Self-employed cleaners can deduct the miles between jobs, their supplies and equipment, uniforms and laundering, bonding and insurance, and payments to subcontracted cleaners. Mileage is usually the largest single write-off: the drive from one house or office to the next is deductible business mileage, reported on Schedule C Line 9. Supplies go on Line 22, insurance on Line 15, and contract labor on Line 11. The standard mileage rate already covers fuel and maintenance for the van, so those are not deducted separately.
You wipe down the last counter, load the caddy and vacuum back into your van, and drive across town to the next house. By the end of the day you've cleaned four homes and an office suite, and put ninety miles on your vehicle going between them. No client pays you for those miles. But the IRS will let you deduct them — at 76 cents per mile as of July 1, 2026 (72.5 cents for miles driven January through June). Over a working year, the drive between jobs is often the single largest write-off a cleaner has. The only catch is that you have to log it, trip by trip.
This guide is for self-employed cleaners of every kind: solo house cleaners and maid services, commercial janitorial and office-cleaning crews, and anyone running a one-person (or growing) cleaning business out of their vehicle. It covers the mileage math, the supplies and equipment write-offs, the uniform and bonding rules, what to do when you pay other cleaners, and the recordkeeping that makes all of it hold up if the IRS ever asks.
First: Are You 1099 or W-2?
If you clean for yourself — booking your own clients, setting your own rates, using your own supplies — you're a sole proprietor in the eyes of the IRS, and everything in this guide applies to you. If you're a W-2 employee of a cleaning company, your employer handles most of this and the 2025 tax law changes eliminated most unreimbursed employee deductions, so the write-offs below generally aren't yours to claim. The line that matters: do you control how the work gets done, or does someone else? Independent cleaners who answer to themselves report their income and expenses on Schedule C.
How Much Are the Miles Between Jobs Worth?
Cleaning is a driving business. You go from house to house, from your supply run to a client, from one office building to the next. Every one of those business miles is deductible — and at 76¢ each, they compound quickly.
Drive 12,000 business miles in a year and that's an $8,700 deduction — with no gas receipts required if you use the standard mileage method. At 20,000 miles it's $14,500. For most solo cleaners and small crews, mileage is the biggest single line on the whole return. Which is exactly why it's the one you can least afford to guess at.
One rule trips people up: the drive from home to your first job of the day, and from your last job back home, is commuting — and commuting isn't deductible. The miles between jobs are. (There's an important exception below for cleaners who qualify for a home office.)
Standard Mileage vs. Actual Expenses
You have two ways to deduct vehicle costs, and you can only use one per vehicle per year — the full comparison is in standard mileage vs actual expenses:
| Method | Standard Mileage Rate | Actual Expenses |
|---|---|---|
| Calculation | Business miles × 76¢ (72.5¢ Jan–Jun) | Gas + insurance + repairs + depreciation × business use % |
| Recordkeeping | Mileage log only | Mileage log + every vehicle receipt |
| Best for | Most cleaners, higher-mileage routes | Expensive vehicles, heavy repair costs |
← Scroll to see the full table →
Both methods require a mileage log — even actual expenses needs your business-use percentage, which comes from miles. And if you own your vehicle, you generally must choose standard mileage in the first year to keep the option open later. When in doubt, most solo cleaners come out ahead with standard mileage and the far simpler recordkeeping.
Which Supplies and Equipment Can You Deduct?
Cleaning burns through consumables, and every one of them is deductible when used for business: chemicals and solutions, microfiber cloths, sponges, trash bags, gloves, paper products, mop heads, and the endless refills. These are ordinary supplies — deduct them in the year you buy them.
Bigger equipment — a commercial vacuum, a carpet extractor, a floor buffer, a pressure washer — can often be fully written off the year you buy it under Section 179 or bonus depreciation, rather than spread over years. A December stock-up on chemicals and consumables before year-end is a legitimate, common move to pull deductions into the current tax year.
Are Uniforms, Bonding and Insurance Deductible?
Uniforms and protective gear are deductible — but only if they're required for work and not suitable for everyday wear. A branded polo or smock with your logo qualifies. Slip-resistant work shoes, knee pads, aprons, masks, and heavy-duty gloves qualify. A plain pair of jeans you could wear anywhere does not, even if you only wear them to clean. Laundering and repairing the qualifying items is deductible too.
Insurance and bonding are close to universal in this business — commercial clients especially won't hand over a key without them. General liability premiums and bonding fees are deductible business expenses. (Note: your own health insurance isn't a Schedule C expense; it's a separate self-employed health insurance deduction on your 1040.)
How Do You Deduct What You Pay Other Cleaners?
As soon as you bring on help, two things change. First, payments to subcontractors are deductible. Second, if you pay any single contractor $2,000 or more in 2026 (the threshold jumped from $600), you must issue them a Form 1099-NEC by January 31 of the following year, with a copy to the IRS.
Classify carefully: if you control how, when, and where someone cleans, the IRS may consider them an employee, not a contractor — and misclassifying carries real liability. When you grow past yourself, this is the moment to get the setup right.
Can You Claim a Home Office as a Cleaner?
If you use a space in your home regularly and exclusively for the business — scheduling jobs, storing supplies and equipment, doing your invoicing and books — you may qualify for the home office deduction, which lands on Schedule C Line 30. The simplified method is $5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet ($1,500 max).
Here's the part that pays off twice: when your home qualifies as your principal place of business, the drive from home to your first cleaning job of the day becomes deductible instead of nondeductible commuting. For a cleaner making multiple stops a day, that can convert a lot of "commuting" miles into business miles. It's worth getting right.
Running a Crew? Track Each Vehicle
If you've grown to multiple cleaners in multiple vehicles, the mileage and expenses multiply — and so does the mess at tax time. Every business vehicle needs its own log, and every cleaner's business miles are deductible to the business. Trying to reconstruct that from memory in April is how deductions get lost. The businesses that keep the most are the ones where every trip and every expense lands in one place as it happens.
Quarterly Estimated Taxes (Yes, You Probably Owe Them)
As a self-employed cleaner you pay income tax on your net profit plus self-employment tax of 15.3% (Social Security and Medicare). If you expect to owe at least $1,000 for the year, the IRS wants quarterly estimated payments — not one lump sum in April. The good news: you deduct half your self-employment tax on your 1040, and every mile and supply you track lowers the profit all of it is calculated on.
It All Lands on Schedule C
Every deduction here flows onto Schedule C, where your expenses subtract from your cleaning income to arrive at the net profit you're actually taxed on. Mileage, supplies, uniforms, insurance, subcontractors, home office — each has its place on the form. Miss a category and you overpay. The cleaners who keep the most aren't the ones with the fanciest accountant; they're the ones who tracked every mile and every receipt all year, so that in April there's nothing to reconstruct and nothing to lose.
That's the whole game: the deductions are real and generous, but the IRS only rewards what you can document. A mile you didn't log is a deduction you don't get. Track it as you drive it, keep your receipts digitally, and walk into tax season with the numbers already done.
Frequently asked questions
What can a self-employed cleaner deduct?
The miles between jobs, cleaning supplies and equipment, uniforms and their laundering, bonding and liability insurance, payments to subcontracted cleaners, the business share of your phone, and a home office if you have a qualifying space. Mileage is usually the largest single deduction.
Are the miles between cleaning jobs deductible?
Yes. Once your working day has begun, the drive from one house or office to the next is deductible business mileage, reported on Schedule C Line 9. The drive from home to your first job is commuting unless you have a qualifying home office.
Can I deduct the gas for my cleaning van?
Not separately if you use the standard mileage rate, because fuel is already built into that rate along with maintenance, insurance and depreciation. If you use the actual expense method instead, you deduct the business-use percentage of your real vehicle costs including gas.
Can I deduct what I pay other cleaners?
Yes. Payments to subcontractors are deductible as contract labor on Schedule C Line 11. If you pay any individual contractor $600 or more in a year, you generally need to issue them a 1099-NEC, and that threshold rises to $2,000 for payments made in 2026.
Do cleaners need to pay quarterly estimated taxes?
If you expect to owe $1,000 or more for the year, yes. Nobody withholds tax from what a client pays you, so most self-employed cleaners cross that line. Payments are due four times a year, and the safe harbor is to pay 100% of last year's total tax, or 110% if your prior-year income was over $150,000.
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This article is for general educational purposes and isn't tax, legal, or accounting advice. Deductibility depends on your specific situation. Tax figures are for 2026 and may change — verify current amounts on IRS.gov or with a tax professional.