What does Oregon require before your first paid clean?
Less than most states: a registered name if you don’t trade under your own, liability insurance, and a Portland tax account if you work there. Oregon has no sales tax, no general state business license and no license for house cleaning. The rules that cost real money arrive with your first employee.
The contrast with Washington, across the river, is sharp. An Oregon cleaner never adds a tax line to an invoice and never files a monthly sales tax return. What Oregon asks for instead is payroll compliance: three minimum wage zones, sick time, Paid Leave Oregon withholding, two transit taxes and workers’ comp from day one.
Solo owner checklist
- Choose a name. If it isn’t your full legal name, register it as an assumed business name with the Secretary of State.
- Decide whether you want an LLC now or later (more below).
- Get an EIN from the IRS if you will open a business bank account or hire.
- Buy general liability insurance before you hold a client’s key.
- If you clean in Portland, register with the city’s Revenue Division within 60 days of starting.
Owner with a crew checklist
- Buy workers’ comp before the first person starts.
- Register as an employer for unemployment, withholding and transit taxes.
- Report the hire within 20 days.
- Pay the minimum wage for the county where the work happens, and start tracking sick time on day one.
- If you take office or commercial contracts, check whether you need BOLI’s labor contractor license.
This page covers the Oregon specifics. For choosing services, buying equipment and pricing your first homes, start with our main guide on how to start a cleaning business.
Assumed business name or LLC: what does each cost in Oregon?
An assumed business name is $50 and renews every two years for $50. An LLC is $100 to file and $100 every year after that. Both go through the Secretary of State’s Corporation Division, not your county.
Assumed business names
If “Rosa Delgado” is cleaning houses as “Rosa Delgado”, there is nothing to file. If she calls the business “Willamette Fresh Cleaning”, she registers that name. The Corporation Division’s business registry fee schedule lists $50 for a new assumed business name and $50 to renew it every two years. Changing the name itself is another $50; an amendment that doesn’t change the name is free.
Before you pay for a logo or a van wrap, search the state business registry for the name you want, and check that the web domain and social handles are free. Our cleaning business name generator can help if your first choice is taken.
LLCs
The same fee schedule lists $100 for Articles of Organization and $100 for the annual renewal of a domestic LLC. Oregon doesn’t ask new LLCs to publish a notice in a newspaper, and there is no separate state franchise tax on a small LLC. The renewal is due around the anniversary of the date you formed, and the state sends a reminder; if you let it lapse, the LLC can be dissolved.
| Filing | Fee | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Assumed business name | $50 | Renew every 2 years ($50) |
| LLC Articles of Organization | $100 | Once |
| LLC annual renewal | $100 | Every year |
Over five years a sole proprietor with an assumed name pays about $150 in name fees. An LLC owner pays $500. That gap is small next to an insurance premium, so the real question is liability: an LLC keeps business debts separate from your house and savings, while insurance pays for the broken vase. Our guide on LLCs for cleaning businesses walks through when the switch makes sense.
Does Oregon tax cleaning services?
No. Oregon has no general sales tax, so cleaning is not taxed and there is no sales tax permit to get. The only state tax tied to your sales is the Corporate Activity Tax, and a residential cleaning company has to grow very large before it applies.
No sales or use tax
The Department of Revenue’s sales tax page says Oregon doesn’t have a general sales or use/transaction tax. That covers the services you sell and the supplies you buy: your vacuum and microfiber cloths cost the shelf price. It also means you never need resale certificates for products you pass on to clients.
The Corporate Activity Tax (CAT)
Despite the name, the CAT applies to sole proprietors and LLCs too. The Department of Revenue’s CAT page sets four thresholds:
- $750,000 or less of Oregon commercial activity: no CAT obligations at all.
- Over $750,000: register within 30 days of crossing the line. Late registration can cost $100 a month, up to $1,000 a year.
- Over $1 million: file a return.
- Tax due: $250 plus 0.57% of taxable commercial activity over $1 million.
For scale: at an average of $160 a clean, you would need roughly 4,700 cleans a year, about 90 a week, before registration even starts. Most readers can note the threshold and move on.
One consequence of no sales tax: your price is your price. Build it from your time, travel and supply costs, and check it with our house cleaning price calculator.
Is there an Oregon license for cleaning homes or offices?
Not for homes. Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) licenses janitorial labor contractors, but it excludes residential house cleaning. If you add office or building cleaning with employees, you may need that license.
The Property Services Contractor License
BOLI’s page on property services and janitorial labor contractors says anyone who recruits, solicits, supplies or employs workers for janitorial services must hold a Property Services Contractor License. It defines janitorial services by NAICS code 561720: building and office cleaning, custodial work, washroom sanitation and disinfecting. It then names residential house cleaning, and carpet cleaning, as outside that definition.
Who needs it
- A solo house cleaner: no. BOLI also exempts sole proprietors working alone under their own or an assumed name who don’t recruit or employ workers.
- A house cleaning company with a crew: no, as long as the work is residential house cleaning.
- A company that sends employees to clean offices, medical suites or apartment common areas: likely yes. Licensed contractors must give workers a written summary of their rights and a written employment agreement. A bond can be required if you can’t show at least $1 million of general liability insurance or you had wage or civil rights violations in the past two years.
Many Oregon house cleaners pick up a small office along the way. If you do, call BOLI’s Labor Contractor Unit before you send a cleaner, not after. For the bigger picture of permits nationwide, see our guide to licenses for a cleaning business.
Cleaning homes in Portland: which city and county taxes apply?
Portland and Multnomah County each tax business income: 2.6% for the city and 2% for the county. Small businesses are exempt below a gross receipts line, and that line rose in 2026. A third tax, Metro’s 1% Supportive Housing Services tax, only starts above $5 million.
Rates and exemptions
The city’s Revenue Division runs all three taxes from one account. Its business tax page lists:
| Tax | Rate | Exempt if gross receipts are |
|---|---|---|
| City of Portland Business License Tax | 2.6% of net income | Under $75,000 (tax year 2026); under $100,000 from 2027 |
| Multnomah County Business Income Tax | 2% of net income | Under $100,000 |
| Metro SHS Business Income Tax | 1% | $5 million or less |
The city exemption had been $50,000 since 2007. Ordinance 192163, passed on April 8, 2026, raised it to $75,000 for 2026 and $100,000 for 2027 so it lines up with the county’s threshold. Note that the test uses gross receipts, not profit.
What to do
- Register for a Revenue Division account within 60 days of starting to do business in Portland or Multnomah County.
- File by April 15 for a calendar year. Quarterly estimates fall on April 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15 if you owe enough.
- Keep a record of which jobs were inside Portland. If you also clean in Beaverton or Lake Oswego, your Portland share of income matters.
Worked example: a solo cleaner grossing $90,000 in 2026 with $50,000 of net income is above the city’s $75,000 line but under the county’s $100,000 line. The city tax is about 2.6% × $50,000 = $1,300 (before any apportionment for work outside the city), and the county tax is zero. In 2027, with the city line at $100,000, the same business owes neither.
The TriMet transit tax
Inside the TriMet district (parts of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties), employers pay a transit payroll tax of 0.8237% of wages, and self-employed people pay the same rate on net earnings from self-employment for work done in the district. It is filed with the Oregon Department of Revenue, so ask your accountant to include it.
What will an Oregon cleaner cost you per hour in 2026?
Between $14.55 and $16.80 an hour in base wage, depending on the county, plus sick time and a share of payroll taxes. Oregon resets its minimum wage every July 1, so plan a price review each summer.
Three minimum wage zones
BOLI’s minimum wage page lists these rates from July 1, 2026:
- Portland metro (inside the urban growth boundary): $16.80.
- Standard counties, including Lane (Eugene), Marion (Salem), Deschutes (Bend) and Jackson (Medford): $15.55.
- Nonurban counties: $14.55 in Baker, Coos, Crook, Curry, Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa and Wheeler.
Oregon doesn’t allow a tip credit, so tips never count toward the minimum. A 3-hour clean plus 30 minutes of driving in Portland costs 3.5 × $16.80 = $58.80 in wages alone. The same visit in Roseburg costs 3.5 × $14.55 = $50.93.
Sick time
BOLI’s sick time page says employees earn at least 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours a year (or you can front-load 40 hours). It is paid when the employer has 10 or more Oregon employees, or 6 or more with a location in Portland; smaller employers still have to allow it as protected, unpaid time. Employees can start using it after 90 days.
Paid Leave Oregon
Paid Leave Oregon’s contribution calculator sets the total contribution at 1% of wages, up to $184,500 per employee in 2026. Employees pay 60% of it (0.6%), which you withhold. Employers with fewer than 25 employees don’t have to pay the 40% employer share. So a small cleaning company withholds 0.6% and pays nothing extra here.
The statewide transit tax
Separately from TriMet, you withhold 0.1% from every employee’s wages for the statewide transit tax. The Department of Revenue notes that Measure 120 failed in the May 19, 2026 election, so the rate stays at one-tenth of 1 percent.
When do Oregon cleaners need workers’ comp and unemployment tax?
From the first employee. Oregon has no small-employer exemption for workers’ comp, and unemployment tax applies to nearly every employer. Set both up before anyone cleans for you.
Workers’ comp
The Department of Consumer and Business Services’ coverage page says that if you have one or more subject workers, you are a subject employer and must carry Oregon workers’ compensation coverage. Nearly every worker is a subject worker; the exceptions are listed in state law, and true independent contractors are not workers. Part-time cleaners and a relative you pay both count.
Cleaning is physical work with ladders, wet floors and chemicals, and claims happen. Get a workers’ comp quote at the same time as your liability quote; our guide to insurance for cleaners covers the other policies.
Unemployment insurance
The Oregon Employment Department’s 2026 rate announcement keeps the state on Tax Schedule 3. New employers (less than 12 months of reported payroll) pay 2.4% on the first $56,700 of each employee’s wages in 2026. That is at most $1,360.80 per employee per year; a part-time cleaner earning $25,000 costs $600. Employees don’t pay this tax.
New-hire reports
The Oregon Department of Justice’s new hire page requires employers to report new hires and rehires within 20 days of the hire date. Oregon also asks you to report independent contractors who submit a W-9 and are expected to work more than 20 days in the year, which catches many “1099 cleaners”.
Contractor or employee?
Oregon looks closely at who is an independent contractor. A cleaner who follows your schedule, uses your supplies and works from your checklist is very likely an employee, with all of the costs above. Ask an accountant before you decide; the savings from misclassifying rarely survive an audit.
What does it cost to open a cleaning company in Oregon?
Government fees can be as low as $50. A realistic launch budget for a solo cleaner, with insurance and supplies, lands in the hundreds of dollars, not thousands.
State and city figures below were checked on official pages on October 9, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our ranges, not quotes.
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Assumed business name | $50 | Renews every 2 years for $50. Not needed under your own full name. |
| LLC (optional) | $100, then $100 a year | An LLC trades under its own name without an assumed name filing. |
| Sales tax permit | $0 | Oregon has no sales tax. |
| Portland and Multnomah taxes | $0 until you pass $75,000 / $100,000 gross | Registration is still required within 60 days. |
| General liability insurance | Get two or three quotes | Same coverage limits on each quote so you can compare. |
| Workers’ comp | Get quotes | Required from the first employee. |
| Unemployment tax (new employer) | Up to $1,360.80 per employee per year | 2.4% of the first $56,700 in 2026. |
| Starter supplies and equipment | $250 to $600 (estimate) | Vacuum, mop system, cloths, caddies, chemicals. No sales tax. |
| Booking and scheduling software | $0 to $60 a month (estimate) | BroomBook is $29 a month for up to 2 cleaners. |
Example: a sole proprietor in Salem using a business name pays $50 to the state, maybe $400 for supplies, and the first month of insurance. If she later hires two part-time cleaners at $15.55 an hour, payroll becomes the biggest line by far. Model it first with our cleaning business profit calculator.
How do you fill an Oregon cleaning schedule, and where does BroomBook help?
Start close to home: neighbors, Nextdoor, a Google Business Profile and a fast reply to every inquiry. Oregon’s rainy months bring steady demand for regular cleans, and spring brings move-outs around the university towns.
- Offer recurring weekly or biweekly cleans first; one-off deep cleans fill gaps.
- Keep your service area tight. Driving from Gresham to Hillsboro eats the margin a metro wage already squeezes.
- Ask every happy client for a review the day of the clean.
Our guide on how to get clients for a cleaning business goes deeper, and the house cleaning pricing guide shows how to price flat-rate cleans so a July wage increase doesn’t catch you out.
We make BroomBook, scheduling and online booking software for residential cleaning businesses. In Oregon it fits well because there is no tax to configure: clients book online at one clear price, and their card is charged through Stripe after the clean, with tips. Each cleaner gets a private link with their jobs, checklists and clock-in, and hours, tips and commission export to CSV for your payroll service. It doesn’t calculate Oregon payroll taxes, sick time balances or Portland business tax; your payroll provider and accountant handle those. Plans are $29 a month on Solo (up to 2 cleaners) or $59 a month on Team, with a 14-day free trial. See the cleaning scheduling software page for how routes and recurring visits work.