Taxes for house cleaners and janitorial crews
You know how to run a route and hold an account. We will handle the return, in English or Spanish, and tell you plainly what you can deduct.
Nothing is due today. Personal returns start at $250.
Cleaning is a cash heavy, mileage heavy, supply heavy business, and those three things are where the questions usually come up on a return. You get paid through several different apps by clients who never send you a form, you drive between jobs all day, and you buy chemicals and equipment at the same stores where you buy groceries. We prepare returns for house cleaners, maid services and commercial janitorial companies, and we ask about the things this trade actually runs on.
What cleaning services can usually deduct
Ordinary and necessary costs of your work. Rules and dollar limits change year to year, so we confirm every one of these against the current year when we prepare your return.
Cleaning supplies and chemicals
Disinfectant, degreaser, glass cleaner, bleach, floor stripper and wax, enzyme products, odor neutralizer, trash bags, paper towels, microfiber cloths and mop heads. These are ordinary supplies for your work and come off your business income.
Supplies you buy at the same store on the same receipt as your household groceries need to be split. Circle the business lines on the receipt or use a separate card so the number holds up.
Vacuums, machines and equipment
Backpack and upright vacuums, carpet extractors, floor buffers and burnishers, pressure washers, steam cleaners, wet and dry vacs, blowers and auto scrubbers. Larger machines are business assets, and depending on the cost and the rules in effect for that year you may be able to write off some or all of it up front instead of spreading it over several years.
Keep the invoice and the date you started using it. The write off choice is made on the return for the year you place the machine in service, so a receipt found two years later is a harder conversation.
Mileage between jobs
Driving from one client's house or building to the next is business mileage. So is a run to the supply house, a trip to drop off a bid, and driving to a client to walk a new property. Track it and take either the IRS standard mileage rate for that year or your actual vehicle costs.
The drive from your home to your first job of the day and home from your last one is commuting, and commuting is not deductible. That can change if your home qualifies as your principal place of business, which is why the home office question below matters for your mileage too.
Vehicle costs for the work van
If you use actual expenses instead of mileage, you deduct gas, oil changes, tires, brakes, insurance, registration and repairs on the vehicle, plus depreciation. Shelving, a partition, a ladder rack or a wrap on the van are business costs too.
If you want the option to move between methods in later years, the standard mileage rate generally has to be what you use in the first year the vehicle is in service. And if the van is also the family car, only the business share counts, so the mileage log is not paperwork, it is the proof. If you run several vehicles at the same time, ask us first, because the mileage method is not always available.
Subcontractor and helper pay
What you pay other cleaners is deductible whether they are subcontractors or employees. If they are true subcontractors, you generally issue Form 1099-NEC to workers who are not corporations once you have paid them at or above the IRS reporting threshold for that year, and you need a Form W-9 from each of them.
Calling a worker a subcontractor does not make them one. If you set their hours, hand them your supplies, send them to your accounts and tell them how to do the job, the IRS or your state agency can treat them as your employee, which brings payroll tax filings and, under your state's rules, workers compensation coverage. Setting this up correctly costs far less than fixing it later.
Bonding, liability and workers comp
General liability insurance, janitorial bond premiums, commercial auto on the work vehicle, and workers compensation on your crew are all deductible business insurance. When a commercial account or property manager requires a certificate before they sign, that premium is part of the cost of getting the work.
Health insurance for you is not a business insurance line on Schedule C. Self employed health insurance is handled separately on the return and has its own rules and limits, so keep those premiums in their own pile.
Licenses, permits and background checks
Local business tax receipts, occupational licenses, state registration fees, janitorial or specialty certifications, and the background checks and drug screens some commercial and medical accounts require before your crew can badge in.
Fines and penalties paid to a government are not deductible, even when they came out of a business situation. A code violation or a parking ticket picked up on a job stays off the return.
Uniforms with your logo
Shirts, polos and jackets printed or embroidered with your business name are deductible, along with the cost of having them cleaned. So are the ID badges and lanyards a building requires.
Plain jeans, plain black pants and unbranded t shirts are not deductible even if you only wear them to work. The test is whether the clothing is suitable for everyday wear, not whether you actually wear it elsewhere.
Gloves, masks and safety gear
Nitrile gloves, N95 and respirator masks, safety goggles, knee pads, back support belts, and hazard signage such as wet floor cones. Protective items the work requires are deductible because they are equipment rather than ordinary clothing.
Footwear is the gray area. Protective shoes the job requires that you would not wear in ordinary life can qualify. An everyday sneaker with a non slip sole is still everyday footwear, so keep those receipts separate and ask us before you claim them.
Home office for the admin work
If you schedule jobs, build quotes, order supplies and do your books from a space at home, you may be able to take a home office deduction, using either the simplified square foot method or the actual share of your rent or mortgage interest, utilities, insurance and repairs. It applies when that space is your principal place of business, which can be the case when the administrative work happens there and you have no other fixed location for it. Qualifying can also change those first and last drives of the day into business mileage.
The space has to be used regularly and only for the business. The kitchen table where the family eats does not qualify. A corner of a room used only for the business can, if you can describe and measure it. The deduction is also limited by your business income for the year, so it cannot create a loss.
Supply storage and equipment space
A rented storage unit or garage bay where you keep chemicals, machines and inventory is deductible rent. So is the shelving and the locking cabinet you put in it. If you keep supplies in a dedicated part of your home, that space is handled under the home office rules.
A storage unit that also holds your personal furniture and holiday decorations is a mixed use problem. Keep the business unit business only, or be ready to explain the split.
Getting and keeping accounts
Scheduling and invoicing software, route or crew apps, your website and domain, business phone line, Google and social ads, door hangers, yard signs, van lettering, bid software, and the merchant fees your card processor takes out of every client payment.
Processor fees are easy to miss because they never hit your bank as a separate charge. Your deposit is already net of them, so if you only enter deposits you are leaving that deduction out. Pull the processor's annual statement.
A cleaning business can run as a sole proprietorship or a single member LLC and file on Schedule C. The S corporation conversation usually starts once you have crews running routes without you and the profit is steady enough to pay yourself a reasonable wage through payroll, because an S corporation adds payroll filings and a separate business return every year, good year or bad. Whether it works out ahead depends on your own numbers, so it is worth running before you elect anything.
What to bring us
You do not need all of it to start. Send what you have and your checklist shows what is still open.
- Every 1099-NEC and 1099-K you received, from commercial accounts, property managers, payment apps and card processors
- Your own income record: the invoicing app export, the client log, or the notebook where you write down the jobs
- Bank and credit card statements for the year, business and any personal account you used for the business
- Supply receipts: chemicals, paper goods, microfiber, trash bags, gloves and masks
- Invoices for equipment bought during the year, vacuums, extractors, buffers, pressure washers, with the date you started using each one
- Your mileage log or app export, plus the vehicle's year, make and the total miles you drove for the year
- What you paid each helper or subcontractor, with a Form W-9 for each one and any 1099-NEC forms you issued
- Insurance and bonding premiums, plus workers compensation if you carry it
- Local business tax receipt, licenses, permits and certification fees
- If you claim a home office: your rent or mortgage interest, utilities, insurance, and the square footage of the space and of the whole home
What trips people up
Counting the drive from home to the first job as business mileage.
Log your miles job to job, to the supply house and to bids. Then ask us whether your home space qualifies as your principal place of business, because if it does, those first and last drives change category.
Only recording the deposits that hit the bank.
Your card and app deposits already have processing fees taken out. Pull the annual statement from every processor and every payment app so the gross income and the fee deduction are both on the return.
Paying helpers in cash with no W-9 and no records.
Get a Form W-9 before the first payment and pay by check or transfer. Cash with no paper trail can turn a real deduction into one you cannot support, and it leaves the worker classification question wide open.
Deducting all the plain black pants and work sneakers.
Deduct the logo shirts, the branded jackets and the protective gear such as gloves, masks, goggles and knee pads. Leave out clothing that is suitable for everyday wear, and ask us about work footwear before you claim it, because that line gets tested in an exam.
Buying a floor machine or a van in December and mentioning it a year later.
Tell us in the year you buy it and start using it. How you write off equipment is decided on that year's return, and the options are wider while the year is still open.
What it costs
Our published list, the same one everyone sees. Prices marked "from" are starting points, and your exact number is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
$0 is due today. You pay when you sign, or you can have your fee come out of your refund, so it can be $0 out of pocket.
Questions we get from your trade
My clients pay me through Zelle, Venmo and cash. Do I still report it?+
Yes. All of your income is reportable, whatever way it came in. Payment apps and card processors send their own forms to the IRS under their own rules, so some of your income arrives on paper and some does not, but your reporting duty is the same either way. Reported income is also the income a lender can see when you apply for a mortgage, a van loan or a line of credit, because underwriters read your tax return.
I got a 1099-NEC from an office building I clean. What do I do with it?+
Bring it. Commercial clients and property managers often issue Form 1099-NEC to their cleaning vendors. It goes into the same Schedule C as the rest of your income, not somewhere separate. Bring your own records too, because the amount on the form is what they paid over their year and it does not always line up with what actually landed in your account.
Are my helpers subcontractors or employees?+
It comes down to control, not to what the paperwork calls them. If you set the schedule, supply the chemicals and machines, assign the accounts and direct how the work gets done, that points toward employee. If they run their own route, bring their own supplies and work for other companies too, that points toward subcontractor. Some states use a stricter test than the IRS does, so the answer can differ between your federal return and your state. Tell us how it actually works day to day and we will walk through the factors with you, because it costs less to set up right than to fix later.
Can I deduct the cleaning supplies I also use at my own house?+
Only the business portion. If a case of disinfectant goes to jobs and one bottle goes under your own sink, the deduction follows the business use. The clean way to handle it is a separate card or account for supplies, so you are not reconstructing it in March.
Do I have to pay taxes during the year, or just once in April?+
When you work for yourself, nobody withholds for you. Your Schedule C profit carries income tax plus self employment tax, which is figured on Schedule SE and covers your Social Security and Medicare. The IRS generally expects that to be paid in during the year through estimated payments, and paying late can add penalty and interest even when you eventually pay in full. We will look at your numbers and set a schedule of estimated payments for the year so April is not a surprise.
Do you work with people who prefer Spanish?+
Yes. We work in English and Spanish, in writing and on the phone, and we can walk through your return in whichever one you prefer. Our office is in Coral Gables and we also work with cleaning businesses in other states.
Let us take the tax part off your plate.
Tell us what you need and see your price. A real person on your team replies within one business day.