What does Colorado require before your first paid clean?
Not much on the state side. Colorado doesn’t license house cleaners, doesn’t tax cleaning services, and has no statewide business license. A solo cleaner needs a registered name (or none, if you work under your own first and last name), liability insurance, and a check on the local rules where you clean. Denver is the place where those local rules bite.
The real cost of Colorado shows up when you hire. The state minimum wage is above $15, Denver’s is above $19, every employer owes paid sick leave and FAMLI premiums, and workers’ comp starts at one employee. Price for that from the start, even if you work alone for the first year.
Before the first paid clean
- Pick a name and file a Statement of Trade Name ($20) or Articles of Organization for an LLC ($50) with the Secretary of State.
- Get an EIN from the IRS if you plan to hire or want a business bank account.
- If you will work inside Denver city limits, register with Denver Treasury for the occupational privilege tax.
- Buy general liability insurance and tell your auto insurer that you drive to jobs.
- Set prices with no sales tax line, then set up booking and payments.
When you hire
- Buy workers’ comp before the first shift.
- Report the hire within 20 days, and register for unemployment insurance and FAMLI.
- Pay at least $15.16 an hour, or $19.29 for hours worked in Denver, and track sick leave from day one.
This page covers the Colorado rules. For choosing services, equipment and a pricing model, read our general guide on how to start a cleaning business, and see the guide to cleaning business licenses for federal pieces such as the EIN.
Colorado trade names: $20 online, renewed every year
File a Statement of Trade Name with the Colorado Secretary of State, online only, for $20. For a sole proprietor it lasts one year, so put the $5 renewal in your calendar. That is unusual: Michigan and Connecticut, for example, let a name run for five years.
Who has to file
The Secretary of State’s trade name FAQ says an individual who isn’t doing business under their legal first and last name must file, and so must a business entity that trades under anything other than its true name. “Elena Vargas” cleaning homes in Pueblo files nothing. “Elena’s Peak Clean” files a trade name. “Peak Clean Services LLC” working as “Peak Maids” files one too, but that one stays in effect for as long as the LLC is in good standing.
The yearly renewal trap
- One year, then it expires. A trade name filed by an individual expires on the first day after the anniversary month of filing. File on June 15 and it expires July 1 of the next year.
- A three-month window. You can file the renewal during the three months before expiry. The business fee schedule sets the renewal at $5.
- No second chances. An expired trade name can’t be renewed. You file a brand new statement for $20, and the old record stays separate.
Sign up for the Secretary of State’s email notices when you file. They send a reminder when the renewal window opens and another a week before expiry.
A trade name is not a reservation
Colorado trade names aren’t unique: two people can file the same one, and filing doesn’t stop anyone else from using it. Before you print shirts, brainstorm with the name generator, then search the Secretary of State’s business database and check that the web domain and social handles are free.
A Colorado LLC: $50 to form, $25 periodic report
Articles of Organization cost $50 online and each yearly periodic report costs $25. That puts Colorado among the cheapest states to run an LLC in: five years of state fees come to under $200.
From the Secretary of State’s business organizations fee schedule:
| Filing | Fee | When |
|---|---|---|
| Articles of Organization | $50 | Once, online |
| Periodic report | $25 | Every year, around your report month |
| Periodic report late filing penalty | $50 | If you miss the window |
| Reservation of name | $25 | Optional |
| Reinstatement | $100 | If the LLC goes delinquent |
| Dissolution | $10 | When you close |
When the periodic report is due
The periodic report FAQ says your report month is shown on the LLC’s summary page in the business database, and you can file from two months before it to two months after it without a penalty. Miss that and the LLC becomes delinquent, which also starts the clock on any trade name it holds.
The registered agent rule changed in 2024
Every LLC names a registered agent. You can be your own, but the registered agent FAQ says that since a 2024 law change an individual agent must be over 18, live or have a usual place of business in Colorado, and hold a current Colorado driver’s license or ID card, whose number goes on the filing. A cleaner who just moved from another state may need a Colorado ID, or a commercial agent, before forming.
Do you need one?
Not to start. A sole proprietor with a trade name and good insurance is legal in Colorado. An LLC separates business debts from your personal assets, which matters more once you sign contracts or hire. It won’t pay for a scratched countertop; that is the job of liability insurance. Our guide to LLCs for cleaning businesses covers the trade-offs, and the insurance guide covers the policies.
No sales tax on house cleaning in Colorado, with one catch
Colorado doesn’t tax cleaning services, so a $150 clean is billed at $150. The catch runs the other way: you are the end user of your supplies, so you pay sales tax when you buy them, at the combined state and local rate where you shop.
What the state says
The Department of Revenue’s Colorado sales tax guide states that sales of services are generally not subject to Colorado sales tax, and lists the exceptions (telephone service, commercial gas and electricity, prepared food). Cleaning isn’t among them. The state rate is 2.9%, and cities, counties and special districts add their own rates on top for taxable goods.
Home-rule cities
Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Boulder and many other home-rule cities collect their own sales tax instead of letting the state do it. That matters to a cleaner in two cases. First, when you buy supplies: Denver’s tax guide for service businesses says a business that provides a service pays sales or use tax on the products it uses up in Denver while doing the work. Buy online without tax and you owe Denver use tax yourself. Second, if you start selling goods, such as bottles of your own cleaning spray, you need a sales tax license from the state and, in a home-rule city, from the city too.
What a bill looks like
| Clean | Your price | Sales tax | Client pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biweekly clean, 3-bed home in Littleton | $150.00 | $0.00 | $150.00 |
| First deep clean, Fort Collins | $330.00 | $0.00 | $330.00 |
| Move-out clean, Denver apartment | $260.00 | $0.00 | $260.00 |
Since you pay tax on supplies but don’t collect any, build that cost into your price. Start from your costs with the house cleaning pricing guide or the house cleaning price calculator. Compare Connecticut, where every home clean carries 6.35% sales tax.
Denver’s head tax, city licenses and the April 15 property filing
Denver doesn’t license house cleaners, but it does tax the privilege of working there. Any business with activity in Denver owes its occupational privilege tax (OPT), even if it is based in Lakewood or Thornton.
How Denver’s OPT works
Denver’s OPT tax guide describes two taxes:
- Business OPT, $4.00 a month. Owed for each owner, partner or manager working in Denver, whatever they earn. Any business with activity in Denver in a month owes at least $4.00 for that month, with or without a Denver location.
- Employee OPT, $5.75 a month. Owed by each employee who earns $500 or more in a calendar month for work in Denver. You withhold it from their pay, and you also pay $4.00 business OPT for each of them.
Worked example: you and two employees clean homes in Denver every week, and both employees earn more than $500 a month there. You pay $4.00 for yourself and $4.00 for each employee, $12 a month or $144 a year, and you withhold $5.75 a month from each employee’s pay. Register and file through Denver’s eBiz Tax Center, linked from the city’s business tax information page, which also lists the OPT among Denver’s business taxes.
Other cities
Don’t assume every metro city has a head tax. Aurora’s occupational privilege tax was repealed effective January 1, 2025, so cleaning in Aurora no longer triggers one. Other cities can set their own, so ask the tax office of any city where you clean regularly.
Licenses
Denver’s business license directory lists the trades the city licenses, from body art and child care to security services, tree service and dry cleaning establishments. Residential cleaning isn’t on it. Outside Denver, check your own city’s website or call the clerk before your first job, since each city sets its own licensing rules.
Business personal property
Colorado taxes business equipment through county assessors. Denver’s business personal property page says businesses whose equipment has a total actual value above $56,000 must file a declaration by April 15, listing what they owned on January 1. A solo cleaner with a vacuum and a caddy is far below that, but the page asks a business new to Denver to file one listing anyway so the assessor can confirm the exemption.
Paying cleaners in Colorado: $15.16, Denver’s $19.29, sick leave and FAMLI
Your first employee costs at least $15.16 an hour in 2026, or $19.29 for hours worked inside Denver. They earn paid sick leave from day one, and you send FAMLI premiums on their wages every quarter.
Minimum wage: state and Denver
The state’s 2026 COMPS Order poster sets the Colorado minimum wage at $15.16 an hour, updated every year, and tells employers to pay the highest minimum wage that applies, local rates included. Denver Labor’s citywide minimum wage page sets Denver’s rate at $19.29 for 2026 and $19.84 for 2027, for work done in the City and County of Denver.
| A 3.5-hour visit (3 hours cleaning, 30 minutes driving) | Hourly minimum | Wages for the visit |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado Springs, 2026 | $15.16 | $53.06 |
| Denver, 2026 | $19.29 | $67.52 |
| Denver, 2027 | $19.84 | $69.44 |
That is before payroll taxes, FAMLI, workers’ comp and supplies. On a $150 clean, Denver wages alone take 45% of the price, which is why Denver cleaners usually charge more than cleaners in Pueblo or Grand Junction. Our page on what house cleaners make helps you set a rate that keeps good people.
Paid sick leave under the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act
The labor department’s HFWA summary (INFO #6) is blunt: all employers must provide this leave to all employees in Colorado, regardless of size. There is no small-business delay.
- Employees accrue 1 hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours a year.
- It covers their own illness or medical care, caring for a family member, and needs related to domestic abuse, sexual assault or harassment.
- A paid time off policy can satisfy the law if it gives the same rights and pay.
A cleaner working 25 hours a week (about 1,250 hours a year) earns roughly 42 hours of leave. Track it from the first shift.
FAMLI premiums
Colorado’s paid family and medical leave program is funded by premiums. The FAMLI employer page sets them at 0.88% of wages, split 0.44% employer and 0.44% employee. Businesses with nine or fewer employees send in only the 0.44% employee share. Every business with at least one employee registers in My FAMLI+ Employer; a sole proprietor with no employees doesn’t have to. On $2,000 of monthly wages, the employee share is $8.80.
Workers’ comp, unemployment premiums and new-hire reports in Colorado
Workers’ comp is required from your first employee, part time or not. Unemployment premiums start once you pay $1,500 in wages in a quarter, and every new hire, plus any contractor paid $600 or more, is reported within 20 days.
Workers’ comp
The Division of Workers’ Compensation’s employer page says Colorado employers must carry workers’ compensation if they have one or more employees, whether part time, full time or family members, and that anyone paid for their work is presumed to be an employee. If private carriers turn you down, Pinnacol Assurance is required to cover any Colorado employer, so being new is no excuse. Report any injury to your carrier within 10 days.
Unemployment insurance
Under the employer liability requirements, you become liable once you pay $1,500 or more in wages in a calendar quarter, or employ at least one person in 20 different weeks of the year. The 2026 introductory rates put a new non-construction employer at 3.05% (a 1.53% base, 0.17% support rate and 1.35% solvency surcharge). The chargeable wage base is $30,600 for 2026, up from $27,200 in 2025.
Worked example: 3.05% of $30,600 is $933.30, the most you pay for one employee in 2026. A part-timer earning $18,000 costs $549.
New-hire reporting, including contractors
Colorado’s new hire reporting form says reports are due within 20 days of the date someone first works for pay. Colorado goes further than most states: it also wants “service providers”, meaning independent contractors you pay $600 or more, and since 2025 every report includes a date of birth and a flag for whether the person is a contractor. If you send overflow jobs to a cleaner on a 1099, report them too.
Contractor or employee?
Paying cleaners as contractors while you set their schedule, supply the products and dictate the checklist is a classic audit trigger, and the division presumes paid workers are employees. Talk to an accountant before choosing that model.
A Colorado startup budget for a solo cleaner
Required state filings cost $20 for a trade name or $50 for an LLC. Insurance and supplies cost far more than any filing, and a Denver head tax adds $48 a year for a solo owner who cleans in the city.
Fees were checked on official Colorado pages on October 9, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our ranges, not quotes.
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Statement of Trade Name | $20, then $5 a year | Renew within three months before it lapses. Not needed under your own name. |
| LLC Articles of Organization | $50 | Optional. |
| LLC periodic report | $25 a year | $50 penalty if late. |
| Sales tax license | $0 | Not needed to sell cleaning services only. |
| Denver business OPT | $48 a year per owner | Only if you work in Denver. More once you have employees there. |
| Unemployment premiums | Up to $933.30 per employee in 2026 | 3.05% of the first $30,600, once liable. |
| Workers’ comp | Get quotes | Required from the first employee. |
| General liability insurance | $400 to $1,000 a year (estimate) | Depends on limits, payroll and claims history. |
| Starter supplies and equipment | $300 to $700 (estimate) | Includes the sales tax you pay at the register. |
| Scheduling, booking and payments software | $0 to $60 a month | BroomBook is $29 a month for up to 2 cleaners. |
A realistic launch budget for a solo cleaner in Colorado is about $800 to $1,900 (our estimate), most of it insurance and equipment. The cleaning business supplies list keeps you from overbuying, and the profit calculator shows what is left after wages and supplies at Colorado or Denver pay rates.
First clients along the Front Range, and where BroomBook fits
Keep your first service area tight. Drive time on I-25 and C-470 eats margins fast, and if you stay outside Denver’s city limits at first you also skip its head tax and higher wage floor until you are ready to price for them. Referrals, a Google Business Profile, neighborhood Facebook and Nextdoor groups, and realtors who need move-out cleans bring most first clients. Our guide on how to get clients for a cleaning business has scripts for each.
We make BroomBook, scheduling and online booking software for residential cleaning businesses. Clients book online with an instant price based on bedrooms, bathrooms and extras, and you can limit bookings to the ZIP codes or driving distance you serve. Its sales tax setting is optional and applies one rate to the whole business, so in Colorado you simply leave it off. Cards are charged after the clean through Stripe, tips included, with no cut taken by BroomBook. Cleaners get a private link with their jobs, checklists and clock in and out, and hours export to CSV for your payroll service; it doesn’t calculate withholding or file taxes. Plans are $29 a month for up to 2 cleaners or $59 a month for unlimited cleaners, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. See the scheduling software page for details.