 taxes online during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Officials said online filing can help with the practice of social distancing in the fight against the virus. It can also speed up the process of tax returns, refunds and payments. 

The IRS has either seriously limited or suspended services such as live assistance by telephone, processing paper tax returns and responding to correspondence sent through the mail by taxpayers. All Taxpayer Assistance Centers are temporarily closed. 

Since individual paper returns can't be processed in early April, taxpayers are asked to use their tax preparer, tax software provider or IRS Free File to send returns electronically.

As WAND-TV previously reported, officials have extended the federal tax filing deadline to July 15, 2020 from the previous April 15 date. The IRS announced further extensions to deadlines on Friday. 

Even with that deadline extension, electronic returns are still being processed. The IRS continues to send out direct deposit refunds and is accepting electronic payments. 

There have been over 97.4 million returns received and over $213 billion refunds issued as of April 3. Over 90 percent of people are filing returns electronically in 2020, the IRS said. 

Click here for more information from the IRS about where to make online payments and how to contact the department during the pandemic.