Wife perhaps is inactive business associate (8,7)
I believe the answer is:
sleeping partner
'wife perhaps' is the definition.
(a wife could be a sleeping partner)
'inactive business associate' is the wordplay.
'inactive' becomes 'sleeping'.
'business associate' becomes 'partner' (I've seen this before).
'sleeping'+'partner'='SLEEPING PARTNER'
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for sleeping partner that I've seen before include "One not known" , "A capital provider" , "Inactive business associate" , "silent in company?" .)