Closely held business interests CAN qualify if the estate of the decedents owns 20% of more in ownership interests of the trade, business, or stock thereof and there are 45 or fewer owners of the trade or business.

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But I would say that planning to qualify clients for Medicaid coverage of nursing home care has surpassed estate tax avoidance as an objective of estate planning.

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If you have any sort of a full time job outside of real estate you will need to keep very detailed time records to qualify as being in a real estate trade or business.

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