Here's the funny thing though. Rulings are merely administrative interpretations of the Regulations as encoded in the CFR. The Regulations, in turn, are the Commissioner's best effort at interpreting the Statutes as encoded within the USC. The USC is the best effort attempt at harmonizing all the bills that the Legislature passes. IOW, Rulings are not Law. They are three indirections removed from Law.
Further, Rulings are not binding - not even upon Inspectors, Auditors, nor the US Tax Court. And the US Tax Court is not really a court, as it is not a body according to Article III of the Constitution. US Tax Court is really an administrative tribunal. All decisions of the US Tax Court are appeal-able to a real Article III Federal Court.
I guess the last three paragraphs are just a long-winded way of saying that I expect the mining ruling to be overturned.
+1
I am surprised at the misunderstanding in the bitcoin community about how our legal and tax systems work. Like you implied, the IRS does not write laws. What they issued was their interpretation of the laws, given their understanding of bitcoin.
For example, if you believe that miners are not required to recognize coins as income at the moment of mining, then you can simply do nothing if you choose. I don't see how it is feasible for anyone to know that you did mine coins, nor do I think anyone really cares, but in the event that you were called to task somehow you could argue your rationale in court.
My interpretation of the laws is that "hashers" are required to recognize mined coins as income at the time of mining, and miners when a "gain" has been realized.
Of course the IRS cares about tax collection, however, and if you have a yellow Lamborghini and a villa in Napa and report a $35,000 salary and zero capital gains, then this may be a problem.
This is not legal advice. IANAL.