Maine sales tax
No. Residential and commercial cleaning are not taxable in Maine. 36 M.R.S. 1752(17-B) defines taxable service as a closed list and cleaning isn't on it, and the separate service provider tax in 36 M.R.S. 2552 is shown as repealed.
Maine's answer comes from a list that names what's taxable and then stops. Lodging, electricity, telecommunications, cable and satellite, and a handful of others are on it. Cleaning isn't. This page covers residential cleaning, commercial cleaning, the conditions, what it means for your books, and where your CPA comes in.
House cleaning is not taxable in Maine. The closed list in 36 M.R.S. 1752(17-B) covers lodging, electricity, auto extended service contracts, prepaid calling, cable and satellite, fabrication, telecommunications, telecommunications equipment installation and repair, ancillary services, and digital audiovisual and audio services. Cleaning isn't one of them.
Source: Maine Legislature, 36 M.R.S. sec. 1752, Definitions (subsection 17-B, Taxable service)
Commercial cleaning is not taxable either, by the same list. The separate service provider tax in 36 M.R.S. 2552 is shown as repealed by PL 2025, c. 388, Pt. G, sec. 47, and the older Maine Revenue Services Instructional Bulletin 55, which lists the services that tax covered, doesn't mention cleaning.
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
Source: Maine Revenue Services, Instructional Bulletin No. 55, Service Provider Tax (November 15, 2019)
Source: Maine Legislature, 36 M.R.S. sec. 2552, Service provider tax
Source: Maine Revenue Services, Instructional Bulletin No. 55, Service Provider Tax (November 15, 2019)
No tax on the service doesn't mean nothing to track. I want to know where every single number came from, and with cleaning income untaxed in Maine, the numbers that need watching are your costs: each supply purchase ties back to a receipt and lands in the cost of the jobs that used it. Any work you do outside Maine gets tagged by state, since this page's answer covers Maine only.
For payroll and the January 2027 wage increase, see bookkeeping for cleaning businesses in Maine.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I keep income and supply costs traced to their sources. Whether something you sell or buy is taxable, and how it's reported, is a question 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 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
Maine doesn't tax cleaning, so the work in your books shifts to costs: supply receipts traced back to their source and assigned to the jobs that used them, and any work outside Maine tagged by state. Book a short call below and we'll look at where your supply spending lands today.
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 your supply receipts and your job costs haven't been on speaking terms, send me a note. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
