Did you ever come across de minimis tax and its meaning and why it is applied in the context of law and taxation? Well, in general terms, de minimis refers to something which is small or insignificant and does not need any further measure from the administrative or the legal point of view. Applying de minimis allows the authority not to use its efforts and resources on such issues that may be relatively insignificant. In the context of taxation, there are certain thresholds and the treatment for items of very low value may be different.