Georgia sales tax
Residential and commercial cleaning are not taxable in Georgia, inferred from the Department of Revenue's general rule that services are exempt unless specifically listed as taxable; no Department source names house cleaning or janitorial work. The cleaning business does owe sales or use tax on the supplies it buys.
No Georgia Department of Revenue source behind this page names house cleaning or janitorial work. The answer comes from the general rule for services, and a general rule carries a limit worth knowing about. This page covers residential cleaning, commercial cleaning, the conditions in Georgia's rules, what it means for your books, and where your CPA comes in.
Residential cleaning is not taxable in Georgia, as an inference. The Department of Revenue's general rule is that services are exempt unless specifically listed as taxable, and no Department source names residential or house cleaning. The answer rests on that general rule rather than on a ruling about cleaning.
Source: Georgia Department of Revenue, What is Subject to Sales and Use Tax?
Commercial cleaning is not taxable either, on the same basis. No Department source names janitorial or commercial building cleaning, so the general services rule is what places it outside the tax. One cost does carry the tax: the cleaning business owes sales or use tax on the supplies it buys.
Source: Georgia Department of Revenue, What is Subject to Sales and Use Tax?
Georgia's rules point the same way without naming cleaning:
Source: Georgia Department of Revenue, Rule 560-12-1-.08, Certificate of Exemption
Source: Georgia Department of Revenue, Rules 560-12-2, industry rules .01 through .26
Exception: the cleaning service sits outside the tax, but the supplies do not. A cleaning business owes sales or use tax on the supplies it buys.
Source: Georgia Department of Revenue, What is Subject to Sales and Use Tax?
With the service untaxed, the sales tax side of a Georgia cleaning company's books lives on the purchase side. Every supplies receipt goes into its own account, with the tax on it shown rather than folded into the total. When an answer rests on an inference, I'd rather test the books against it than take it on faith, so I go looking for the entry that doesn't fit, like a supplies receipt with no tax line on it, and flag it for your CPA. Residential and commercial income still go on separate lines, so the split is there if anyone ever needs it.
If old supplies receipts were never sorted out of general expenses, cleanup bookkeeping puts them in the right accounts. Payroll, the minimum wage, and the employee question are on my Georgia cleaning business bookkeeping page.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I keep your supplies and income recorded so the tax picture is plain to see. Whether a specific job falls outside the general rule, and how sales or use tax on supplies is reported, is a call for 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 Georgia 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
Since Georgia leaves cleaning outside the sales tax by inference, the tax that shows up in your books is the sales or use tax on supplies, so every supplies receipt gets its own account with the tax visible. Residential and commercial income still sit on separate lines. If you'd like a second set of eyes on how your purchases 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
Tell me how your Georgia supplies purchases are recorded today, and I'll show you what a clean setup looks like. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
