steverabincpa, my use of the term reward refers to the coinbase transaction - and the miner receives this plus the fees.  One could take the position that the coinbase is lottery-like.  I am not particularly inclined to that as outcome is not certain in a number of for-profit activities.  Fishing and crabbing is the first idea that comes to mind. 

Now steverabincpa - just for fun - check out the way the service treats slot-machine play..... with each trip to vegas being a separate 'transaction' that can not be netted with the other trips........ then think how the block-chain works and what a very silly position the service might take if they said each attempt at a block was an independent transaction.  Pretty fun in the abstract....

The transaction fee is another matter.  To the miner I suspect it is income for service - but the amount these days are so small that I doubt anyone cares.......

achillez - if you're still in the thread - the timing for when the coinbase is to be recognized - if you take the position that it is to be recognized when the reward is allocated to the miner - is again pretty interesting - is it the mean value of bitcoin for the day, and we've had $300 day spreads (forget the differences between Mt. Gox and the others) - say you just use the blend CoinBase reports) as would typically be the case for Estate & Gift taxes, with of course special rules for those favorite holidays!  Even more fun, is it when the block is added to the chain, when you are mature at 99 confirmations..... which can span a day.... Who knows without guidance from the IRS.

steverabincpa is probably right in saying pick your poison, be logical and be consistent - and remember pigs get slaughtered.

We ought to encourage the foundation to chime in o this so that we have some support from somewhere other than a forum.