Lease a Copier - Who Owns It

A copier lease is a contract conveying the copier to you for a specific period of time in consideration of rent. The copier is owned by the copier leasing company and you make payments to the copier leasing company. A photocopier lease may be financed by a subsidiary of the copier vendor, the copier manufacturer or a finance company specializing in copier leasing.

Copy Machine Lease - Copier Lease vs Buy

To determine whether leasing a copier or buying a copier is favorable, you will first need to know the cash price for the photocopier. Use the same “length of lease term” to determine what your monthly payment would be to borrow that amount. Most copier leases include a maintenance fee in the copy machine lease. So before you compare the loan payment against the copier lease payment, strip the monthly copier maintenance fee out of the monthly photocopier lease payment.

Reasons to Lease a Copier

• Most copy machine leases are structured so the entire lease copier payment is an immediate deductible expense. If you buy a photocopier, you may have to capitalize and depreciate the copier asset (a slower recovery of your photocopier cost).
• Lease a copy machine if your business is short on cash or you want to conserve your cash.
• Lease copy machines to get “more copier” than you could afford to buy.
• Sometimes the interest rate used to calculate the copiers lease payment is lower than you would pay for a loan, because the copy machine company is trying to encourage copy machine leasing.
• On a copier machine lease, you don't have to be bothered with selling the copier when the copy machine lease expires. The photo copier lessor takes it back after the copy machines lease expires.
• When you lease a copier, you pay only for the time you use it. Photocopier leasing payments may be lower than they would be for a copy machine loan, because you're only paying for a part of the life of the copy machine asset.
• If a photocopier lease is operating, no liability normally needs to be recorded for future copier lease payments, improving your company assets to liabilities ratios.
• Most copier leases include copier maintenance and other services in a single price.

Reasons to Buy a Copier

• You may be able to use the copier considerably longer if you buy a photocopier. You could save considerable money over the entire life cycle of the copier.
• When buying a copier, you may be able to expense the entire cost of the copier buy in one year. Consult your accountant.
• You have the cash to buy a copy machine, and the short term leasing tax advantage may not be important to you.
• When buying a photocopier, the interest rate used for the photocopier buy is much lower than under the photocopiers lease.
• Under a copier lease agreement, getting a “lemon” replaced (for repeated breakdown or frequent downtime) may quickly get complicated. A leased copier can't just be exchanged by your copier dealer. It may mean having to break your copier lease agreement, absorbing penalties for doing so and having to sign a new copier lease.