Originally Posted by BearX220
Agreed -- if it were at all possible, the IRS would surely have done it by now. But nailing down an exchange rate is like trying to nail jelly to the wall when Flyer A is redeeming 50,000 miles for an EasyPass IAH-OKC ticket with a street value of $150 while Flyer B redeems 100,000 for a $5k J seat to Europe.
Unless they moved the responsibility of assigning value to the airlines as part of the award reservation process. Generally fairly easy to assign a number on a given day; doesn't matter whether that number changes over time or not. At the specific point of redemption, it is worth x. Even when there could be some confusion, say Y fare versus discount fare, the lower amount could be used.