What does Virginia actually require from a new house cleaner?
Less than most states at the state level, more at the local level. There is no state license for house cleaning and no sales tax to collect. What you can’t skip is the business license from the county, city or town where your business is based, which Virginia calls BPOL (Business, Professional and Occupational License) tax.
Many new Virginia cleaners search for a state cleaning license that doesn’t exist, then miss the local one that does. This guide covers the Virginia pieces in the order they usually come up. For the parts that are the same everywhere (choosing services, buying equipment, setting up your first homes), read the general guide on how to start a cleaning business. For federal basics such as the EIN, see what licenses are needed to start a cleaning business.
| Step | Who handles it | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Assumed name, if you don’t trade under your own name | State Corporation Commission (SCC) Clerk’s Office | $10 |
| LLC, if you want one | SCC | $100, then $50 a year |
| Local business license (BPOL) | Your county, city or town Commissioner of the Revenue or finance office | From $0 to a percentage of receipts, set locally |
| Sales tax registration | Not needed for cleaning services alone | $0 |
| When you hire: unemployment account and new-hire reports | Virginia Employment Commission and the Virginia New Hire Reporting Center | Tax on wages, no fee to report |
| Workers’ comp, from three regular employees | A private insurer | Premiums based on payroll |
Still picking a name? Run ideas through the cleaning business name generator, then search the SCC’s records before you print anything.
What is BPOL, and what will your Virginia locality charge?
BPOL is a local license tax that most Virginia counties, cities and towns charge every business, home-based ones included. Small cleaning businesses usually pay a flat fee or nothing at all; bigger ones pay a small rate per $100 of gross receipts. Each locality sets its own thresholds, rates and deadlines.
Fairfax County
Fairfax County’s BPOL page says all business owners, including owners of home-based businesses, are subject to the tax, and that you register with the Department of Tax Administration within 75 days of starting or face a 10% penalty. The renewal is due March 1 each year. The fees for smaller businesses:
| Gross receipts in the year | Fairfax County BPOL |
|---|---|
| $10,000 or less | No fee |
| $10,001 to $50,000 | $30 |
| $50,001 to $100,000 | $50 |
| $100,001 and up | A rate per $100 of receipts, depending on the business classification |
The same page points out that the City of Fairfax, Falls Church, Alexandria and the towns of Clifton, Herndon and Vienna run their own licenses. If your home address is in one of them, you deal with that office instead of the county.
City of Richmond
Richmond raised its threshold for 2026. Its announcement says that from January 1, 2026, businesses with gross receipts between $5,000 and $500,000 pay a flat $30 a year, up from a $250,000 cutoff before. That covers nearly every owner-operated cleaning business in the city.
Everywhere else
Call or email your Commissioner of the Revenue (or the finance department in some cities) before your first paid clean and ask:
- Do I need a business license for a home-based residential cleaning business, and by when?
- Which classification will you use for cleaning services, and what is the fee or rate at my expected receipts?
- Do I owe business tangible personal property tax on equipment or a work vehicle?
- Are there zoning rules for a home business, such as signs, employees parking or storing supplies?
BPOL is generally owed where your business is based, so a cleaner living in Henrico who cleans homes in Richmond usually licenses with Henrico. Confirm it with your own locality, because the rules for work done in other jurisdictions can differ.
Filing a $10 assumed or fictitious name with the SCC
If you clean under any name other than your own, you file a certificate of assumed or fictitious name. In Virginia that goes to the State Corporation Commission for everyone, sole proprietors included, and costs $10.
This is a change older guides get wrong. The SCC’s fictitious names FAQ says the Clerk’s Office is now the central filing office for all certificates of assumed or fictitious names, including sole proprietorships, general partnerships, trusts and registered businesses. The fee for filing the certificate with the Commission is $10. Circuit court clerks still matter only for old names: if a name was recorded with a circuit court before the switch, you release it there, also for $10.
Who needs one
- “Maria Torres” cleaning homes as Maria Torres: no filing.
- Maria trading as “Blue Ridge Home Care”: file a certificate.
- Torres Cleaning LLC trading as “Blue Ridge Home Care”: the LLC files a certificate for the second name. Trading as “Torres Cleaning LLC” needs no extra filing.
A $10 certificate doesn’t give you exclusive rights to the name or shield your personal assets. It just tells the public who is behind the business. If you want liability separation, that’s the LLC, which comes next.
What a Virginia LLC costs: $100 to form, $50 every year
Articles of Organization cost $100 with the SCC, and the LLC then pays a $50 annual registration fee. The fee is due by the last day of the month the LLC was formed, every year, and missing it can end with the company being cancelled.
The SCC’s business types page lists the Articles of Organization (Form LLC1011) with a $100 filing fee, and you can file online. Its annual registration fees FAQ sets out the yearly rules:
- The annual registration fee for an LLC is $50.
- It is due on or before the last day of the month in which the LLC was organized.
- A late payment adds a $25 penalty.
- If the fee is still unpaid by the last day of the third month after the due date, the LLC is cancelled. Formed in April means due April 30 and cancelled at the end of July if unpaid.
Put the due date in your calendar the day the LLC is approved. A cancelled LLC can leave you operating as a sole proprietor without realizing it, which defeats the point of forming one.
Is it worth it for a solo cleaner?
At $50 a year, keeping a Virginia LLC is cheap. It keeps business debts apart from your personal ones, but it doesn’t pay for a ruined rug or a scratched floor: general liability insurance does that. Our guide on LLCs for cleaning businesses walks through when the switch makes sense, and the guide to insurance for cleaners covers the policies clients and landlords ask to see.
Do Virginia cleaners collect sales tax?
No, not on cleaning. Virginia exempts most services from its retail sales tax, and cleaning homes or offices isn’t on the list of exceptions. The catch runs the other way: you pay sales tax on the products and equipment you buy.
The rule
Virginia’s sales tax regulation on services, 23VAC10-210-4040, opens with the general rule that charges for services are exempt from the retail sales and use tax. Tax applies when a service is provided in connection with a sale of tangible goods, and a cleaning visit sells no goods to the client. So a weekly clean, a deep clean and a move-out clean are all billed without sales tax.
Tax on your supplies
The same regulation says a service provider is the taxable user and consumer of everything it buys to provide exempt services. You can’t buy vacuums, microfiber or chemicals tax-free with a resale certificate, because you don’t resell them. If a seller doesn’t charge you tax (an out-of-state website, for example), Virginia expects you to pay use tax on that purchase.
The Department of Taxation’s retail sales and use tax page sets the rate on those purchases by area:
| Where you buy or use the supplies | Rate | Tax on $400 of supplies |
|---|---|---|
| Most of Virginia | 5.3% | $21.20 |
| Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, Central Virginia | 6% | $24.00 |
| Historic Triangle (James City County, Williamsburg, York County) | 7% | $28.00 |
When it would change
If you start selling products to clients (a branded cleaning kit, say), those sales are taxable and you would register with the Department of Taxation. Pure cleaning service needs no sales tax account. Keep your quotes simple: the price you quote is the price the client pays.
Hiring cleaners in Virginia: wages, workers’ comp and new leave laws
Pay at least $12.77 an hour in 2026, buy workers’ comp once you regularly employ more than two people, open an unemployment account with the Virginia Employment Commission, and report every new hire and contractor within 20 days. Two new leave laws are coming, so plan for them now.
Minimum wage
The Department of Labor and Industry set the 2026 minimum wage at $12.77 an hour from January 1, 2026, up from $12.41, based on the change in the consumer price index. It applies to full-time, part-time and temporary workers. Expect a new figure each January.
Workers’ comp starts at three
The Workers’ Compensation Commission’s employer page says a business with more than two employees regularly employed in Virginia must carry coverage. It counts broadly: part-time, seasonal and temporary workers, minors, trainees and working family members all count. Subcontractors’ employees count toward your total too. There is no waiver form for a sole proprietor; smaller businesses may buy coverage voluntarily.
For a cleaning company the third hire is the trigger, part-time or not. Many owners buy it with the first hire anyway, because one back injury from moving a couch can cost more than years of premiums.
Unemployment insurance
You register with the Virginia Employment Commission when you start paying wages. Its FAQ on how tax rates are assigned says new employers get the base rate of 2.5%, plus add-ons, until they qualify for a calculated rate. The VEC mails you a new employer notice with your account number and rates.
New-hire reports, contractors included
The Department of Social Services’ new hire reporting page says employers report new hires, rehires and independent contractors (1099 workers) within 20 days of the start date, with name, address and Social Security number.
Paid sick leave and paid family leave are on the way
Today Virginia’s paid sick leave law covers only certain home health workers. That is changing. On May 20, 2026 the governor signed a statewide paid sick leave law (HB 5 and SB 199): one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to five days a year, for full-time and part-time employees. It starts in July 2027 and phases in by employer size, so check the final schedule for your headcount. A separate paid family and medical leave program, run by the VEC, lets most workers take up to 12 weeks of paid leave beginning in 2028.
Calling cleaners contractors doesn’t make them contractors. If they work your schedule, use your supplies and follow your checklist at your clients’ homes, they look like employees. Ask an accountant before deciding.
What it costs to open a cleaning business in Virginia
The state filings are among the cheapest anywhere: $10 for a name or $100 for an LLC. Your local license, insurance and supplies will cost more. Here is a starting budget for a solo cleaner.
Government fees were checked on official pages on October 9, 2026. Rows marked “estimate” are our ranges, not quotes, so swap in your own numbers.
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate of assumed or fictitious name | $10 | Only if you trade under a name other than your own (or your LLC’s). |
| LLC Articles of Organization | $100 | Optional. |
| LLC annual registration fee | $50 a year | Due by the end of your formation month. $25 late penalty. |
| Local business license (BPOL) | $0 to $50 for most new cleaners | Examples: $0 to $50 in Fairfax County under $100,000, $30 in Richmond. Check your locality. |
| Sales tax registration | $0 | Not needed for cleaning services. |
| General liability insurance | Get quotes | Compare at least two quotes for the same limits. |
| Supplies and equipment | $200 to $500 (estimate), plus 5.3% to 7% sales tax | You pay tax on these as the consumer. |
| Phone, website, cards | $0 to $300 (estimate) | A free Google Business Profile is enough to start. |
| Scheduling, booking and payments | Your choice | BroomBook starts at $29 a month, with a 14-day free trial. |
A lean launch in Richmond as a sole proprietor with a trade name: $10 for the name, $30 for the city license, roughly $200 to $500 in supplies and your first insurance payment. Because you don’t add sales tax, your quoted price is the whole bill. Work it out from your costs with the house cleaning price calculator or the house cleaning pricing guide.
Finding your first Virginia clients, and the software question
Start close to home. Virginia’s metro areas sprawl, and an hour on I-95 or I-64 between cleans eats your margin. Pick a few ZIP codes, tell neighbors and friends, set up a Google Business Profile that names the towns you serve, and make booking easy.
For more ways to fill the calendar, read how to get clients for a cleaning business. If you want to know whether the numbers work before you quit a job, the cleaning business plan template turns your prices into a 12-month forecast.
Where BroomBook fits
We build BroomBook, scheduling and online booking software for residential cleaning companies. In Virginia one setting works in your favor: sales tax is off by default, which is right for cleaning here, so your clients see one clean price. What it does:
- A booking page with instant prices. Clients choose bedrooms, bathrooms, the type of clean and extras, see the price and pick an open slot.
- Service area limits. Restrict online bookings by distance or by a list of ZIP codes, so nobody books you across the river at rush hour.
- Payments after the job. The client’s card is saved through Stripe and charged once the clean is done, with tips and a receipt. BroomBook takes no cut of payments.
- A crew view. Each cleaner opens a private link in their phone’s browser to see jobs and checklists and clock in and out. Hours, tips and commission export to CSV for payroll. It doesn’t calculate withholding or file VEC reports.
Solo is $29 a month for up to 2 cleaners and Team is $59 a month for any number, with a 14-day free trial and no card needed. More on the cleaning booking software page.
Look elsewhere if
- You need automatic QuickBooks sync. BroomBook doesn’t connect to accounting software.
- Your clients expect invoices on net terms. BroomBook charges the card after each clean.
- You want a native App Store or Google Play app, or your work is mostly commercial janitorial bids.