Nebraska
In Nebraska, cleaning is a taxable service: residential and commercial cleaning both carry sales tax, and a cleaning business also pays tax on its own supplies. Unemployment insurance uses the ABC test to decide who is an employee, and the minimum wage is $15.00 an hour in 2026, with scheduled raises starting at $15.26 on January 1, 2027.
Nebraska brings building cleaning and maintenance into its sales tax by statute, so sales tax is part of the picture on residential and commercial jobs alike. Add a minimum wage scheduled to rise every January through 2030 and an ABC test for anyone you pay as a subcontractor, and the books have plenty to keep straight. Here’s how sales tax, employees and subcontractors, payroll registration, the minimum wage, and your books fit together in Nebraska.
Residential and commercial cleaning are both taxable in Nebraska. The statute taxes building cleaning and maintenance under Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-2701.16(4)(a), and the Nebraska Department of Revenue’s building cleaning guide confirms residential cleaning is taxable too. A few conditions apply, including the services that fall outside building cleaning and the tax on your own supplies, and they’re on the Nebraska sales tax page. How any of it lands on your returns is a question for your CPA.
Source: Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-2701.16(4)(a) (source through Laws 2025, LB650)
Nebraska decides employee status for unemployment insurance with the ABC test in Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-604(5). If some of your cleaners are paid on a 1099, that test is what decides whether they count as employees for unemployment insurance purposes. I cover how each kind of worker is recorded in 1099 subcontractors vs. W-2 employees. Whether a particular worker passes the test is a question for your CPA or an employment attorney.
Source: Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-604 (source through Laws 2026, LB921)
Source: Nebraska Department of Labor, Employer’s Guide to Unemployment Insurance (revised 9/11/2025)
Nebraska taxes wages, so employers withhold state income tax under Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-2715.03. Withholding registration is with the Nebraska Department of Revenue through its online business registration. Unemployment insurance is handled by the Nebraska Department of Labor, and employers register at neworks.nebraska.gov. Your CPA can tell you which accounts your business needs and when.
Source: Nebraska Department of Revenue, Register Your New Business Online
Source: Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-2715.03
Source: Nebraska Department of Labor, Employer’s Guide to Unemployment Insurance (revised 9/11/2025)
Nebraska’s minimum wage is $15.00 an hour, effective January 1, 2026. The Nebraska Department of Labor’s minimum wage table also lists a July 18, 2026 row and footnotes it as unchanged from January 1, so the rate held at $15.00. The next step is $15.26 on January 1, 2027, and scheduled increases of 1.75% a year continue after that: $15.53 on January 1, 2028, $15.80 on January 1, 2029, and $16.08 on January 1, 2030.
Source: Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-1203(1)(e) (Laws 2026, LB258; effective July 18, 2026)
Source: Nebraska Department of Labor, State of Nebraska Minimum Wage (updated 7/31/2026)
Source: Nebraska Department of Labor, Wages Fact Sheet (version 9/11/2026)
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, State Minimum Wage Laws (updated July 1, 2026)
Two things set Nebraska books apart from a state that doesn’t tax cleaning. The sales tax you collect isn’t income; it’s money you’re holding for the state, and it sits in a liability account until it’s paid. And because you pay tax on your supplies as their consumer, that tax is part of what each job costs.
Then there’s labor. Four scheduled raises can feel like a lot to plan around. It’s ok. We’ll get it. Each new rate goes into your labor cost on the date it takes effect, so your job numbers never run on last year’s wage. The payroll page explains how I record each run against the jobs it paid for.
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 Nebraska 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
Two numbers keep moving in a Nebraska cleaning company's books: the sales tax you're holding for the state and a minimum wage scheduled to rise every January. Collected tax sits in a liability account until it's paid, supply tax becomes part of job cost, and each new wage rate goes into your labor cost on the date it takes effect. Book a short call below, even if your honest answer about sales tax today is "I'm not sure."
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 you handle sales tax on your invoices today, even if the answer is “I’m not sure.” We’ll work it out together, and the first conversation doesn’t cost anything.
