Does Tennessee tax house cleaning? Not the house itself
No, as long as you are cleaning the building. Tennessee splits cleaning into two kinds: cleaning real property (the home or office and what is built into it) is not taxable, while cleaning tangible personal property (things you can pick up and move) is. A standard recurring clean in a Franklin house or a nightly clean of a Chattanooga office carries no sales tax.
The rule, from the state’s manual
The Department of Revenue’s Sales and Use Tax Manual (December 2025) has a heading that settles it: “Cleaning of Real Property is Not Taxable”. It explains that cleaning real property, “such as windows and carpeting in a building”, is not subject to sales tax. A few pages earlier the same manual says Tennessee does tax cleaning, laundering or dry cleaning of tangible personal property, giving clothing, furniture, rugs, jewelry, motor vehicles and animals as examples. The department’s list of services subject to sales tax names “cleaning of TPP” as a taxable service.
The catch on your supplies
The same section of the manual says all items used to wash or clean real property, such as equipment, utilities and cleaning agents, are subject to sales or use tax. Because your service isn’t taxed, you are the final buyer of your vacuum, microfiber and chemicals. Pay the tax at the register and don’t try to use a resale certificate for them.
Sorting your services
| Service | What is being cleaned | Tennessee sales tax? |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring or deep house cleaning | Floors, counters, bathrooms, windows: real property | No |
| Office or commercial cleaning | The building | No |
| Wall-to-wall carpet cleaning | Carpeting in a building | No |
| Washing and folding a client’s laundry | Clothing and linens | Yes |
| Sofa or upholstery shampoo | Furniture | Yes |
| Area rug cleaning | A rug | Yes |
Laundry, upholstery and area rugs: Tennessee’s taxable add-ons
If you sell any of the taxable add-ons, register for sales tax and charge the state’s 7% plus the local rate on those line items only. Local rates run from 1.5% to 2.75%, so the total can reach 9.75%.
Rates and returns
The department’s due dates and rates page sets the general state rate at 7% for most taxable services. The sales tax manual adds that local option rates vary from 1.50% to 2.75% and can’t go higher. Returns are due on the 20th of the month after the period ends, whether the department puts you on monthly, quarterly or annual filing.
A worked example
A Knoxville client books a $160 clean and adds a $30 laundry load:
- House cleaning: $160, no tax (real property)
- Laundry: $30, taxable. At a 9.25% combined rate (7% state plus 2.25% local, as an example), tax is $2.78
- Invoice total: $192.78
Look up the actual local rate for the address where you do the work. List the taxable add-on as a separate line so it’s clear that the clean itself is untaxed. If you bundle laundry into a flat “premium clean” price, you make it harder to show which part was taxable.
Skip the add-ons, skip the paperwork
Plenty of Tennessee cleaners never sell laundry or upholstery, and so never collect sales tax at all. That is a legitimate choice. If you do want those add-ons, register first and keep the tax on its own line. For prices on the cleaning itself, start with the house cleaning price calculator.
Minimal activity or standard: Tennessee’s local business license
Tennessee doesn’t license house cleaners as a trade, but its business tax system does reach you. Gross more than $3,000 a year in a county or city and you need a license from that county clerk, and from the city clerk if you are inside city limits.
The two licenses
The Department of Revenue’s tax resources workshop lays it out:
- Minimal activity license: required with gross receipts between $3,000 and $100,000. It comes from the county or city where the business is located, is renewed every year and needs no business tax return.
- Standard business license: required at $100,000 or more. You file a business tax return with the Department of Revenue, then renew the license through your local clerk, who can’t renew it until the return is filed and paid.
The $100,000 line is new. The department’s 2024 announcement explains that businesses with annual gross sales under $100,000 in a county or city no longer file business tax, and instead get a minimal activity license directly from the local jurisdiction when their sales are between $3,000 and $100,000.
What it costs in Nashville
The Davidson County Clerk’s business license page charges $30 for a license if your business is located within Nashville city limits and $15 elsewhere in the county. You need your business name and address, the owners’ names, home addresses and Social Security numbers, and a copy of each owner’s driver license. Minimal activity licenses can be renewed online. Other counties set their own process, so call your county clerk.
A new cleaner who expects $40,000 in the first year, all in one county, needs one minimal activity license and files no business tax return. Cross $100,000 and you switch to the standard license and the return.
Trade names in Tennessee: assumed names, not DBAs
Tennessee has no state DBA registry. The Secretary of State registers assumed names for entities such as LLCs and corporations, for $20.
The Secretary of State’s business FAQ puts it bluntly: Tennessee does not recognize DBAs or fictitious names. An assumed name is a name an entity uses other than its true entity name, and it is good for five years and can be renewed. The forms and fees page lists $20 for an Application for Registration of Assumed Name and $20 for a renewal.
What that means for you
- Sole proprietor: there is no state form to file for a trade name. The name you trade under goes on your county and city business license application, and your bank will tell you what it needs to open an account in that name.
- LLC: “Cumberland Clean LLC” can register “Music City Maids” as an assumed name for $20 and trade under it for five years.
Search the Secretary of State’s business entity records before you settle on a name. The name generator gives you a list to start from.
Why a Tennessee LLC costs at least $400 a year
Because Tennessee charges LLCs twice: a $300 minimum annual report fee to the Secretary of State, and franchise and excise tax to the Department of Revenue with a $100 minimum. A sole proprietor pays neither.
Secretary of State fees
The forms and fees page lists $300 for LLC articles of organization, and the FAQ says the LLC annual report fee is $300 minimum, rising by $50 for each member over six, up to $3,000. For a one- or two-person cleaning company, that means $300 to form and $300 a year after.
Franchise and excise tax
The department’s franchise and excise tax webinar lists LLCs among the entities that must file, and sole proprietorships and general partnerships among those that don’t. Franchise tax is $0.25 per $100 of Tennessee net worth with a $100 minimum, and excise tax is 6.5% of Tennessee taxable income. For a calendar-year business the return is due April 15. A department notice on single-member LLCs closes the obvious loophole: a single-member LLC is only disregarded for these taxes if its owner is a corporation. If you own it yourself, it files its own return.
The first four years, compared
| Structure | State filing costs over four years |
|---|---|
| Sole proprietor | $0 to the Secretary of State or for franchise and excise tax; local license fees only |
| Single-member LLC | $300 to form, three $300 annual reports and at least four $100 franchise tax minimums: $1,600 or more |
An LLC still has real value: it separates business debts and lawsuits from your personal assets, and many commercial clients prefer it. It doesn’t replace insurance for damage or injuries. Weigh the extra cost with our guide on LLCs for cleaning businesses, and see the insurance guide for the policies clients ask about.
Hiring cleaners in Tennessee: $7.25, the five-employee comp rule and 20-day reports
Tennessee has no minimum wage law of its own, no paid leave mandate and no workers’ comp requirement until you have five employees. Unemployment tax applies to the first $7,000 of each worker’s wages, and new hires are reported within 20 days.
Wages and breaks
The U.S. Department of Labor’s state minimum wage table lists Tennessee as having no state minimum wage law, so employers covered by federal law pay the federal $7.25. In practice, reliable cleaners in Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis cost far more than that. The state Department of Labor’s wages and breaks page adds two rules you will use: employees scheduled for six consecutive hours must get a 30-minute unpaid meal or rest break, and no Tennessee law requires paid time off, vacation or sick pay. Back-to-back houses can easily run six hours, so build the break into the route.
Workers’ comp at five employees
The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s coverage page says construction businesses must cover everyone, including owners, while other businesses need insurance if there are five or more employees. Cleaning isn’t construction, so the requirement starts at five. A policy is still worth pricing from the first hire: a single back injury can cost more than years of premiums.
Unemployment insurance
The department’s unemployment tax rates page lists a 2026 taxable wage base of $7,000 per employee, unchanged since 2018. Your premium rate comes from the state’s rate tables and, once you have history, your own claims record.
New-hire reporting
The new hire reporting page says employers must report newly hired or rehired employees within 20 days of the hire date.
A visit priced out
Paying $16 an hour, a 3-hour clean plus 30 minutes of driving costs 3.5 × $16 = $56 in wages before payroll taxes and supplies. On a $160 house, labor takes about a third. Run your own numbers in the profit calculator, and read how to hire cleaners before you post the job.
What does a Tennessee cleaning business cost to start?
As a sole proprietor, very little: a minimal activity license of about $15 to $30 once you pass $3,000 in receipts, plus insurance and supplies. An LLC adds $300 up front and about $400 a year.
Fees were checked on official Tennessee pages on October 10, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our ranges, not quotes.
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Minimal activity license | $30 in Nashville, $15 elsewhere in Davidson County | Needed from $3,000 in gross receipts. Other counties set their own fees. |
| LLC articles of organization | $300 | Optional. Adds franchise and excise tax. |
| LLC annual report | $300 a year | Minimum, for up to six members. |
| Franchise and excise tax | $100 minimum a year | LLCs only. Due April 15 for calendar-year filers. |
| Assumed name | $20 | Entities only. Good for five years. |
| General liability insurance | $400 to $1,200 a year (estimate) | Workers’ comp becomes required at five employees. |
| Supplies and equipment | $200 to $500 (estimate) | Sales tax applies. See the supplies list. |
| Booking and scheduling software | Optional | BroomBook starts at $29 a month. |
The cheapest legal start in Tennessee is a sole proprietor who cleans homes only, gets a minimal activity license after the first $3,000 and never touches laundry. The LLC can wait until you sign commercial contracts or hire.
Winning Tennessee clients, and where BroomBook helps
In Tennessee’s suburbs, from Murfreesboro and Franklin to the edges of Knoxville and Chattanooga, a tight route of recurring homes beats a scattered map of one-off jobs. Ask every happy client for a referral, keep a Google Business Profile with real photos, and post in neighborhood groups. Our guide on how to get clients for a cleaning business has the scripts, and the general start-up guide covers services and equipment. Near the Kentucky or Georgia line? The Kentucky and Georgia guides cover the rules on the other side.
We make BroomBook, a booking, scheduling and crew app for residential cleaning businesses. Clients book online with an instant price, cleaners get a private link with their jobs, checklists and clock-in, and cards are charged after the clean through Stripe, with tips. One honest limit in Tennessee: the optional sales tax setting applies the same rate to the whole visit price, so it can’t tax a laundry add-on while leaving the clean untaxed. If you sell taxable add-ons, invoice those separately or ask your accountant how to handle them; if you only clean homes and offices, leave the setting off.
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. See the cleaning scheduling software page for how recurring routes work.