NEW “TRUE LEASE” GUIDELINES were issued by the IRS in May.
The IRS has had guidelines since 1975 on when it will issue advance rulings confirming that a transaction set up in form as a lease of equipment is in fact a lease for tax purposes. The issue is important to lessors who want to know they can claim tax depreciation on the equipment. The new guidelines are in Revenue Procedure 2001-28. For the most part, they merely repeat the earlier rules.
