Houston, Texas
Every Houston listing on the Texas Comptroller's city list totals 8.25%, across the Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery County portions. The city's 1% is the same in all of them; the second local 1% usually goes to the Houston MTA, but in some areas one or two special districts take it instead. Texas taxes residential and commercial cleaning alike, with narrow exceptions.
The total on a taxable Houston invoice doesn't move, but which district gets the second 1% can. This page shows which districts turn up in the Houston listings, how the Texas household exemption treats a cleaner who works as a subcontractor, and what both mean for your books.
The Comptroller's city sales and use tax list shows every Houston listing at a 1% city rate under local code 2101017 and an 8.25% total, and notes that the total includes the state's 6.25%. In most listings the second local 1% belongs to the Houston MTA. In some areas it goes instead to one of these:
Whichever one applies, the listing still totals 8.25%.
Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, City Sales and Use Tax (read October 21, 2026)
Residential and commercial cleaning are both taxable in Texas under the Comptroller's Publication 94-111. Its household exemption reaches only a self-employed person providing traditional household services as an employee of the household; a cleaner working as a subcontractor for a third party such as a maid service doesn't fit it. The other exceptions are on my Texas sales tax page.
Whether someone on your crew is an employee or a subcontractor is a separate question. For unemployment insurance, the Texas Workforce Commission uses the common-law, right-to-control test. TWC cites Texas Labor Code Sec. 201.041, and it cites 40 Tex. Admin. Code Sec. 821.5 as the rule source for its 20-factor independent contractor test. How each kind of worker shows up in the books is covered in my post on 1099 subcontractors and W-2 employees.
Source: Texas Workforce Commission, Classifying Employees and Independent Contractors
Collected sales tax goes to a liability account, never into income. On the invoice, 8.25% reads the same anywhere in Houston, which is exactly why the total alone doesn't tell you much. That second 1% isn't one thing across the city. It's the Houston MTA in most listings, it's a Fort Bend County assistance district in some, and it's one or two emergency services districts in others. I keep the job address on every taxable invoice, and subcontractor payments sit on their own expense line, apart from payroll. Payroll registration and the Texas minimum wage are on my Texas page.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. Which listing a job falls under, whether an exemption applies, and how the tax is reported are questions for your CPA; whether a cleaner is an employee or a subcontractor is one for your CPA or an employment attorney.
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 Houston 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
Houston's total stays at 8.25%, but the second local 1% can belong to different districts. Collected tax is recorded as a liability tied to the invoice and job address it came from, and subcontractor payments are kept apart from payroll. Book a short call below and tell me how your Houston crews are set up.
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
Using subcontractors on Houston jobs and want them, and the sales tax, on the right lines? Tell me how you pay your crews today. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
