Omaha
Taxable cleaning in Omaha carries a 7.0% combined sales tax rate: Nebraska's 5.5% plus Omaha's 1.5% city local sales and use tax, and Nebraska taxes residential and commercial cleaning, with stated exceptions. Omaha's minimum wage ordinance is the subject of a lawsuit by the State, and whether it can be enforced isn't established. Nebraska's state rate is $15.00 an hour, rising to $15.26 on January 1, 2027.
Omaha has a settled number and an unsettled one. The sales tax rate on taxable cleaning is on the Department of Revenue's current table; the city's minimum wage ordinance is the subject of a lawsuit by the State. This page covers the rate and which jobs it reaches, what's known about the ordinance and the State's lawsuit, the state wage, and what all of it means for your books. Payroll registration and the employee test are on bookkeeping for Nebraska cleaning businesses.
The Nebraska Department of Revenue's local rate table effective July 1, 2026 lists Omaha's city local sales and use tax at 1.5%. With the 5.5% state rate, taxable cleaning in Omaha comes to 7.0%. The department says there are no local rate changes for the quarter beginning October 1, 2026, so the July table is the current one.
Source: Nebraska Department of Revenue, Local Sales and Use Tax Rates (effective July 1, 2026)
Nebraska taxes residential and commercial cleaning. Under the department's building cleaning guide, lawn care, snow removal, and outdoor parking lot maintenance are excluded from building cleaning and maintenance, services an employee performs for the employer aren't taxed, and cleaning a building under construction is taxable. Cleaning businesses are the consumer of their supplies and pay tax on them. The full conditions are on my Nebraska sales tax page, and whether a particular job is taxable is a question for your CPA.
Source: Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-2701.16(4)(a)
According to a complaint filed by the Nebraska Attorney General, the Omaha City Council passed Ordinance No. 44716 on July 14, 2026, and the ordinance was scheduled to take effect October 1, 2026. On August 18, 2026, the State sued the City in Douglas County District Court (State of Nebraska ex rel. Hilgers v. City of Omaha, Case No. D01CI260007306), asking the court to declare the ordinance void and to stop its enforcement. Whether the ordinance is in effect, for whom, and at what rate isn't established: no court order or City of Omaha source was reviewed for this page. That question belongs with an employment attorney.
The state rate is settled. The Nebraska Department of Labor lists $15.00 an hour now, unchanged from January 1, 2026, and $15.26 on January 1, 2027. There's a $13.50 youth rate for ages 14 and 15, and a $13.50 training wage for 90 days for new hires ages 16 to 19.
Source: Nebraska Department of Labor, State of Nebraska Minimum Wage (updated July 31, 2026)
Sales tax collected on an Omaha job goes to a liability account, never into income, and the tax you pay on supplies is recorded as a cost of the work. The wage side is less tidy right now. None of that needs to rattle you. Books don't wait on courts. Wages go in as paid. Done. I record payroll at each person's actual wage, so whatever the ordinance's status turns out to be, the labor numbers already show what was paid.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I keep sales tax and payroll recorded; whether the Omaha ordinance applies to your employees is a question for an employment attorney, and tax questions go to 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 Omaha 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
Omaha's 7.0% on taxable cleaning belongs in a liability account tied to the invoice it came from, and payroll goes in at the wage each person is actually paid, whatever the city ordinance's status turns out to be. That way the labor numbers rest on the paychecks themselves. Book a short call below and let's look at a recent Omaha invoice together.
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
Cleaning in Omaha and not sure where the 7.0% lands in your books? Tell me how your invoices handle it. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
