Self-employment tax and quarterly estimates
As a sole proprietor or single-member LLC you pay income tax plus self-employment tax on net profit, which covers Social Security and Medicare. Because nobody is withholding for you, the IRS expects quarterly estimated payments.
Move a fixed percentage of every payment into a separate tax account the day it arrives. Missing quarterly payments generates penalties even when you eventually pay in full.
Common deductions for US cleaners
- Cleaning supplies, consumables and personal protective equipment.
- Equipment purchases and repairs.
- Vehicle costs, using the standard mileage rate or actual expenses.
- General liability insurance and bonding premiums.
- Business phone and internet, apportioned to business use.
- Advertising, website and software subscriptions.
- Uniforms and branded workwear.
- Home office, if the space is used regularly and exclusively for the business.
Is cleaning subject to sales tax?
This is genuinely state-specific. Some states tax cleaning or janitorial services, some tax commercial but not residential cleaning, and many do not tax services at all. A few also apply local district taxes on top.
Never assume based on what a cleaner in another state tells you. Check your state department of revenue directly, and if you operate across a state line, check both. Charging sales tax you should not have collected, or failing to collect tax you owed, are both expensive to unwind.
1099-NEC and contractor payments
If you pay an unincorporated independent contractor at or above the IRS reporting threshold in a calendar year for services, you generally must issue a Form 1099-NEC and file with the IRS.
Collect a W-9 before you make the first payment, not in January. Chasing tax IDs after the fact is the annual ritual of every cleaning company that skipped this step.
Recordkeeping that survives an audit
Keep digital copies of receipts, a mileage log tied to jobs, invoices with dates and clients, and clean separation between business and personal spending.
Reconcile monthly. The cost of reconstructing a year of cleaning income from text messages is far higher than the time it takes to keep it current.