Regular trade or business operations
Definition of course of business: Daily or regular routine peculiar to a firm or trade, involving purchase, production, and sale of usual goods and/or services, and payment and receipt of money. The regulations also clarify that the definition of a trade or business for purposes of Sec. 199A generally is the same as for Sec. 162(a), because of the large body of existing case law and administrative guidance interpreting the meaning of "trade or business" in the context of a broad range of industries. In past pronouncements, the IRS generally has looked only to the hours in which trustees, acting only in their capacity as trustees, are involved in the day-to-day management and operations of the trade or business in determining whether the trustees' activities rise to a level of regular, continuous, and substantial.