Delaware gross receipts tax
Delaware doesn't have a sales tax, but residential and commercial cleaning are both taxable under its gross receipts tax. The rate depends on your business activity category; the two closest categories on the Division of Revenue's rate sheet, General Services and Personal Services, each show a 0.3983% rate and a $100,000 exclusion, though the sheet doesn't name a cleaning category. No deductions for labor or other costs are allowed.
The question cleaning owners usually ask is whether they charge sales tax in Delaware. There isn't one to charge. The tax that does apply is a gross receipts tax, measured on the receipts the business takes in, and the details depend on a category the state's rate sheet doesn't spell out for cleaning. Below: residential cleaning, commercial cleaning, the category question and the other conditions, what it means for your books, and where your CPA comes in. For payroll, wages and worker classification, see my Delaware bookkeeping page.
Residential cleaning is taxable in Delaware under the gross receipts tax. House cleaning receipts count toward the gross receipts the tax is measured on, the same as any other cleaning work.
Commercial cleaning is taxable under the same gross receipts tax. The Division of Revenue guidance gives it the same treatment as residential work, so an office contract and a weekly house clean feed the same number.
This is where Delaware gets specific. The rate depends on the business activity category, and the Division of Revenue's rate sheet doesn't name a cleaning category. The two closest categories are:
The terms match, but that doesn't settle which category is yours. The Division of Revenue is the place to confirm it. The other rule that matters: no deductions for labor or other costs are allowed. Figuring the tax on what's left after crew wages is a bad habit, plain and simple, because the tax never looks at what's left; it looks at what came in.
Source: Delaware Division of Revenue, Gross Receipts Changes (rate sheet)
Exception: the rate sheet lists a $100,000 exclusion for both categories. How that exclusion applies to your receipts is a question for the Division of Revenue or your CPA.
Since the tax runs on gross receipts, the receipts number is the one I protect. Every deposit gets matched to the invoice behind it, and money that isn't receipts stays out. Both of the closest categories file monthly, so the number has to be right each month, not tidied up at year end. I keep the gross receipts tax in its own account so you can see what it costs against your residential and commercial income, which sit on separate lines.
If months of deposits were never entered, catch-up bookkeeping is where that starts.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I can explain how Delaware's gross receipts tax works on paper and keep your receipts accurate. Which category you file under, how the exclusion applies, and how to file are for the Division of Revenue and your CPA.
Rules checked against the sources above as of October 20, 2026. Rates and rules change; confirm current figures with the agency or your CPA.
About Figure Eight Financial
Figure Eight Financial is Dave Gordon’s bookkeeping practice for residential and commercial cleaning companies. I work with owners in Delaware and across the country, and I’m a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor.
Before bookkeeping I studied computer science at Penn State and spent a career at IBM as an engineer, so I build the books as a system: data comes in once, lands in the right place, and ties back to a statement. I’m a bookkeeper, not a CPA or Enrolled Agent. I keep the books your CPA works from, and the tax decisions stay with your CPA.
Credentials and memberships reported by Figure Eight Financial.
More about DaveHow I Help
Delaware's gross receipts tax looks at what came in, not what's left after crew wages, so the receipts number is the one I protect month by month. Every deposit is matched to its invoice, money that isn't receipts stays out, and the tax gets its own account next to separate residential and commercial income lines. If you'd like to walk through how your receipts are recorded, book a short call below.
The core service. Transactions recorded and categorized, every account reconciled so the books and the bank agree, and monthly reports that arrive explained, split by residential and commercial and sliceable per contract.
The full picture of how this works for a cleaning companyFor the months where nothing got entered at all. I fill in the missing periods from the ground up, pulling bank feeds, statements, and receipts until every month has a complete set of records.
How catch-up bookkeeping worksFor books that exist but can’t be trusted. I audit what’s there, fix the unreconciled accounts, duplicate transactions, and wrong categories, and tie every balance back to a statement.
How cleanup bookkeeping worksYour crews paid on time, every pay period, with each payroll run recorded in the books so labor shows up against the jobs it belongs to.
How payroll worksRecurring invoices that match your contracts, an aging report you can trust, and follow-up on slow payers handled by a process instead of your evenings. Built for net-60 commercial accounts.
How invoicing and receivables workA file built right for a cleaning company from day one, or rebuilt after the DIY version drifts, and then I teach you to run it. I’m a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, and this is honestly my favorite part of the job.
How a proper setup worksWe start with a short call about your business and where the books stand. The first conversation doesn’t cost anything.
I take a look at what you’ve got, your QuickBooks file, your spreadsheet, whatever exists.
You get a written proposal with the price, so the decision is yours with the number in hand.
Let's Connect
If Delaware's gross receipts tax hasn't been showing up in your books, or you're not sure which category you've been filing under, send me a note. We'll sort it out together. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
