Photocopiers and printers rarely get much thought until they break down mid-invoice run. Yet how a business chooses to fund and manage this equipment can have a real impact on cash flow, tax position and day-to-day productivity. Along the way, a few persistent myths have taken hold. Here are five worth clearing up.
1: Leasing is always more expensive than buying outright
On paper, a five-year lease can look pricier than a single upfront purchase. What that comparison misses is everything else bundled into a typical lease agreement: servicing, toner, parts and engineer call-outs. Buy a machine outright and those costs still exist, they simply arrive unpredictably, usually at the worst possible moment. Suppliers such as Paw Print, which supplies and repairs office photocopiers and printers across the Home Counties, often find that clients switching from ownership to a managed lease end up with a more predictable monthly outgoing rather than a genuinely lower total cost. It is less about “cheaper” and more about “smoother”.
2: You can claim capital allowances on leased equipment the same way you would if you bought it
This one catches out a fair number of small business owners. According to GOV.UK, capital allowances generally cannot be claimed on equipment a business leases, unless the arrangement is structured as a hire purchase or long funding lease, since the business must own the item outright. Anyone weighing up whether to lease or buy should check the current rules before making a decision, since the tax treatment genuinely differs between the two routes.
3: All leasing contracts are basically the same
Terms vary enormously. Some agreements bundle in unlimited toner and servicing for a single monthly fee, others charge per page on top of the base rental. Contract lengths range from a few months for short-term hire to five or six years for a full commitment. MFD Solutions, which supplies and services Canon, Ricoh and Epson devices for London businesses, offers exactly this kind of choice between purchase, lease and short-term rental, illustrating how differently two leases from two suppliers can be shaped. A business printing occasional documents has very different needs from one running high-volume colour output daily, and a one-size-fits-all lease rarely suits either well.
4: Old equipment should simply be thrown out and replaced
Older machines are often written off the moment they develop a fault, when in reality many issues are straightforward for a trained engineer to fix, and getting rid of them isn’t as simple as putting them in a skip. Under GOV.UK’s WEEE regulations guidance, businesses have specific obligations around the disposal of electrical equipment, and printers and photocopiers fall squarely within scope. A proper diagnosis before assuming a full replacement is needed can save money and avoid an unnecessary trip to landfill.
Myth 5: Location limits your choice of supplier
Businesses sometimes assume they are stuck with whichever national chain happens to have a branch nearby, but many photocopier and printer specialists cover fairly wide territories. XOS UK, for instance, provides managed print services and leasing across Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and the Scottish Highlands from a single operation. It is worth looking beyond the first search result and comparing a couple of options, since responsiveness and contract flexibility often matter more than sheer proximity.
The common thread running through all five myths is that printer and photocopier decisions are often made on assumption rather than a proper look at the numbers and the contract terms. A short conversation with a supplier, and a look at how the tax and disposal rules actually work, tends to save far more than it costs.
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