Indirect Cost Rate & De Minimis Calculator

Enter your Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC) base and one or two indirect cost rates — the 15% federal de minimis rate, your own negotiated rate, or both — and see the resulting indirect cost amount for each, side by side.

How this works, and what it is not: this is a calculator, not legal or compliance advice, and it does not replace reading your specific funder's requirements or your organization's negotiated agreement. Nothing you enter is sent to a server, saved, or shared — it runs entirely in your browser tab and disappears when you close or reload the page. The 15% de minimis rate is a ceiling many federal awards let an organization elect, not a rate anyone is required to use, and it applies only to awards that follow the federal Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) — private and family foundations set their own indirect cost policies and are not bound by this rule. Confirm your specific funder's rules before you rely on any number from this page in a proposal or budget.

Direct cost base

Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) base ($)

This is a specific base, not simply your total direct costs — see what it includes and excludes below before you enter a number.

What counts toward the MTDC base? (2 CFR 200.1)

Included in MTDC: direct salaries and wages, applicable fringe benefits, materials and supplies, services, travel, and up to the first $50,000 of each subaward (regardless of that subaward's period of performance).

Excluded from MTDC: equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs, and the portion of any subaward beyond $50,000. (Other items may only be excluded when needed to avoid a serious inequity, with the approval of the cognizant agency for indirect costs.)

Source: eCFR, 2 CFR 200.1, Definitions, "Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC)" (ecfr.gov, consulted September 2026). The $50,000 subaward figure is itself a 2024 update — it was raised from $25,000 in the same Uniform Guidance revision that raised the de minimis rate to 15% and the equipment threshold to $10,000, applicable to federal awards issued on or after October 1, 2024 (Federal Register, 89 FR 30136, Apr. 22, 2024, as amended 89 FR 79732, Oct. 1, 2024). If you're working from an older template or guide, it may still say $25,000.

Haven't built your line-item budget yet? The free Grant Budget Narrative Builder totals personnel, fringe, travel, equipment, supplies, and other direct costs first — bring that total here, then subtract anything MTDC excludes (equipment above, mainly), to get your MTDC base.

Indirect cost rate(s) to compare

De minimis rate (%)

Custom / negotiated rate (%)

Under 2 CFR 200.414(f), a recipient or subrecipient without a current federally negotiated indirect cost rate may elect a de minimis rate of up to 15% of MTDC, with no special documentation required, and use it indefinitely — "up to 15%" is a ceiling you elect within, not a mandatory flat rate, so you can enter a lower number if that's what you've elected. Already have a federally negotiated rate (a NICRA), or a rate a specific foundation funder sets in its own guidelines? Enter that in the custom field instead — foundations are not bound by 2 CFR 200 and can set a different cap or rate entirely.

Results

Scenario	Indirect costs
Enter your MTDC base and at least one rate above to see indirect costs here.

Want the full budget narrative, not just the indirect cost line?

This calculator handles one line: indirect costs on an MTDC base. The free Grant Budget Narrative Builder totals your whole budget — personnel, fringe, travel, equipment, supplies, and other direct costs — and drafts a first-pass narrative paragraph for every category, including indirect costs. Prefer to write the indirect cost narrative by hand? The free Budget Narrative Template gives you the same 11 sections as a blank outline to fill in yourself.

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