“IRS agents shouldn’t work from home” was the headline of an opinion article written by U.S. Rep. Ron Estes and published in the March 4 edition of the Wall Street Journal.

Estes, a Republican representing Kansas’ 4th Congressional District, hit the proverbial nail on the head when he wrote, “Some might argue that teleworking, with reduced overhead, offers a tax-saving benefit, but that’s realized only if the agency is providing adequate customer service. The IRS isn’t.”

Anyone who doubts the accuracy or honesty of Estes’ statement needs only to talk with some of the taxpayers who have been waiting in excess of two years for amended returns they filed using IRS Form 1040-X to be processed and their refunds issued.

Many of those people consider the IRS’ performance regarding their returns to be abysmal and incompetent, despite the challenges imposed by the pandemic.

When such taxpayers learn that, perhaps, more than 50% of IRS tax-return processors still are working from home, no wonder they suspect that the amount of out-of-office work time is contributing to the amended-returns fiasco.

The IRS needs to face that there are many more distractions to the employee working at home than there would be if that worker was performing his or her duties in a workplace setting — a setting where questions and problems can be resolved more quickly than if the issues evolve in the home environment.

In the workplace setting, there are no “detours” regarding laundry, caring for pets or performing daycare-like duties for children, or making a quick or not-so-quick trip to the local supermarket to stock up needed items — and maybe filling up a vehicle’s gasoline tank along the way.

The list of possible detours is virtually endless, including maybe taking part of the day off for whatever reason.

Meanwhile, long-held amended returns wait — wherever — while taxpayers who need their refund money wait, also, although amid mounting frustration — and the IRS’ work-from-home decision-makers don’t seem to feel much, if any, urgency.

That needs to change — not only for the estimated 1 million-plus taxpayers still awaiting long-overdue 1040-X action, as well as taxpayers who just are part of the normal tax filing season.

Honest taxpayers have a right to have their tax returns — whatever the category – processed as expeditiously as possible, despite the fact that the IRS harbors the opinion that it needs more workers and a bigger budget.

“There’s no alternative to the IRS,” Estes said. “Unlike a business with competition and the incentive to improve, it will likely continue to put higher priority on employees’ comfort than on providing Americans with good, timely service. That means it is up to Congress to hold the agency accountable.”

That’s not all. His viewpoint sparks the following question: Why, like the IRS, has Congress been procrastinating?