Operating Lease vs Finance Lease for Printers

• You pay a monthly set plan to use the device for an agreed term, commonly 3 to 5 years.
• Maintenance, genuine toner, parts and support are bundled into the one payment for the contract term.
• At the end of the term you upgrade to a newer device, continue on the current one, or return it.
• You do not aim to own the device, so it stays a predictable usage cost rather than a capital purchase.

• The agreement is structured around your business carrying the asset and its risks for the term.
• It usually points towards ownership, often through a final payment or buyout at the end.
• Service and consumables are not always included, so check what the monthly figure actually covers.
• It suits a business that specifically wants to own the equipment rather than refresh it each cycle.

1. Decide whether you would rather keep upgrading to current technology or own one device long term.
2. Confirm exactly what each monthly figure includes, especially service, parts and toner.
3. Check the end of term position: return and upgrade, or a buyout that leads to ownership.
4. Ask your accountant how each option is treated for your business, as tax and reporting treatment varies.
5. Request a like for like quote so the same device is priced on each path.

LeasemyPrinter leases are all inclusive operating style agreements from $160 a month ex GST on a 36 to 60 month term.

The monthly fee covers the device, scheduled service, genuine parts and toner, and remote support for the contract term.

Your lease does not renew automatically.

We contact you well before the end date to confirm your choice, and you decide from three options: upgrade to a newer device, continue on your current equipment at a reduced rate, or return it at no cost.

Nothing rolls over automatically without your written approval.

• Your business is the lessee, the party using the printer for the term.
• The lessor owns the leased asset and grants you the right to use it.
• That is commonly a finance company, or the provider arranging the agreement.
• That right runs for the lease term, usually three to five years on office equipment, and it is set out in the contract you sign.
• For accounting, an accountant may also count an extension you are reasonably certain to take up.
• It covers the printer itself, plus any trays, finishers or accessories listed in the same agreement.
• Knowing which party is which matters when you read a lease document, because the obligations sit differently on each side.

Lease accounting is the part of financial reporting that decides how a lease appears in your financial statements.

It sits separately from the commercial label used on the agreement.

Where a printer lease is recognised on the balance sheet, it shows on both sides of it, as something owned and something owed, instead of only as a monthly outgoing.

The liability is generally measured using the present value of the lease payments still owed.

An accountant or accounting software performs that calculation using an appropriate discount rate.

A right of use asset is recorded alongside it.

What that entry captures is access to the printer for an agreed period, which is a narrower thing than holding title to the machine.

This is general information about concepts used in Australia, not tax or legal advice.

Confirm the treatment that applies to your business with your own accountant.

How a lease is recorded depends on how an accountant reads the agreement, not only on the label printed on it.

The operating or finance label matters more to the finance company and to the tax treatment than to how the lease sits on your own balance sheet.

A finance lease on a printer is generally recorded as though the lessee has acquired the leased device.

A matching liability is recognised for the payments still owed over the remaining lease term.

Where a printer lease is on the balance sheet, the monthly charge is generally split in two.

One part is depreciation on the right of use asset, the other is interest on the lease liability, rather than a single rental line.

Depreciation follows the end of term position rather than an accountant preference.

Where the agreement transfers ownership, or a purchase option is reasonably certain to be taken up, the printer is generally written down over its useful life.

Otherwise it is written down over the shorter of the lease term and the useful life.

These are general descriptions of common approaches.

The method that applies to your business depends on your accountant reading your specific agreement.

Residual value is the number an agreement pins on the printer for the day the term expires.

It is written in at signing, not worked out when the term is up.

A finance lease structure often builds a residual value assumption into its figures, because the structure usually points towards eventual ownership.

Fair value is the market value of the leased printer when the agreement begins.

An accountant uses it in the tests that classify a lease, rather than in the monthly figure you pay.

Useful life is the period the printer is expected to stay usable in the business, which can run longer than the lease term itself.

Where useful life runs past the lease term, the classification and the depreciation approach an accountant applies will reflect that gap.

These are general information descriptions of terms used in lease documents, not accounting advice.

An accountant reading your actual agreement is the reliable source on residual value, fair value and useful life.

Some finance lease structures are written so an ownership transfer happens at the end of the lease term, with no further payment or decision needed.

Others carry a purchase option instead, where the lessee has the right to buy the printer outright at the end of the lease.

Where such an option is reasonably certain to be exercised, the accounting treatment commonly follows a similar path to an automatic ownership transfer.

That structure is used elsewhere in the market.

It is not the arrangement LeasemyPrinter offers, so it will not appear in one of our agreements.

In an operating lease the lessor, the party that owns and leases out the printer, retains ownership of the underlying asset for the whole term.

On a LeasemyPrinter agreement the printer is returned, upgraded or continued on at the end of the lease rather than bought out.

Treatment varies by business and by agreement, so your accountant is the one who can say which applies to your contract before you sign.