[tptacek]

No, one doesn't declare IOUs on an 83b election, because the 83b is about up-front valuation of equity, not about loans.

Different loans have different tax implications. If the "IOU" you're taking is a deferred salary arrangement, and you are eventually paid a year's salary as a lump sum, that will obviously be taxed as income. If you're paid back a loan you made to fund operational expenses, and the loan carried no interest, the tax implications are likely to be minimal.

In any case, if your equity is worth anything, you're working with an accountant. Actually: if there's money changing hands in any direction, you're working with an accountant.

An IOU doesn't "ignore hard interpersonal problems". It's one of several resolutions to those problems. Your last sentence can be true without IOUs being unreasonable.