What does Missouri ask of a new house cleaner?
Little at the state level and more at the city level. Missouri has no state cleaning license, charges no sales tax on cleaning and asks nothing of an LLC after it is formed. The paperwork that catches people is local: business licenses and earnings taxes in Kansas City and St. Louis, and a business license in Springfield.
Hiring is where 2026 brings changes. The minimum wage reached $15.00 on January 1, while the paid sick leave voters approved in 2024 was repealed in 2025. Know both before you set a wage.
Before your first paid clean
- Register a fictitious name with the Secretary of State, or form an LLC.
- Find out whether your city, and each city you clean in, requires a business license.
- Buy general liability insurance, and tell your auto insurer you drive to jobs.
- Set prices with no sales tax line, and set up booking and card payments.
Before your first employee
- Register with the Department of Revenue for withholding and with the Division of Employment Security for unemployment tax.
- Report the hire within 20 days.
- Pay at least $15.00 an hour, and check city withholding if the cleaner lives or works in Kansas City or St. Louis.
- Plan for workers’ comp as you near 5 employees, or buy it sooner.
For choosing services, equipment and your first homes, read the general guide on how to start a cleaning business. This page is about Missouri’s rules.
How does a Missouri fictitious name registration work?
You file it with the Secretary of State, not the county, for $7. It lasts five years and must be in place before you do business under the name.
When you need one
Missouri’s fictitious name law, RSMo 417.200, treats any name you do business under other than your true name as a fictitious name, and requires you to register it with the Secretary of State before doing business under it. A cleaner working as “Rachel Brandt” needs nothing. “Rachel’s Ozark Cleaning” or “Gateway Maids” needs a registration. So does an LLC that trades under a name other than its legal one.
Fee, term and renewal
The Secretary of State’s schedule of fees lists $7.00 to register, renew, correct or amend a fictitious name; cancelling one is free. The fictitious name FAQ says a registration is good for five years, can be renewed only in the six months before it expires, and can’t be renewed once it has expired: you file a new one. Failing to register is a misdemeanor.
Put a reminder in your calendar for four and a half years out. At $7, a lapse costs little in fees but can leave your name open for someone else to register.
Need ideas first? Run a few through the cleaning business name generator, then search the state’s business records before you file.
What does a Missouri LLC cost, and why is there no annual report?
$50 online or $105 on paper, and nothing a year after that. Missouri is one of a small group of states that ask nothing of an LLC each year at the state level.
Forming it
The fee schedule lists Articles of Organization for a domestic LLC at $50 online and $105 on paper, and the Secretary of State’s business FAQ confirms the same split. File online: the $55 difference pays for a year of business email.
No annual report
The same FAQ answers “No” to whether LLCs must file an annual report. Compare that with neighboring Kansas, where an LLC files a report every year, or Illinois, where it pays more to form and to keep. In Missouri you keep a registered agent and address current, and that is it.
Registered agent
The FAQ says the registered agent must be a Missouri resident whose business office is the registered office, or a corporation authorized to do business in Missouri. A PO box works only if a street address in the same city is listed too. Most solo owners name themselves at home; if you don’t want your home address public, use a registered agent service.
Do you need one?
Because it is cheap and needs no upkeep, the LLC is an easier decision in Missouri than in most states. It keeps business debts apart from your own, though it doesn’t replace liability insurance for a broken vase. Our guide to LLCs for cleaning businesses covers the trade-offs.
Does Missouri tax cleaning services?
No, for homes and offices alike. The Department of Revenue lists residential, janitorial, commercial, carpet and window cleaning as exempt, so you don’t add tax to a clean and don’t need a sales tax license to sell one.
What the Department of Revenue says
The Department’s janitorial services tax matrix marks residential house cleaning, janitorial, commercial, carpet and window cleaning as exempt. On the other side of the same matrix, the things you buy are taxable: cleaning chemicals and products, equipment such as vacuums and mops, safety gear and uniforms. Its sales and use tax page sets the state rate at 4.225%, with city and county taxes added on top, so your supply bill carries the full local rate.
That is a real contrast with states such as Iowa, which taxes office cleaning, and it makes Missouri an easy place to take commercial accounts once you are ready.
When you would register
The Department’s registration requirements say a business needs a sales tax license if it makes sales of tangible personal property or taxable services, and that employers register for withholding. A cleaner who starts selling cleaning kits or gift baskets registers for sales tax; one who hires registers for withholding.
Personal property declarations
Missouri taxes business personal property at the county level. Under RSMo 137.340, returns listing property owned on January 1 go to the county assessor between January 1 and March 1. A carpet extractor or a work van can end up on that list, and Springfield asks for a personal property tax receipt or a statement of non-assessment before it issues a business license.
Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield: city licenses and earnings taxes
Missouri’s big cities, not the state, decide whether you need a business license, and its two largest also tax earnings at 1%. Check the city you live in and every city you clean in.
Kansas City
Kansas City’s business license FAQ says all businesses operating in Kansas City, Missouri need a license regardless of size or type, including businesses based outside the city that work inside it. You file and pay even with no gross receipts. Licenses expire December 31, renewals are due by the last day of February, fees aren’t prorated, and late filers owe a 5% penalty from March 1 plus 5% a month, up to 25%. The fee depends on the type of business, so ask the city for yours.
The city’s tax form descriptions list a 1% earnings tax on residents and on nonresidents working in Kansas City, and a 1% tax on business net profits that sole proprietors, partnerships and corporations file even at a loss. Employers withhold and file quarterly, and every Kansas City tax return is filed electronically.
St. Louis
The City of St. Louis runs a graduated business license on a June 1 to May 31 year. A new business pays $200 if it starts between June 1 and January 1, or $100 if it starts after January 1. Renewals are priced by St. Louis employees: $200 for 0 to 2, $325 for 3 to 5 and $675 for 6 to 10, where an employee counts once they work 1,920 or more hours a year in the city.
St. Louis also charges a 1% business earnings tax, due April 15 for calendar-year filers, from city businesses and from nonresident businesses working in the city; businesses with no employees still file. Once you hire, its payroll tax page adds a 1% withholding on wages of employees living or working in the city and a 0.5% payroll expense tax the employer pays, filed together each quarter.
Springfield and other cities
Springfield’s business license page says generally anyone providing services or selling goods in the city needs a license, home-based businesses included, and that you should apply at least two weeks before you start. Its application page lists the personal property tax receipt or statement of non-assessment you will need. Columbia, Independence and the St. Louis County suburbs set their own rules, so call the city clerk.
What does a Missouri cleaner on payroll cost in 2026?
At least $15.00 an hour, with no state paid sick leave requirement since August 28, 2025. Unemployment tax and, at 5 employees, workers’ comp come on top.
The $15.00 minimum wage
The Division of Labor Standards’ minimum wage page sets the rate at $15.00 an hour from January 1, 2026. Tipped workers can be paid $7.50 an hour, but only if tips bring them to $15.00, which few house cleaners reach. The current version of RSMo 290.502, in effect since August 28, 2025, provides no automatic inflation increases after 2026, though a higher federal rate would take over if one passed.
For a 3-hour clean with 30 minutes of driving, wages alone are 3.5 × $15.00 = $52.50, before payroll taxes, insurance and supplies. If you set prices in 2024 around a $12.30 wage, revisit them now.
Paid sick leave was repealed
Proposition A required paid sick time from May 2025, but the legislature repealed it. The Department of Labor’s HB 567 answer says employers are no longer required to provide paid sick time beginning August 28, 2025. You can still offer it, and many cleaning companies do because it keeps good cleaners, but it is a choice in Missouri, not a requirement.
Missouri pays the same $15.00 as Illinois’s state rate, so on either side of the Mississippi in the St. Louis area your wage floor is similar; across the line in Illinois, paid leave rules still apply.
Workers’ comp at 5 employees, unemployment tax and new-hire reports in Missouri
Workers’ comp becomes mandatory at 5 employees, unemployment tax for a new employer is 2.376% of the first $9,000 per employee, and new hires are reported within 20 days.
Workers’ compensation
The Department of Labor’s workers’ compensation answer says employers with 5 or more employees, full or part time, must carry coverage; construction employers need it from 1. LLC members are presumed covered unless they opt out. A cleaning company with three part-timers isn’t required to buy a policy, but one injury on a wet staircase can cost more than years of premiums, so get a quote early. Our guide to insurance for cleaners covers the policies clients ask for.
Unemployment insurance
The Division of Employment Security’s tax rate page sets the 2026 taxable wage base at $9,000 and the new employer rate at 2.376%. That is at most $213.84 per employee a year.
New-hire reports
Under RSMo 285.300, employers report each new employee to the Department of Revenue within 20 days after the hire date.
Employee or contractor?
Missouri cleaners are often paid as 1099 contractors, but if you set the schedule, provide the supplies and inspect the work, they may be employees for tax purposes. Read our guide on W-2 versus 1099 cleaners and check with an accountant.
What does it cost to start cleaning houses in Missouri?
State fees are tiny: $7 for a fictitious name or $50 for an LLC, and nothing a year after that. City licenses, insurance and supplies are the real startup costs.
Government fees were checked on official pages on October 10, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our rough ranges, not quotes.
| Cost item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fictitious name | $7 | Five years. Not needed under your own name. |
| LLC Articles of Organization | $50 online, $105 on paper | Optional. No annual report. |
| St. Louis business license | $100 or $200 the first year | Depends on start date. Other cities set their own fees. |
| Kansas City business license | Depends on business type | Required even with no receipts. |
| City earnings tax | 1% of net profit | Kansas City and St. Louis only. Not a startup fee. |
| Sales tax license | Not needed for cleaning | Only if you sell products. |
| Unemployment insurance | Up to $213.84 per employee a year | 2.376% of the first $9,000 for new employers. |
| General liability insurance | $350 to $800 a year (estimate) | Compare quotes with the same limits. |
| Starter supplies and equipment | $200 to $500 (estimate) | Includes state and local sales tax. |
| Booking, scheduling and payment software | Your choice | BroomBook is $29 a month for up to 2 cleaners, with a 14-day free trial. |
A solo cleaner in a city without a business license can be legal for $7 plus insurance and supplies, roughly $600 to $1,300 to start by our estimate. Add a $50 LLC and the yearly cost stays the same, which few states can say. Test your prices with the cleaning business profit calculator.
Where does BroomBook fit for a Missouri cleaning business?
We make BroomBook, a booking, scheduling and crew app for residential cleaning businesses. In Missouri, with no sales tax to set up, the useful parts are a booking page with an exact price and a service area you control around city lines.
- Service area by ZIP code or distance. If you aren’t licensed in Kansas City or St. Louis yet, keep bookings outside them until you are.
- Exact online prices from bedrooms, bathrooms, home size, type of clean and frequency, with sales tax left off.
- A crew link, not an app, with visits, checklists, the route and clock-in. Hours, tips and commission export as one CSV for payroll.
- Cards charged after the clean through your own Stripe account, with tips. BroomBook takes no cut of payments.
What it doesn’t do: BroomBook doesn’t split revenue or payroll by city for a Kansas City or St. Louis earnings tax return, and it doesn’t calculate withholding. Your accountant or payroll service works from your exports.
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 how booking works on our cleaning scheduling software page, and read how to get clients for a cleaning business for your first bookings.