Cost of capital and operating leases

Capital and operating leases are the most important types of leases. Both of them result from legal and tax aspects. The most important legal regulations concerning lease agreements can be found in the Civil Code, Income Tax Act, Goods and Services Tax Act, Accounting Act and International Accounting Standard 17 Leases ("IAS 17 Leases"). Regulations concerning lease agreements require the appropriate classification. This classification ought to contain closure effects of an agreement recorded in account books, which must arise from legal provisions. Lease asset is treated by these regulations in various ways, what results in differences in account books as well as different distribution of lease costs and ownership of the asset after termination of the agreement. The aim of this article is to present costs of capital and operating leases in the context of their recognition in the accounting system, in particular in accounting records of an entity. The article uses the method of literature studies (national literature, including scientific articles and legal acts). Moreover, an analysis method has been used. This article is an attempt to answer the question of how to present capital and operating leases in account books of both the lessee and the lessor, in context of guidance deriving from the Accounting Act.