Maine
Maine doesn't tax residential or commercial cleaning, because its definition of taxable service is a closed list and cleaning isn't on it. The minimum wage is $15.10 an hour and rises to $15.70 on January 1, 2027, and employers register for withholding with Maine Revenue Services and for unemployment insurance with the Maine Department of Labor.
In Maine the date to circle is January 1, 2027, when the minimum wage moves from $15.10 to $15.70 an hour. Sales tax on the cleaning itself is the shorter story, since cleaning isn't on the state's closed list of taxable services. Below I cover sales tax, worker classification, payroll registration, the minimum wage, and what it means for your books.
Residential and commercial cleaning are not taxable in Maine. 36 M.R.S. 1752(17-B) defines taxable service as a closed list, running from lodging and electricity to telecommunications and digital audiovisual services, and cleaning isn't on it. The separate service provider tax in 36 M.R.S. 2552 is shown as repealed. More is on my page on Maine sales tax and cleaning services.
Source: Maine Legislature, 36 M.R.S. sec. 1752, Definitions (subsection 17-B, Taxable service)
Source: Maine Legislature, 36 M.R.S. sec. 2552, Service provider tax
Maine's definition of employment for unemployment insurance is in 26 M.R.S. sec. 1043(11)(E). This page doesn't summarize the parts of that test. How each kind of worker shows up in the books is in 1099 subcontractors vs. W-2 employees. Whether a particular cleaner is an employee is a legal question, and it belongs with your CPA or an employment attorney.
Source: Maine Legislature, 26 M.R.S. sec. 1043, Definitions (subsection 11, Employment)
Maine taxes wages, and Maine Revenue Services handles withholding, with registration starting at revenue.maine.gov. Unemployment insurance goes through the Maine Department of Labor, at its registration page.
Source: Maine Revenue Services, Registration Application booklet (revised February 2026)
Source: Maine Revenue Services, Income Tax Withholding FAQ
Maine's minimum wage is $15.10 an hour, effective January 1, 2026. In a release dated September 18, 2026, the Maine Department of Labor announced that the rate rises to $15.70 an hour on January 1, 2027, the annual cost-of-living adjustment tied to CPI-W under 26 M.R.S. sec. 664. Local minimum wages aren't covered on this page.
Source: Maine Department of Labor, Minimum Wage poster, 2027 (rev. 9/26)
Source: Maine Legislature, 26 M.R.S. sec. 664, Minimum wages
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, State Minimum Wage Laws (July 1, 2026)
The wage change is the piece with a deadline on it. Sixty cents more an hour, across every hour your crew works, can look heavy on a calendar. Don't sweat it. One rate moves. We'll have it in your job costs before it lands. Payroll gets recorded at the wage you actually pay, against the jobs it covers, and the job profitability estimator shows what $15.70 does to a single job.
With no sales tax on the cleaning, the rest of the tracking is costs: supplies you buy go into the cost of the jobs that used them. I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent, so questions about what's taxable or how it's reported belong with 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 Maine 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
With Maine's minimum wage going to $15.70 on January 1, 2027, payroll gets recorded at the wage actually paid and tied to the jobs it covers, so the change shows up in your job costs before it shows up in a paycheck. Supplies go into the cost of the jobs that used them. Book a short call below and we'll get your Maine books ready for January.
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 you clean in Maine and want your books ready for $15.70 before January, send me a note. We'll go through it together, and the first conversation doesn't cost anything.
