Final answer:
Among the provided statements regarding a sale-leaseback transaction where none of the four leasing criteria are satisfied, statement b, that the purchaser-lessor records a gain, is false. The seller-lessee does remove the asset from its books and records the lease as an operating lease.
Option 'b' is the correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
In a sale-leaseback transaction, a company sells an asset and then leases it back from the new owner. If none of the four leasing criteria are met, then the transaction is accounted for in a specific way according to accounting standards. Responding to the question of what is false about the given statements:
- a. The seller-lessee removes the asset from its books. This is true. When the seller-lessee sells the asset, it must remove the asset from its balance sheet and records a right-of-use asset and a lease liability.
- b. The purchaser-lessor records a gain. Typically, the purchaser-lessor records the asset at the purchase price. They do not record a gain at the time of purchase as a gain implies they sold it for more than its recorded value. So, this statement is generally false.
- c. The seller-lessee records the lease as an operating lease. Given that none of the four leasing criteria are met, this is true. Not meeting these criteria typically means the lease can be classified as an operating lease for the seller-lessee.
Therefore, the false statement among the ones provided is b. The purchaser-lessor records a gain.