Commercial cleaning is a taxable service in Florida. Residential cleaning is not. A cleaning company that serves offices and homes on the same invoice template is either charging tax it should not or owing tax it never collected. Add a large part-time crew with turnover and overtime, and the books need more attention than most cleaning companies give them.
Zero Tax keeps the books for cleaning and janitorial companies. Commercial and residential are tracked apart. Payroll is right. Bookkeeping, tax preparation, and planning come on one flat monthly fee.
Nonresidential cleaning is taxable in Florida. Many owners learn this from an audit letter. We set up commercial and residential customer types, put the tax on the commercial template, and keep the report that shows what was collected and remitted.
The two sides of a cleaning business run at different margins and different tax rules. One income line hides both. We split them so the owner can see which side is growing and which side is paying for the other.
Twenty part-timers, overtime in a busy week, a tip here and there, and people who leave after a month. Payroll done by hand is where the penalties come from. We put payroll on a system that feeds the books and file every quarter on time.
cleaning companies run ZenMaid, Jobber, Launch27, or Swept. Scheduling and recurring billing are handled. Payroll and sales tax are not. We connect the scheduling tool to QuickBooks Online, map commercial and residential to separate income accounts, and integrate payroll so labor cost lands by month without a spreadsheet.
Nonresidential cleaning services are taxable. Residential cleaning is not. The customer type decides it, so the customer list has to be right.
Cleaning is non-construction work, so workers’ compensation starts at four employees. Part-timers count, and cleaning crews are often mostly part-time.
The county tangible property return is due April 1. The first $25,000 of equipment value is exempt once the first return is filed.
Floor machines and equipment go on the tangible return. Supplies do not.
Cleaning payroll runs on hours. Crews move between buildings, start at night, and change with the season. Three things matter in the books: time records tied to each contract, overtime counted across every site a cleaner works in a week, and a contract margin that includes supplies and travel time. We set up the chart of accounts so each contract shows its own labor cost. Then you can see which buildings pay and which ones only look busy.
Florida has no personal income tax. For a cleaning company owner, the S corporation question is self-employment tax against a reasonable salary and the cost of payroll. We run it with your numbers first.
Greg Neilsen, our tax expert, holds a law degree and a master’s in tax law (LLM). He reviews every return before it is filed.
The books, payroll, and filings run through our team in the Tampa office. The person who closes your month is the person who answers your question. We answer or call back within 24 hours.
More: every trade we serve, pest control companies, landscaping companies, and our services.
One call tells us both whether this fits. Tell us about the cleaning business: trucks, crews, payroll, and what the books look like today. You leave knowing what Zero Tax would handle and what the flat monthly fee would be. Bookkeeping, tax preparation, and planning come on one number, starting at $750 a month, in writing before any work starts.
On commercial accounts, yes. On residential homes, no. If you have been running commercial accounts without it, the fix starts with the customer list and the invoice template.
On payroll, with hours tracked, overtime calculated, and quarterly filings done from the books. A payroll system that feeds QuickBooks Online is part of getting started.
The one that survives labor cost, supplies, travel, and the tax on commercial work. Once the books split commercial from residential, the answer is on the monthly report.
Usually an LLC, often taxed as an S corporation once the profit justifies the payroll cost. We run the comparison with the actual numbers before anyone files.
Rarely. If they clean on your schedule, at your accounts, with your supplies, they are employees. The state looks at how the work is controlled, not what the paperwork says. Getting it wrong brings back taxes, penalties, and a workers’ compensation problem.
One free 15-minute call with Greg. Bring your questions. Leave knowing what Zero Tax would handle for your business and what it would cost.
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