I had been waiting until now to re-look at the Jarrett's case, because the court date was originally set for last month, but the case was apparently dismissed last year. I was following the case and didn't hear about this, so I'm guessing others here also missed this.

The Case

From this Forbes article:

In May 2021, a Tennessee couple, Joshua Jarrett & Jessica Jarrett (Jarretts), filed a complaint with the IRS arguing that Tezos staking rewards they earned should not be taxed at the time of receipt. The couple requested a tax refund of $3,793 by filing an amended tax return.

In December 2021, the US Department of Justice directed the IRS to issue the full refund. The Jarretts refused to accept the refund because the IRS didn’t acknowledge the true reasoning for issuing the refund. This reasoning was essential to create a precedent for other stakers and protect himself from IRS scrutiny in the future. The Jarretts decided to take this to the court to get a formal court ruling.

...

In a court document dated February 28, 2022, the Tax Davison of US Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed the Jarretts' attempt to get an official ruling from the court on staking.

In the document, the DOJ argues that the Jarretts' case is moot, in other words, there's no issue that remains unsettled, open to argument or debatable because the IRS has issued a full refund including the interest, exactly what the Jarrett's requested.

The Takeaways

First off, if you ever meet the Jarretts, buy them a drink, because they went through this hassle for all of us.

Second, file an amended return for any taxes you paid on staking rewards from 2020, 2021, and 2022. You must file an amended return within three years, so you only have 4 days left to file for 2020.

The more people who file an amended return, the more chances we have to force the government's hand to giving us regulatory clarity. A huge percentage of the meaningful legislation in the US is decided in courtrooms.

If they refuse to refund, we have a better basis for a lawsuit. If we can get a court to declare staking rewards are newly created property, that puts a giant stick into the craw of the SEC. Even if the case is lost, we'll be one step closer to full clarity, thus opening the doors for institutional investment into crypto. If they approve a refund, congrats, you got back some of your own money. It's a no-lose situation.

So please do this, especially if you live in a crypto-friendly state like MT, TX, or FL. If we could bring a case there, it'll have that much better of a chance for a favorable ruling.

If there is enough interest, I will post a tutorial about how to file an amended return. I myself, do not yet know how, but I will for sure be doing this for 2021 (2022, not quite as important ????).