Hi!
My apologies for the slow response and thank you for replying to my post. I had responded on Tuesday, but it appears not to have posted.
Appropriate economic unit seems to be the key. I pasted below the relevant part of the info in the link you provided. The biggest issue appears to be 'differences in the businesses'. Owning real-estate will likely differ from most businesses the owner pursues. Is that why you write the IRS generally does not agree on arguments of the 2 entities being an economic unit? The rest of the criteria seem to apply to many business circumstances. 1) Common control and ownership; 2) Location (in the building in question!), 3) interdependence - the business needs the building to operate, and in my case, the same employees. But your perception is the IRS still disputes property and business owners in this situation? Thanks again!
The similarities and differences in the types of trades or businesses;
The extent of common control;
The extent of common ownership;
The geographical location; and
The interdependencies between or among activities, which may include the extent to which the activities:
Buy or sell goods between or among themselves,
Involve products or services that are generally provided together,
Have the same customers,
Have the same employees, or
Use a single set of books and records to account for the activities.
