House cleaning in New Jersey: pricing a job, sales tax on cleaning, mileage, 1099s and hiring help

Price the job, not the house

Two houses of the same size can take very different time. Price from what each job uses:

1. Labor: the cleaning hours for everyone on the job, times the hourly rate you want to earn. If you pay a helper, use what that hour costs you.
2. Supplies: what the products cost per visit. A gallon of cleaner that lasts 24 visits is a few cents a visit; microfiber, vacuum bags and gloves add up.
3. Drive: round-trip miles at the mileage rate, plus the drive minutes, which you aren't paid for unless the price covers them.
4. Overhead: insurance, phone, booking app, advertising and the like, divided by the visits in a typical month.
5. Margin: what's left for slow weeks, cancellations and growth.

The worksheet below divides cost by (1 minus margin) and rounds to a whole dollar, then shows what you really earn per hour once drive time is in. If that number is lower than you want, the fix is usually travel (group clients by area) or scope, not just a higher rate. The freelance hourly rate calculator helps set the hourly figure from the income you need; the break-even calculator shows how many visits cover fixed costs.

Sales tax on cleaning in New Jersey

New Jersey taxes some services. The Division of Taxation's S&U-4 sales tax guide lists "Cleaning Services (janitorial)", carpet cleaning and window washing among taxable services, alongside landscaping, lawn mowing and snow removal. The guide doesn't list an exemption for residential cleaning. The rate is 6.625%. S&U-4 also says anyone doing business in New Jersey registers with Form NJ-REG at least 15 business days before starting. If you offer something the guide doesn't name, such as organizing or laundry, ask the Division of Taxation how it's treated. Show the tax as its own line on the invoice and keep it apart from income; the NJ sales tax guide for small businesses covers filing and the books.

Mileage

Driving from one client to the next and to buy supplies is business driving. The IRS standard mileage rates page lists 72.5 cents a mile for January 1 to June 30, 2026 and 76 cents from July 1 to December 31, 2026 (70 cents for 2025). Log the date, start and end, purpose and miles for each trip. Your preparer decides between the standard rate and actual costs; the mileage deduction calculator compares them, and how to keep a mileage log covers what to write.

1099s from clients

The IRS instructions say Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC are filed only for payments made in the course of the payer's trade or business, and that personal payments aren't reportable. A homeowner paying for their own house usually won't send one; an office, landlord, Airbnb host or property manager may. For payments made in 2026 and later the threshold is $2,000, and it may be adjusted for inflation starting in 2027 (what changed). Payments by card or app are reported by the payment company on Form 1099-K instead. Every dollar is income whether or not a form arrives, so your own visit log is the record that matters. The IRS tipped occupations list includes maids and housekeeping cleaners (304) and home cleaning service workers (407) (IRS list), so keep tips on their own line too.

Insurance and bonding

Clients and buildings often ask whether you're insured or bonded. General liability insurance is about damage or injury you cause while working; a bond is usually about theft claims, and the bonding company may expect to be repaid if it pays one. Ask an agent what each covers, whether your car policy covers driving between jobs with supplies, and what certificates clients can request. This guide doesn't recommend any product.

Hiring help

Before you pay a helper, decide whether that person would be an employee or a contractor based on how the work is actually done. New Jersey uses the ABC test, and the IRS has its own factors; see the NJ ABC test guide, and for the paperwork, the Contractor vs Employee in NJ kit, Hiring Your First Employee kit and NJ Small Employer HR kit. The IRS's household employee page lists cleaning people, maids and housekeepers among household workers, and its example of someone who is not a household employee is a worker who runs a business, offers services to the general public, supplies the tools and hires the helpers. For a company with crews and routes, see cleaning company bookkeeping.

Official sources

• NJ Division of Taxation: S&U-4, New Jersey Sales Tax Guide (Rev. 07/22)
• NJ Division of Taxation: Sales tax rate, 6.625% (updated April 30, 2025)
• IRS: Standard mileage rates (updated July 28, 2026)
• IRS: Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (Rev. 12/2026)
• IRS: Occupations that customarily and regularly received tips on or before Dec. 31, 2024 (updated June 28, 2026)
• IRS: Hiring household employees (updated Jan. 16, 2026)

Checked November 2026 on the official pages above.

Common questions

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