I. Specific legislation
La legislaciónLegislation applicable to lease contracts is found in the Civil Code, in Book IV. Title V. "Leasing", Articles 1124 to 1155 and specifically in Chapter III, Articles 1161 and thereafter, related to real state leasing. A lease contract is a type of consensual legislation that is characterized by entailing few articles and is based on the principle that whatever is not expressly prohibited in it is allowed. Therefore, in relation to leasing, an agreement between the parties to a contract is a fully legal contract (the law as established by the parties). Therefore, a lease contract may include any clauses that may be mutually stipulated (by the lessor and the lessee) where the benefits the parties receive is defined.

II. Taxation
Article 8 of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is applied; Norm 4 of the American Accountants' Association is also applied in regard to operating leases, along with Article 8 of the Tax Procedure Code. As established in Article 8 of the Tax Code, regardless of the taxpayer's legal status, if the tax means used to decrease taxes is inappropriate in relation to reality, the tax law should be applied by abstaining from such means; in other words, the principle of substance and not form governs. In light of this article and what was set forth previously, what is recommended is to use operational leasing through lease contracts such that they do not comply with conditions 3 and 4 for lease classification. In addition, conditions 1 and 2 are established in private contracts (an option to purchase) if they are to occur (transfer of an asset to the lessor).

On May 2, 2002, Decree No. 30389-H was signed: "Regulations on Tax Treatment for Financial and Operational Leases," regulating operational and financial lease operations in relation to taxation.

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