SIC-27 — Evaluating the Substance of Transactions in the Legal Form of a Lease

References

History

  • SIC D27 was issued October 2000
  • April 2001: Proposed final Interpretation was remanded by IASB to SIC for redrafting to focus on the principles involved
  • October 2001: Revised proposed final Interpretation was remanded by IASB to SIC for further redrafting
  • Approved by the IASB in December 2001
  • Effective Date: 31 December 2001

Summary of SIC-27

SIC-27 addresses issues that may arise when an arrangement between an enterprise and an investor involves the legal form of a lease. Among the provisions of SIC- 27:

  • Accounting for arrangements between an enterprise and an investor should reflect the substance of the arrangement. All aspects of the arrangement should be evaluated to determine its substance, with weight given to those aspects and implications that have an economic effect. In this respect, SIC-27 includes a list of indicators that individually demonstrate that an arrangement may not, in substance, involve a lease under IAS 17 Leases.
  • If an arrangement does not meet the definition of a lease, SIC-27 addresses whether a separate investment account and lease payment obligation that might exist represent assets and liabilities of the enterprise; how the enterprise should account for other obligations resulting from the arrangement; and how the enterprise should account for a fee it might receive from an Investor. SIC-27 includes a list of indicators that collectively demonstrate that, in substance, a separate investment account and lease payment obligations do not meet the definitions of an asset and a liability and should not be recognised by the enterprise. Other obligations of an arrangement, including any guarantees provided and obligations incurred upon early termination, should be accounted for under IAS 37 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets or IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement, depending on the terms. Further, it agreed that the criteria in IAS 18.20 should be applied to the facts and circumstances of each arrangement in determining when to recognise a fee as income that an Enterprise might receive.
  • A series of transactions that involve the legal form of a lease is linked, and therefore should be accounted for as one transaction, when the overall economic effect cannot be understood without reference to the series of transactions as a whole.

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