ASC 842: Variable lease payment structuring under ASC 842

A primary objective of FASB Accounting Standards Codification (FASB ASC) 842 was to remove structuring opportunities to avoid capitalizing leases. While the rules have changed, the desire to minimize reported lease liabilities for some has not changed. One way to accomplish this is to structure leases with variable lease payments that are generally not recognized as lease liabilities. However, FASB ASC 842 recognized this potential and has anti-abuse rules including in-substance fixed payments and separate recognition of embedded derivatives. In