What sets Kentucky apart for a new house cleaner?
Sales tax and local license taxes. Kentucky is one of the few states that taxes a weekly house clean, and its cities and counties tax business profits through occupational license taxes. The state filings themselves are cheap: a $40 LLC and a $15 annual report.
This page covers the Kentucky rules. For the parts that work the same everywhere (choosing services, buying supplies, setting a price list) start with the general guide on how to start a cleaning business. If you are deciding whether to form a company at all, our LLC guide for cleaning businesses walks through the trade-offs.
Here is the Kentucky checklist, with who you deal with and what it costs:
| Step | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Assumed name (sole proprietor using a business name) | County clerk where your business is based | Set by the county |
| Or form an LLC | Kentucky Secretary of State | $40, then $15 a year |
| Sales and use tax permit | Kentucky Department of Revenue (Form 10A100) | You collect 6% on every clean |
| Local occupational license registration | Your city or county (for example Louisville Metro Revenue Commission or Lexington-Fayette) | A percentage of net profit, minimums vary |
| When you hire: workers’ comp, unemployment account, new-hire reports | Private insurer, Office of Unemployment Insurance, Kentucky new-hire program | Premiums, 2.7% UI rate to start, no fee to report |
Picking a name first? Run ideas through the cleaning business name generator, then check the Secretary of State’s business search before you file anything.
County clerk or Secretary of State: which Kentucky filing do you need?
It depends on whether you work as yourself or as a company. A sole proprietor using a business name files a certificate of assumed name with the county clerk. An LLC files Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State for $40 and then owes a $15 annual report every year.
Sole proprietors: the county clerk
Kentucky’s assumed name law, KRS 365.015, says nobody may do business under a name other than their real name without filing a certificate of assumed name. For an individual, the certificate goes to the county clerk where you keep your principal place of business, not to the state. So “Dana Whitaker” needs nothing, while “Bluegrass Shine Cleaning” owned by Dana needs a certificate at her county clerk’s office. Ask the clerk for the current fee.
The same statute sets the term: an assumed name lasts five years from filing, and you renew it by filing a renewal certificate in the six months before it runs out. If you stop using the name, you file a certificate of withdrawal where you filed the original.
The Kentucky LLC
The Secretary of State’s fee schedule lists Articles of Organization for an LLC at $40, a name reservation at $15 for 120 days, and a certificate of assumed name for an entity at $20 (renewal also $20). An LLC that trades under a different name, say “Whitaker Home Services LLC” doing business as “Bluegrass Shine”, files that certificate with the Secretary of State and a stamped copy with the county clerk where its registered agent is.
The yearly obligation is small but strict. The annual reports page says every entity doing business in Kentucky must file between January 1 and June 30, with a $15 fee. Domestic companies that miss June 30 are administratively dissolved and stay in bad standing until they reinstate. Put the date in your calendar the day you form.
The $175 entity tax that surprises new LLC owners
Kentucky has a limited liability entity tax (LLET), and it reaches single-member LLCs even though the IRS ignores them for income tax. The Department of Revenue’s Form 725 instructions say a single-member LLC owned by an individual is a limited liability pass-through entity subject to the LLET and must file Form 725. If its Kentucky gross receipts or gross profits are $3,000,000 or less, the LLET is the $175 minimum. Part of the LLET can be credited against your personal income tax, but the instructions reduce that credit by $175, so in practice the minimum is a real yearly cost.
Add it up and a Kentucky LLC runs about $40 to start and $190 a year ($15 report plus $175 LLET) to keep. That is still modest, but it is more than the headline $15. An LLC separates business debts from yours. It does not pay for a cracked countertop, which is what liability insurance is for.
Do Kentucky cleaners charge sales tax on house cleaning?
Yes. Since July 1, 2018 Kentucky has taxed janitorial services, and the statute spells out that this includes residential cleaning. You register for a sales and use tax permit and add 6% to each clean. There is no local sales tax, so the rate is the same in Paducah and Pikeville.
What the law covers
The tax statute, KRS 139.200, imposes 6% on the gross receipts from “janitorial services, including but not limited to residential and commercial cleaning services, and carpet, upholstery, and window cleaning services”. A standard clean, a deep clean, a move-out clean and window washing are all in scope. There is no exemption for homeowners, which is the opposite of states such as Iowa that exempt cleaning paid for by the person living in the home.
The Department of Revenue has applied that wording widely:
- Its janitorial services FAQ says duct cleaning is taxable whoever does it, and that residential or commercial cleaning work such as water extraction, carpet restoration, tile and grout cleaning or deodorizing is taxable. Removing and installing carpet or drywall is contractor work and is not.
- Its Winter 2025/2026 Sales Tax Facts newsletter says pressure washing homes, patios, siding and sidewalks is taxable as a janitorial service.
Your supplies are taxed too
The same newsletter notes that chemicals, cleaning supplies and other items a service provider uses up while doing the work don’t qualify for the resale exemption. You pay sales tax when you buy your microfiber, sprays and vacuum bags, and you charge tax again on the clean. Budget for both.
Registering and charging it
The Department of Revenue’s sales and use tax page confirms the 6% rate, notes that Kentucky has no local sales taxes, and points new businesses to the Kentucky Tax Registration Application (Form 10A100) to get a permit. Returns are filed through the state’s MyTaxes portal.
In practice: a $160 clean becomes $169.60 with tax. Decide early whether your advertised prices include tax or not, and say so on your booking page. Neighboring Ohio also taxes maid service, but only once sales pass $5,000 a year and at county rates, so if you clean on both sides of the river, keep the two sets of rules apart.
What do Louisville and Lexington charge a cleaning business?
Both tax your net profit and both want you registered before you earn anything. Louisville Metro’s combined rate for a business is 2.2%. Lexington-Fayette charges 2.25%, with a $100 minimum fee for most businesses.
Louisville Metro
The Revenue Commission’s 2026 occupational license tax regulations list three pieces that apply to business net profit: the occupational license tax at 1.25%, a transit tax at 0.20% and a school boards tax at 0.75%. Together that is 2.2% of the net profit from work done in Louisville Metro. The same rules apply to wages, so once you have employees you withhold the tax from their pay too.
The regulations require businesses and employers to apply for an occupational license tax account number before commencing business. The Commission’s registration page lets you sign up online through its EMINTS portal or on a paper application. Each business entity files an annual return (Form OL-3).
Lexington-Fayette
Lexington’s occupational license fee is 2.25% of a business’s net profits and of employee compensation. Its filing requirements page says you must get an initial occupational license before starting, with a $100 initial fee, and then pay a $100 annual minimum with the Net Profits License Fee Return. Every business files that return each year, sole proprietors included. One break for part-timers: a sole proprietor reporting $4,400 or less in gross receipts for the year doesn’t owe the minimum fee, but still files.
Everywhere else
The Louisville regulations cite KRS 67.750 to 67.795, the state law that lets Kentucky cities and counties levy occupational license taxes, and many do. If you clean in more than one city or county, your profit is usually split between them. Call the finance office of each place you plan to work before your first booking, and ask about home-business zoning if you will store supplies or meet staff at home.
When does Kentucky require workers’ comp for a cleaning crew?
From your first employee. Kentucky has no small-employer exemption, and part-time workers and family members count. You buy the policy from a private insurer.
The Education and Labor Cabinet’s workers’ compensation FAQ says employers with one or more employees must obtain and keep a workers’ comp policy unless the Commissioner has approved them to pay claims directly. It adds that family members, temporary workers and part-time workers are employees for this purpose. That matters for cleaning companies, where the second person on the team is often a sister or a college student working Saturdays.
The penalties are steep: $100 to $1,000 for each employee for every day you go without coverage, plus repaying any benefits the Uninsured Employers’ Fund covers. Any carrier licensed by the Kentucky Department of Insurance can write the policy, so get quotes alongside your general liability policy.
For the rest of your coverage (general liability, a janitorial bond, commercial auto) see our guide to cleaning business insurance. Clients who hand you a key will often ask about the bond, and the janitorial bond guide explains what it does and doesn’t cover.
Hiring cleaners in Kentucky: wages, breaks and payroll accounts
Pay at least $7.25 an hour, give a paid 10-minute break every four hours, register for unemployment insurance once you meet the payroll test, and report each new hire within 20 days.
Minimum wage, overtime and the seventh day
The Cabinet’s wages and hours page sets the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour (unchanged since July 1, 2009) and requires time and a half over 40 hours in a workweek, with no comp time in place of overtime. The U.S. Department of Labor’s state minimum wage table adds a Kentucky quirk: a separate state law requires premium pay for work on the seventh day of the workweek. If a cleaner works every day of a busy move-out week, ask your payroll provider how to handle it.
Breaks are paid and required
Kentucky requires a paid rest period of at least 10 minutes for every four hours worked, and a reasonable meal period between the third and fifth hour of a shift. Build both into your route plan: a crew doing three homes in a day needs real gaps between jobs, not just drive time.
Unemployment insurance
The Office of Unemployment Insurance’s 2026 employer guide says a for-profit business becomes liable once it pays $1,500 in wages in a calendar quarter or has a worker in any part of 20 weeks in a year. New employers get a rate of at least 2.7% until they have three years of experience. The taxable wage base for 2026 is $12,000 with no surcharge, so the tax tops out around $324 per employee a year.
New-hire reports
Under KRS 405.435, employers report each new or returning employee within 20 days, with the employee’s name, address and Social Security number and your federal and state employer numbers. A copy of the W-4 works.
Employee or contractor?
Calling cleaners contractors doesn’t make them contractors, and in Kentucky it doesn’t save as much as people hope: the work is still taxable, and the local license taxes still apply to whoever does it. Read our guide to contractor versus employee cleaners before you decide.
What does it cost to open a cleaning company in Kentucky?
The state fees are small: $40 for an LLC, or a county clerk fee for an assumed name. Insurance, supplies and local license minimums cost more, and the $175 LLET is the fee most people forget.
Government fees below were checked on official Kentucky pages on October 10, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our rough ranges, not quotes, so replace them with your own numbers.
| Cost item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Assumed name at the county clerk | County fee | Sole proprietors using a business name. Five-year term. |
| LLC Articles of Organization | $40 | Optional. Add $20 if the LLC trades under another name. |
| Annual report | $15 a year | Due January 1 to June 30. LLCs and other entities. |
| Limited liability entity tax | $175 a year | LLCs with $3 million or less in gross receipts or gross profits. |
| Sales tax on your services | 6% collected from clients | Passed through, but you pay tax on your own supplies. |
| Lexington occupational license | $100 initial, then 2.25% of net profit | $100 annual minimum. Louisville is 2.2% of net profit. |
| General liability insurance | Get quotes | Compare two or three quotes for the same limits. |
| Starter supply kit | $200 to $500 (estimate) | Sales tax included, since supplies aren’t exempt. |
| Booking, scheduling and payment software | Your choice | BroomBook is $29 a month for up to 2 cleaners, with a 14-day free trial. |
A lean Lexington start as a sole proprietor might be the county clerk fee, the $100 initial license, $200 to $500 of supplies and a first insurance payment. Check your margins with the cleaning business profit calculator, and remember the 6% goes on top of whatever price you set.
How do you land your first Kentucky clients and stay organized?
Start close to home: neighbors, coworkers, church and school groups, and a free Google Business Profile that names the towns you serve. Keep your first service area to one city or county if you can, since each extra jurisdiction can mean another occupational license return.
Our guide on how to get clients for a cleaning business covers referrals, partnerships and reviews, and the house cleaning pricing guide shows how to build prices that leave room for tax and a fair wage.
Running it with BroomBook
We make BroomBook, scheduling and online booking software for residential cleaning businesses. How it fits a Kentucky business, limits included:
- Sales tax on every receipt. Turn sales tax on, enter 6%, and it is added to each clean and shown on the receipt. Kentucky’s single statewide rate makes this simpler than in states with county rates.
- Instant-price online booking. Clients choose bedrooms, bathrooms, type of clean and extras, see the price and pick an open time. You can limit bookings by distance or ZIP code, which keeps work inside the cities where you are registered.
- Cards charged after the clean. Through your own Stripe account, with tips. BroomBook takes no cut of payments.
- Crew links and payroll export. Each cleaner gets a private link with jobs, checklists and clock in and out. Hours and tips export to CSV for your payroll service. BroomBook doesn’t calculate withholding, local occupational taxes or workers’ comp premiums.
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 on our cleaning scheduling software page. If you need QuickBooks sync, invoicing on net terms or a native app-store app, BroomBook isn’t the right fit.