De minimis rate (NIH)

Under Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.414(f), recipients that have never received a negotiated indirect cost rate may elect the de minimis rate on US federal awards, applied to Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), indefinitely or until a negotiated rate is established. The government-wide ceiling was raised from 10 percent to 15 percent of MTDC by OMB’s April 2024 revision to the Uniform Guidance, effective for awards issued on or after October 1, 2024. No formal election or federal approval is required to use it.

NIH-specific reversion: Notice NOT-OD-26-072

Despite the “NIH” in this term’s common usage, the 15 percent figure did not stay NIH’s own operative rate for long. NIH issued Notice NOT-OD-26-072 on April 20, 2026, reverting the de minimis indirect cost rate on its own awards back to 10 percent, and reverting the MTDC subaward threshold back to $25,000 (from the $50,000 figure the 2024 Uniform Guidance revision had introduced). NIH’s stated basis is that the FY2026 appropriations law requires the indirect-cost provisions of 45 CFR Part 75 to continue applying to NIH awards, effectively overriding the general 2024 Uniform Guidance update for NIH specifically. The notice explicitly left the equipment capitalisation threshold at $10,000 unchanged. The practical result is a split: the government-wide de minimis ceiling under 2 CFR 200.414(f) remains 15 percent, but an institution submitting to NIH specifically should use 10 percent unless and until NIH issues further guidance. Always confirm which figure a specific funding opportunity or notice of award actually cites — other federal agencies were not affected by NOT-OD-26-072 and remain at the 15 percent, $50,000 figures.

Who uses it, and its limits

The de minimis rate is used most commonly by small non-profits, community-based organisations, and new academic spin-outs or centres that have not yet built the cost-accounting infrastructure to support a full negotiated F&A rate proposal. An institution that already holds a current negotiated rate cannot elect the de minimis rate instead — 2 CFR 200.332(a) specifically bars a pass-through entity from requiring a subrecipient with an existing negotiated rate to use the de minimis rate in its place.

Checking this against the current guidance

Whether the 15 percent government-wide ceiling or NIH’s reverted 10 percent figure actually applies to your award depends on whether your funding runs directly from NIH or arrives as a subaward under an NIH prime. The answer depends on which federal agency’s own indirect-cost policy you are working to, and the page above states the general rule.

Ask CASRAI: Our institution has never held a negotiated F&A rate and just received a subaward under an NIH prime award — does the 15% government-wide de minimis ceiling apply to us as the subrecipient, or does NIH’s 10% reversion under NOT-OD-26-072 flow down through the prime award?

It searches CASRAI’s indexed corpus of research-administration guidance and cites the passage behind each claim, so you can open the source and check it rather than take its word — and it says so when the corpus does not cover something instead of guessing. Two questions a day are free while you are signed out, no account and no card. Everything CASRAI publishes stays free to read.

Frequently asked questions

Which figure applies if we’re a subrecipient under an NIH prime award — the 15% government-wide ceiling or NIH’s reverted 10%?

NOT-OD-26-072 addresses NIH’s own awards; whether a pass-through entity must flow the reverted 10 percent figure down to its subrecipients is exactly the kind of institution- and award-specific determination this page can’t settle on its own. Check the specific notice of award and the prime’s own subaward terms rather than assuming either figure.

If we already hold a negotiated indirect cost rate, can we switch to the de minimis rate to get the higher 15% figure?

No. 2 CFR 200.332(a) bars using the de minimis rate as a substitute where a current negotiated rate already exists; the de minimis election is only available when there is no current negotiated rate, including no current provisional one.

Once we elect the de minimis rate, can we later negotiate a full F&A rate instead?

Yes. Nothing in 2 CFR 200.414(f) locks an institution into the de minimis election permanently; it can pursue a negotiated rate at any point, and the de minimis election ends once a negotiated rate is established.

Does the MTDC subaward-exclusion threshold used with the de minimis rate follow the same 15%/10% split?

Yes. NOT-OD-26-072 reverted NIH’s MTDC subaward-exclusion threshold back to $25,000 alongside the rate change, while the general 2024 Uniform Guidance revision’s $50,000 threshold remains the figure for other federal agencies.

References

• US Office of Management and Budget, Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.414(f) (as revised April 2024, effective October 1, 2024).
• NIH Notice NOT-OD-26-072, grants.nih.gov, issued April 20, 2026 (primary NIH page returned an access error on direct fetch this session; content corroborated via COGR’s published commentary and multiple institutional sponsored-programs offices’ summaries, e.g. Harvard OSP, Princeton ORPA).