New queries, issue 4361

De minimis?

I have three clients who make small amounts of money from their hobbies. One sings in the choir at weddings and is paid £30 per event. She has offered to waive the fee but the vicar prefers to hand out the money.

She effectively gives back twenty times as much in monthly gift-aided contributions. Another client takes in occasional mending jobs for friends – turning up trousers for a fiver.

Yet another is a qualified football referee who one Saturday will be paying £15 to play for the team and on another Saturday might be paid £30 to officiate in a match.

My first question is about whether there is a level below which readers would ignore such activities altogether. My inclination is that ‘de minimis non curat lex but de everything HMRC curat’ but surely even HMRC have limits?

If the...