Tax Guide for Cleaners and Domestic Service Providers

The Accounted Business Team·4 February 2026·7 min read

If you clean houses, offices, or holiday lets for a living, you need to know where you stand with HMRC. This guide covers everything a self-employed cleaner or domestic service provider needs to know about tax for the 2025/26 tax year.

Are You Employed or Self-Employed?

This is the single most important question for cleaners, and it trips people up constantly. HMRC does not care what your client calls you. They care about the reality of your working arrangement.

You are likely self-employed if you:

Choose which clients to take on and can turn work down
Decide when and how you do the work
Provide your own cleaning products and equipment
Invoice your clients and set your own rates
Work for multiple clients
Can send someone else in your place

You are likely employed if:

One person or company controls when, where, and how you work
They provide all the cleaning products and equipment
You cannot send a substitute
You have set hours and cannot work for other clients during those hours
You get holiday pay or sick pay

This matters because if you are employed, your employer should be deducting tax and National Insurance through PAYE. If you are self-employed, you handle your own tax through Self Assessment.

The grey area

Many cleaners work in a grey area. You might clean for a family three mornings a week with a set schedule, using their products, and only work for them. That looks a lot like employment, even if they call you self-employed. If HMRC investigates and decides you are actually employed, your client could owe backdated employer National Insurance and you could owe income tax.

If you are unsure, use HMRC's free Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool online. It takes about ten minutes and gives you a clear answer.

The £1,000 Trading Allowance

If your total self-employed cleaning income is £1,000 or less in the tax year (6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026), you do not need to tell HMRC or file a tax return. This is the trading allowance, and it is automatic.

If you earn more than £1,000, you have two choices:

Deduct the £1,000 trading allowance instead of your actual expenses (useful if your expenses are low)
Deduct your actual business expenses (usually better if you spend a decent amount on supplies, travel, and insurance)

You cannot use both. Pick whichever saves you more tax.

What Expenses Can You Claim?

As a self-employed cleaner, you can deduct legitimate business expenses from your income before calculating your tax bill. Here are the main ones.

Cleaning supplies and products

Everything you buy to do your job counts. This includes:

Cleaning sprays, detergents, and disinfectants
Cloths, sponges, and scourers
Bin bags, rubber gloves, and aprons
Specialist products like oven cleaner or limescale remover

Keep every receipt. If you buy supplies from a supermarket along with your personal shopping, make sure the receipt clearly shows the business items, or buy them separately.

Equipment

Larger items you need for work are also deductible:

Vacuum cleaner (if you carry your own)
Mop and bucket
Steam cleaner
Carpet cleaner
Caddy and storage boxes

Items costing under £1,000 can usually be deducted in full in the year you buy them using the Annual Investment Allowance.

Travel between clients

You can claim for travel between one client's home and the next. You cannot claim for travel from your own home to your first client of the day, or from your last client back home. That counts as commuting.

If you use your own car, the simplest method is HMRC's approved mileage rates:

45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year
25p per mile after that

Keep a simple log of your journeys — date, client, miles driven. That is all HMRC needs.

If you use public transport, keep the tickets or bank statements showing the fares.

Insurance

Public liability insurance is essential for cleaners working in other people's homes. The premium is a fully deductible business expense. If you also have professional indemnity insurance or employer's liability insurance (if you hire staff), those count too.

Uniform and protective clothing

If you wear a branded uniform or specific protective clothing for work (such as overalls), the cost of buying and laundering them is deductible. Ordinary clothes you also wear outside work do not count, even if you only bought them for cleaning.

Phone and communication

If you use your mobile to arrange bookings and communicate with clients, you can claim the business portion of your phone bill. If your monthly bill is £30 and you estimate 40% of usage is business, you can claim £12 per month.

Advertising and marketing

Costs for leaflets, business cards, a simple website, or advertising on local Facebook groups are all deductible. If you pay for a listing on a cleaning platform or directory, that fee counts too.

DBS checks

Many clients, especially those with children or vulnerable adults, ask cleaners for a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check. The cost of obtaining or renewing your DBS check is a legitimate business expense.

How to Work Out Your Tax Bill

Your tax calculation is straightforward:

Add up all your cleaning income for the tax year
Subtract your allowable expenses (or the £1,000 trading allowance)
The result is your taxable profit

You then get your Personal Allowance of £12,570 tax-free. After that:

Basic rate: 20% on income from £12,571 to £50,270
Higher rate: 40% on income from £50,271 to £125,140
Additional rate: 45% on income above £125,140

Most cleaners fall into the basic rate band, meaning you pay 20p in tax for every pound of profit above £12,570.

National Insurance

As a self-employed cleaner, you pay two types of National Insurance:

Class 2: £3.45 per week (but only if profits exceed £12,570 — if below, you can still pay voluntarily to protect your state pension)
Class 4: 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270, plus 2% on profits above £50,270

These are collected through your Self Assessment tax return, not separately.

Record Keeping

HMRC requires you to keep records of all income and expenses for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline. For the 2025/26 tax year, that means keeping records until at least 31 January 2032.

You need to record:

Every payment you receive (date, client, amount)
Every business expense (date, what it was, amount)
Mileage logs if you claim travel

This does not need to be complicated. A simple spreadsheet works, though using bookkeeping software like Accounted makes it much easier. Accounted's AI bookkeeper Penny can categorise your expenses automatically when you photograph receipts, which saves a lot of time when you are busy running between jobs.

Making Tax Digital

From April 2026, if your gross self-employed income is over £50,000, you will need to submit quarterly updates to HMRC through Making Tax Digital (MTD) compatible software. If your income is between £30,000 and £50,000, this applies from April 2027.

Even if you are below these thresholds, keeping digital records now is sensible preparation. It also makes filing your Self Assessment far quicker.

Common Mistakes Cleaners Make

Not registering as self-employed. You must register with HMRC by 5 October following the tax year you started. Late registration can mean penalties.
Mixing business and personal money. Open a separate bank account for your cleaning income. It makes everything cleaner (no pun intended) at tax time.
Forgetting cash payments. All income is taxable, whether paid by bank transfer or cash. HMRC can and does check.
Not keeping receipts. No receipt, no claim. Get into the habit from day one.

Get Started With Accounted

Keeping on top of your tax does not have to be a headache. Accounted is built for sole traders like you — simple, affordable, and designed so you spend minutes, not hours, on your books. Start your free trial today and let Penny handle the admin while you get on with the job.

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