According to new IRS rulemaking, coins are received when they are manifest on the blockchain. Dont move your coins to the new blockchain, ergo you have not received them, ergo no tax due.
Unless of course you want to claim them. Thats a problem of your own making.
Im amazed that you dont comprehend how a hard fork airdrop works.
I know perfectly well how a hardfork airdrop works, tyvm.
I'm amazed you are seemingly relying upon colloquial definitions of words, in the context where the IRS has very specifically defined them. Have you read the actual ruling?
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-19-24.pdf"A hard fork occurs when a cryptocurrency undergoes a protocol change resulting in a permanent diversion from the legacy distributed ledger. This may result in the creation of a new cryptocurrency on a new distributed ledger in addition to the legacy cryptocurrency on the legacy distributed ledger. If your cryptocurrency went through a hard fork, but you did not receive any new cryptocurrency, whether through an airdrop (a
distribution of cryptocurrency to multiple taxpayers distributed ledger addresses) or some other kind of
transfer, you dont have taxable income." (from the associated IRS FAQ, emphasis added)