capital lease

Capital lease

A lease obligation that has to be capitalized on the balance sheet.

Capital Lease

A long-term lease in which the lessee must record the leased item as an asset on his/her balance sheet and record the present value of the lease payments as debt. Additionally, the lessor must record the lease as a sale on his/her own balance sheet. A capital lease may last for several years and is not callable. It is treated as a sale for tax purposes. It is also called a financial lease.

capital lease

The long-term lease of a capital asset. To the lessee, a capital lease is the same as owning the asset. Accounting rules require that the leased asset and the present value of the lease payments be recorded on the lessee's balance sheet. For the lessor, a capital lease is treated as a sale of the asset. Also called financial lease.