a new "angle"...

Get a standard promissory note (easy to find on internet or bookstore)

At beginning of session, hobbyist & SP execute promisorry note for 1 year, plus interest...

Upon conclusion of a succesful transaction, a small celebration ensues... maybe a large one depending upon the size of said transaction.

Now here's the best part!

A year later, unable to collect, hobbyist writes off the debt as uncollectable on his income taxes!!!

he will have time to considerer the merits of taking advice from the Legal Corner.

       E ven if the IRS could be persuaded that this was a bona fide loan (which would require the use of the lady's real name on the note and proof that the lady was just "grateful"), you would be required to take reasonable steps to collect this nonbusiness loan before you could take the deduction.  

         You would then have a very unhappy lady as well as the IRS knocking on your door.

        The moral of the story is don't mess with the IRS. They have all the angles covered.

In addition, you have to attach a statment to your tax return stating the following:
  a. A description of the debt, including the amount and the date it become due.
  b. The (real)name of the debtor, and any business or family relationship between you and the debtor.
  c. The efforts you made to collect the debt, and
  d. Why you decided the debt was worthless.
And after all of that, the IRS can still dis-allow the deduction. and I wonder if he included the interest from the loan on his tax return.
jhb

hobbyist, presuming she's the one trying to  collect on the payment of her services one year later.  I'm sure you didn't mean that the hobbyist would be trying to collect the uncollectable debt, unless the hobbyist paid up front and was trying to get the services one year later--which doesn't make sense.

fraud by the hobbyist when he filed his tax return and attempted to take a deduction for a "bad debt" that was actually a payment for services rendered.

You may have understood the original posting in a different manner but I thought he was saying the hobbyist would pay the lady for services rendered but then convince her to sign a promissory note identifying the payment as a loan rather than payment for services.

So the hobbyist would be the one trying to collect one year later, not the lady.

but marikod's answer to the rather silly question/suggestion was spot on. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Most of us who have been here for a while are accustomed to the less than infrequent inane post referring to  either avoiding LE, the tax man, or paying for the session.