How to start a cleaning business in Georgia: 2026 guide

What does Georgia require before your first paid clean?

A local occupation tax certificate, a trade name or LLC if you use a business name, and insurance. Georgia has no state license for house cleaning and no sales tax on it, so the paperwork that varies most is local: your city or county.

This page covers the Georgia rules. For the steps that are the same everywhere, such as picking services, buying supplies and doing your first cleans, read our general guide on how to start a cleaning business. For the federal side (EIN and the meaning of “licensed, bonded and insured”), see what licenses are needed to start a cleaning business.

Do it in this order, because each step feeds the next:

1. Pick a name and structure. Form an LLC with the Secretary of State, or file a trade name with your county clerk of superior court.
2. Get your occupation tax certificate from the city or county where the business is located. Atlanta, for example, asks for your articles of incorporation if you are incorporated.
3. Buy general liability insurance, and tell your auto insurer you drive to jobs.
4. Set prices with no sales tax added, then set up booking, reminders and payments.
5. When you hire: report new hires within 10 days, register for unemployment insurance with the Georgia Department of Labor, and add workers’ comp by your third worker.

Need a name? Try the cleaning business name generator. Want to check the numbers first? The cleaning business plan template builds a 12-month forecast from your prices and costs.

Which local license does a Georgia cleaning company need?

An occupation tax certificate (often called a business license) from the city or county where your business is located. Georgia has no separate cleaning license, so this local certificate is the one to get, and in Atlanta it is renewed and taxed every year.

Where you register

Atlanta’s Office of Revenue FAQ explains the state rule: you register your business in the municipality or jurisdiction where it is located, and that registration lets you operate statewide. So a cleaner based in Marietta registers with Marietta, even when most homes they clean are in Atlanta. If you live outside any city limits, contact your county’s business license office instead.

What Atlanta asks for

Each city sets its own process and rates. Atlanta’s list is a useful example of what to expect:

• Government-issued photo ID, and your articles of incorporation if you are incorporated
• Notarized SAVE and E-Verify affidavits
• Your federal tax ID (EIN) or Social Security number
• A $75 registration fee and a $50 zoning review fee

The yearly tax itself is based on your gross receipts, number of employees and type of business, and an Atlanta-based business is taxed on its receipts from across Georgia. Certificates run January 1 to December 31. Renewal season ends February 15, and a late renewal costs a $500 failure-to-file fee. Payment is due by April 1, with a 10% failure-to-pay fee after that.

E-Verify as you grow

The Georgia Department of Labor’s employer handbook says Georgia law requires employers with more than ten employees to register and participate in E-Verify as a condition of getting or renewing a business license, and that some places require it at lower employee counts. Plan for it before your eleventh hire.

Zoning for a home-based business

Atlanta’s $50 zoning review is a reminder that cities limit what you can run from a house, such as signs, staff parking and stored equipment. If you work at clients’ homes and nobody comes to yours, say so clearly on your application, and ask your city’s zoning office if you plan to meet staff or store supplies at home.

What do a Georgia LLC and a trade name cost?

An LLC is $110 to form and $60 a year after that, filed with the Secretary of State. A trade name is filed with your county’s clerk of superior court instead, has to be advertised in the newspaper, and never needs renewing. The county fee and the newspaper charge vary.

Forming an LLC

The Secretary of State’s guide to registering a domestic entity sets out the costs:

• Articles of Organization: $110 ($100 filing fee plus a $10 service charge), online or by mail. Online filings are generally processed in about 7 business days. Two-day processing costs $120 more, same-day $275 more.
• Annual registration: $60 ($50 plus the $10 service charge), filed between January 1 and April 1 every year. The first one is due in the year after you form, so an LLC formed in October 2026 first files between January 1 and April 1, 2027. You can pay up to three years ahead.
• If you miss it: the LLC can be administratively dissolved. Reinstating it within five years costs $260.

You also name a registered agent located in Georgia to receive legal papers and official notices.

Filing a trade name

If you trade as a sole proprietor under a business name (“Peach State Sparkle” rather than “Keisha Brown”), Georgia’s DBA guide says you file the trade name with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where the business is located. Then:

• Search the county’s trade name records first to make sure the name isn’t in use.
• Pay the clerk’s filing fee, which varies by county, using the county’s Trade Name Application.
• Publish a notice in the newspaper the sheriff’s office uses for legal advertisements, at least once a week for two consecutive weeks. You pay the paper directly, and you keep the Publisher’s Affidavit as proof.

Processing can take several weeks. Trade names don’t need renewing, but changing one means a new registration and a fee. An LLC trading under a different name files a trade name too.

Which one should you pick?

Call your county clerk for the trade name fee and ask the legal newspaper what two weeks of notices cost, then compare that one-time total with the LLC’s $110 plus $60 a year. The LLC adds limited liability for business debts, but it doesn’t replace insurance, which is what pays when something in a client’s home gets damaged.

Do you add Georgia sales tax to a cleaning price?

No. Georgia taxes goods and a short list of services, and cleaning isn’t on it. You don’t collect sales tax from clients, but you do pay sales tax on the supplies and equipment you buy.

The Georgia Department of Revenue’s page on what is subject to sales and use tax says that while most services are exempt, Georgia does tax accommodations, in-state transportation of people (taxis, limos), admissions, and charges to take part in games and amusements. Residential and office cleaning are not among them.

The same page has two rules that do affect a cleaning business:

• You are the end user of your supplies. Service providers are in most cases liable for sales or use tax on the tangible goods they use to provide the service. Pay tax when you buy cleaning products, and build that cost into your prices.
• Selling products changes things. If a nontaxable service provider also sells goods, it must collect and remit sales tax on those sales. Selling clients bottles of the products you use means registering for sales tax.

In practice, the price you publish is the price clients pay. The state rate on goods is 4%, plus local rates, which only matters for what you buy.

When does a Georgia cleaning crew need workers’ comp?

Once you regularly employ three or more people, part-timers included. The detail that catches small Georgia companies out is that LLC members and corporate officers count toward the three.

The State Board of Workers’ Compensation’s insurance FAQ spells out the rule and how to count:

• Three or more, regularly. If you regularly employ three or more persons in your Georgia business, you must provide the benefits.
• Regular part-timers count. That includes people who only work weekends, and seasonal hires if you regularly add staff in a certain season.
• LLC members and officers count. If your company is an LLC or incorporated, its members or officers are included in the count. Up to five can waive coverage on themselves with form WC-10, but a waiver doesn’t take them out of the count.
• Sole proprietors and partners don’t. Georgia treats them as employers, not employees, though they can choose to be covered by telling their insurer in writing.

So the same crew can be treated differently depending on structure. A two-member LLC with one regular cleaner has three and needs a policy. A sole proprietor with two regular cleaners has two and doesn’t, until the next hire. North Carolina, by comparison, doesn’t count LLC members automatically (see our North Carolina guide).

You buy Georgia workers’ comp from a private insurer, often alongside general liability. Our guide to cleaning business insurance explains liability, bonds and how comp premiums are set.

Hiring in Georgia: $7.25 or $5.15, new-hire reports and unemployment

Plan on $7.25 an hour. Georgia’s own minimum wage is $5.15, but the Georgia Department of Labor says the federal $7.25 applies with only limited exceptions. Report each hire within 10 days, and register for unemployment insurance once you meet the payroll test.

Minimum wage

The Georgia Department of Labor’s minimum wage page lists the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour (since July 24, 2009) and Georgia’s $5.15, noting that with some limited exceptions the federal rate applies. Don’t build a pay plan around $5.15: if you are wrong about an exception, you owe back pay. And in practice, good cleaners expect well above either number.

New-hire reports in 10 days

The department’s employer handbook says Georgia law and federal law require all employers to report newly hired and rehired employees to a state directory within ten days of their hire date, through the Georgia New Hire Reporting Program. Ten days is shorter than the 20 days in Ohio or North Carolina, so report on the first payday or sooner. Report employees even if they work only one day.

Unemployment insurance

Per the department’s unemployment insurance FAQ, you are generally liable once you have a quarterly payroll of $1,500 or at least one worker in 20 different calendar weeks in a year. You then file an Application for GDOL Tax Account (DOL-1A), ideally right after your first Georgia payroll, and file quarterly tax and wage reports. Tax is due only on the first $9,500 of each employee’s wages per year.

Employee or contractor?

Paying cleaners on a 1099 doesn’t make them contractors. If they work the schedule you set, with your supplies, on your checklists, for your clients, they look like employees, and that affects unemployment tax, workers’ comp and your occupation tax employee count. Ask an accountant before you decide.

What does it cost to start cleaning homes in Georgia?

Expect $110 for an LLC (or a county trade name fee plus a newspaper notice), your local occupation tax certificate, and insurance. No sales tax permit is needed for cleaning, and workers’ comp waits until your third worker.

Government fees below were checked on official pages on October 5, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our rough ranges, not quotes.

To turn these costs into prices, use the house cleaning pricing guide and the house cleaning price calculator. Remember to cover your yearly occupation tax and the $60 LLC registration in your overhead.

How do you get Georgia clients and keep the week organized?

Ask friends and neighbors first, set up a free Google Business Profile with the cities you cover, and give people a booking link so they can book at 10pm without calling you. Keep your first service area small so your days aren’t spent in traffic.

For the full playbook (referrals, partners, flyers, reviews), read how to get clients for a cleaning business. For ranking in local search, see cleaning company SEO.

Running it with BroomBook

We make BroomBook, a scheduling, online booking and crew app for residential cleaning businesses. Here is how it fits a Georgia business, limits included:

• No tax line unless you add one. Sales tax is off by default, which matches Georgia cleaning.
• Booking that respects drive time. Clients see an instant price and pick an open slot, and the booking page keeps drive time free between visits. You can limit your area by distance or ZIP code and add travel fees for farther homes.
• A crew app with no download. Each cleaner gets a private link with jobs, room-by-room checklists, clock in and out, and job notes translated into Spanish, French or Portuguese if they prefer.
• Payroll and occupation tax numbers. Hours, tips and commission export to CSV for your payroll service, and Insights shows revenue by week for your receipts. BroomBook doesn’t file taxes or run payroll deductions.

Plans are $29 a month on Solo (up to 2 cleaners) or $59 a month on Team (unlimited cleaners), with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. See the calendar, routes and reassigning on our cleaning scheduling software page.

Pick something other than BroomBook if

• You need automatic QuickBooks sync. BroomBook doesn’t sync with accounting software.
• You bill clients by invoice with net terms. BroomBook charges cards after the job and sends receipts.
• You want a native app from the App Store or Google Play. BroomBook runs in the phone’s browser.
• You mainly bid on commercial janitorial contracts or run a multi-trade field service company.