- 4 - Inc., a bank holding company incorporated in the State of Delaware, which then changed its name to U.S. Bancorp (petitioner). West One was a calendar year taxpayer that used the accrual method of accounting for 1989 and 1990, the tax years in issue. The leases at issue in this case were between West One as lessee and IBM Credit Corp. (ICC) as lessor. For purposes of leasing computer equipment, ICC uses a document captioned "Term Lease Master Agreement" (the Master Agreement), which contains an umbrella set of terms. Customers of ICC sign the Master Agreement, whose terms then govern all future lease transactions between ICC and the customer. When a customer enters into an individual lease transaction, it signs a document captioned "Term Lease Supplement" (Supplement), which expressly incorporates the terms of the Master Agreement and contains a description of the leased equipment, price terms, financing arrangements, and other factors unique to the transaction. The Master Agreement explicitly provides that the lease cannot be canceled and does not provide for a specific charge in case of early termination of the lease or for a formula for computing any such charge. West One, at the time still named Moore Financial, executed the Master Agreement with ICC in March 1989. In August 1989, West One leased an IBM 3090 mainframe computer (the 3090) from ICC (the First Lease). The lease term commenced August 30, 1989,Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011