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de minimis
[ duh min-uh-mis, dey ]
- pertaining to minimal or trivial things; small, minor, or insignificant; negligible:
De minimis gifts to employees are not subject to taxation.
yĐÄvlog History and Origins
Origin of de minimis1
Example Sentences
Sarah Foss, global head of legal at Debtwire, noted that foreign brands leveraging the âde minimisâ exemption â which allows goods valued under $800 to bypass customs duties and inspections â played a significant role in Forever 21's downfall.
The US had started to re-examine the exemption for low-value packages, known as de minimis, before Trump entered office.
If youâve ever wondered how Temu can sell smartphones for under $100 and offer hundreds of dollars worth of coupons to each user â a big part of it boils down to a little-known trade rule called âde minimis.â
De minimis allows goods and packages worth less than $800 to come into the U.S. duty-free, skipping out on fees typically collected by customs.
Dating back to the 1930s, the loophole called the de minimis â Latin for something so small itâs insignificant â exemption allowed shipments valued below a certain threshold to avoid customs duties.
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More About De Minimis
What doesÌęde minimisÌęmean?
De minimis means so small or inconsequential as to not be worthy of attention.
De minimis is typically used in a legal context in regard to things that are not important or significant enough to be bound by rules or regulations. It is often used in phrases like de minimis rule or de minimis exemption. Like many other technical legal terms, de minimis comes from Latin.
Example: Amounts that low are considered de minimis, so they donât need to be reported as taxable income.
Where doesÌęde minimis come from?
The first records of de minimis in English come from the late 1700s, but the first records of its use as an adjective come from around the 1940s. It comes from a shortening of the Latin expression de minimis non curat lex, which means âthe law does not concern itself with trivial matters.â Mimimis means âsmallâ or âunimportant.â De means âofâ or âhaving the quality ofâ and is used in other Latin legal terms like de facto and de jure.
From the very beginning, de minimis has been used in a legal context. Today, it is often used in discussion of the idea that the legal system and the courts should not be in the business of handling trivial matters, like prosecuting someone for plucking an apple off their neighborâs tree. The term de minimis rule often refers to laws that set a certain limit or threshold for something to be punished as a crime, such as the purchase or possession of a minimal amount of illegal drugs.
De minimis is especially used in the context of taxes in regard to amounts that fall under a certain level and do not need to be reported or are not taxed. When used outside of a legal context, de minimis implies that something is too inconsequential to pay attention to or worry about, such as some type of risk. Describing such a risk as de minimis doesnât mean that the risk doesnât exist, just that itâs minimal enough that you donât need to worry about it.
Even though itâs sometimes applied to everyday matters, de minimis still sounds like legalese (unnecessarily complicated legal jargon). For that reason, itâs rarely used in everyday conversation (except by lawyers). Itâs much more common to just say trivial, small, minor, inconsequential, or insignificant.
Did you know ... ?
What are some words that share a root or word element with de minimis?Ìę
What are some synonyms for de minimis?
What are some words that often get used in discussing de minimis?
How isÌęde minimis used in real life?
De mimimis is most likely to be used in the course or discussion of legal or business proceedings. When applied to other things, itâs still most likely to be used by lawyers or other people who are familiar with legal jargon.
loan statute (Sec. 1106) indicates a de minimis exemption may be written (future regulation coming?) for forgiveness limitations. This would apply to FTE employee calc, wage reduction, and possibly rehire provisions.
â Glen Birnbaum (@GlenBirnbaum)
Unless the reimbursement is less than âŹ200K over 3 years (de minimis), any such aid would be subject to clearance by the Commission.
â George Peretz QC (@GeorgePeretzQC)
Mainstream old school media has had the ability to de facto offer free advertising via mentions discussion etc of political candidates & thus have played king makers in the past. As time goes forward and older generations die out, Network TVs influence will be de minimis
â Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22)
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Try usingÌęde minimis!
Is de minimis used correctly in the following sentence?
The risk in this case is de minimisâof course thereâs always a danger, but itâs a minimal one.
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