Treasury threatens the investment attractiveness of leasing

Problems 2010-2011, can be divided into funny and serious. For example, one of the representatives of the private leasing company complained that the increased legal literacy clients. As a result, contracts are prepared in detail, penalties and interest accrue very hard to defend their opinions in court lessor can not less frequently than before, and the portion of income lost. "Tightened jurisprudence. If the earlier litigation were primarily related to tax claims, but now were added to the suits by lessees - tells would-be manager. - The courts in cases of dispute, have been increasingly make decisions against the lessors. " But for the user, you can only rejoice that at last the business, referring to the lease, to be properly studied, and read the contract, he has "grown up teeth." For lessors is useful, they will have to pay more attention to the legal side of the issue. Still, most market participants are concerned about the serious problems. Amortization. Experts predict that in 2011 the Russian leasing market will continue to actively recover. However, soon by the Ministry of Finance may increase again slowed down. One major advantage of leasing - the right of parties to the agreement to apply the mechanism of accelerated depreciation, as in the linear and nonlinear in the method, a factor not higher than 3. Moreover, if the leased asset is used in an aggressive environment, accelerating wear and the coefficient 3 can be multiplied by an additional factor, but not higher than 2 (paragraph 7 of Article 259 of the Tax Code). The need for leasing companies to accelerated depreciation due to the fact that it is the source of a refund. Simply put, the useful lives of property can greatly exceed the terms of financing, and accelerated depreciation allows them to combine. According to market participants, its removal is not only not increase tax collection to the federal budget, he expects Treasury, but also crippled recovering leasing market. "The key barriers to the development of the leasing market in 2011 could be the State's intention to cancel the application rate of accelerated depreciation of property, leased, - says CEO" Gazprombank Leasing "Maxim Kalinkin. - According to experts, with the lifting coefficient of accelerated depreciation of investment attractiveness of the asset will disappear, and leasing business in the future one or two years will be reduced by 2-3 times. " Moreover, serious problems threaten not only the lessors, but also their potential customers. Decrease the volume of investments in modernization of production assets, increase costs, increase the cost of leasing services. "This amendment to tax legislation can not only lead to a reduction in the market and lessors care, but also adversely affect the economy as a whole - says Roman Malanin, CEO of" Mo-Leasing ". - Do not forget that financial leases for many businesses is the primary tool updates the material-technical base and modernization of production. " A bit of everything. The last two years differed little access to "long" money, which, in particular, inhibited the development of leasing. As a result, the crisis passed, "and remained osadochek" - increased requirements for borrowers - as lessor, and to the lessee. State of the current debt - the main indicator of the reliability of business for the bankers. Even now, despite the excess liquidity in the accounts, many banks are still very conservative approach to risk assessment, refusing to provide loans for more than three years. "The main problem with which they deal leasing companies in recent years - the lack of available funding. Interest rates on bank loans during the crisis grew, and in the most difficult period reached 24%, which is certainly reflected in the lease, - said Roman Malanin. - Relative to solve this problem was the program of the Russian Development Bank, in force since the end of 2009. RBD program has enabled the leasing companies to get cheaper credit resources and direct them to finance transactions with small and medium-sized businesses. " Does not contribute to market growth and a lack of paying customers who have good credit history. "Before the crisis, the main problem of leasing companies was funding available in order to gain competitive advantage and present clients with the most attractive products - says Maxim Kalinkin. - Today is the biggest challenge - an opportunity to attract clients with a stable financial condition. " The fight against "accounts receivable". Beginning in 2009, remains a serious problem lessors growth of overdue debts. Many customers have purchased property on lease in the hope of further growth in business due to falling demand, it was unwanted. At that point, lessees often delayed payments and attempted to abandon the purchase of machinery, especially in cases where the contract was entered into foreign currency. As a result, lessors were forced either to revise the terms of contracts, or seize property from unscrupulous customers. With the latter often encountered the greatest difficulty. The fact that leasing companies, there is no legal ways to remove the property from the lessee in the pretrial order. Litigation usually takes at least six months, causing considerable damage to the financial stability of most leasing companies. "The second problem faced by lessors - the rapid growth of accounts receivable. The basic direction of solving this problem was the massive restructuring of lease agreements. If you can not compromise, leasing companies have been forced to cancel the transaction, to seize and sell equipment, - says Roman Malanin. - Now receivables included in the normal operating condition, and place the main task for the new building took lessors business. " Legislative vacuum. The perennial problem of leasing companies - significant legislative restrictions. It is in these market participants see the main obstacle to the development of real estate leasing. In accordance with Art. 651 of the Civil Code, the lease agreement for a term exceeding one year, subject to state registration. Thus, in accordance with Art. 625 of the Civil Code to include the lease and the lease agreement, they are also subject to state registration. The problem is that the lease (leasing) before transfer of title to property to the leasing company's register is impossible. However, such a contract is concluded only after registration. In fact, the leasing company must first register the purchase and sale of real estate, and only then - the lease agreement. This carries significant risks for the leasing company that acquires property, invests heavily, and the lease agreement is not considered to be concluded. You should not exclude the possibility that the lessee at the last moment refused the deal. Another point: according to Art. 2 of the Law "On financial rent (leasing)", the lessor must acquire ownership of the specified lessee from a certain vendor to them. Thus, it is understood that must first be entered into a lease agreement, and only after the sales contract. "Leasing of real estate, in addition to funding, involves a rather complex organization of the transaction. In particular, to avoid possible risks to correctly carry out state registration of the lease agreement and contract of sale of real estate, the lessee the right to register correctly on the ground. This is often quite complex procedures that require specific experience and expertise of the staff leasing company, "- says Timur Boytemirov, Director General of" Uniastrum Leasing. " In addition, the leasing company and there are tax risks: if the tax authorities do not recognize the lease agreement, and classify it as a lease with option to purchase, the accelerated depreciation charge would be impossible.