While I would have suggested different wording for that were I still at the IRS and were asked to review that publication (the publications are usually sent to National Office counsel for review before release) the technical language used is there because of how Congress wrote the law. There is a special rule for what makes a real estate business a non-passive activity. Active participation is not itself enough as it would be for other businesses. You can thank people in the past who have abused real estate activities to gain unintended tax benefits for that.

