Sales Tax on Cleaning Services in Maryland (2025)
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Maryland takes an approach few other states use: rather than leaving cleaning services to general interpretation, the legislature wrote a specific statutory definition of "cleaning of a commercial or industrial building" directly into the tax code and made it an enumerated taxable service. Under Md. Code, Tax-General §11-101(c), this defined category, covering floor, carpet, wall, window, ceiling, and exterior cleaning plus janitorial services, is subject to Maryland's 6% sales and use tax whenever performed on a nonresidential building.
What counts as a "commercial or industrial building" under Maryland law
Md. Code, Tax-General §11-101(c) defines "cleaning of a commercial or industrial building" as floor, carpet, wall, window, ceiling, and exterior cleaning, together with janitorial services, performed on a commercial or industrial building. The Comptroller's guidance interprets that definition broadly: a "commercial or industrial building" includes office buildings, retail stores, medical facilities, hotels and motels, apartment buildings (excluding the interior of individually occupied units), parking garages, day care centers, and shopping centers, among other nonresidential structures. The Comptroller's published guidance lists specific taxable activities including restroom maintenance, sanitizing and disinfecting, furniture dusting and polishing, floor care including carpet cleaning, high-pressure water cleaning, sandblasting, chemical cleaning, and construction cleanup.
Certain categories are specifically excluded even within a commercial or industrial building. HVAC cleaning charges are not taxable under the Comptroller's guidance, and emergency water extraction performed on its own, not as part of broader cleaning services, is also excluded. The tax rate itself, 6%, is set by Md. Code, Tax-General §11-104, which establishes Maryland's uniform statewide sales and use tax rate.
The residential exclusion and its edge cases
Cleaning of a private residence, including the interior of an individually owned or rented apartment unit, is not covered by the commercial/industrial definition and is therefore not taxable. This creates some genuinely tricky edge cases for mixed-use properties. A common ownership community or retirement community building used for classrooms, dining, exercise, food preparation, meetings, management offices, recreation, security, sports, or storage is specifically excluded from the tax under a legislative carve-out, even though the building itself might otherwise be classified as commercial or industrial. However, spaces within those same buildings used for retail or other purposes that independently require tax collection remain taxable.
| Scenario | Maryland sales tax treatment | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Office building janitorial cleaning | Taxable at 6% | Md. Code, Tax-General §11-101(c) |
| Individual apartment interior cleaning | Not taxable | Excluded from commercial/industrial definition |
| Common ownership community clubhouse used for classrooms/recreation | Not taxable | Legislative carve-out (SB 283 and related provisions) |
| Retail space within a retirement community | Taxable | Md. Code, Tax-General §11-101(c) |
| HVAC duct cleaning | Not taxable | Comptroller guidance exclusion |
Worked example: a Baltimore office-cleaning contract
Consider a janitorial company billing $9,500 a month to clean a Baltimore office building, which squarely fits the statutory definition of a commercial building. The company would calculate Maryland's flat 6% state rate on the full invoice: $9,500 × 6% = $570 in sales tax collected from the building's management company and remitted to the Comptroller of Maryland with the company's regular sales and use tax return. Because Maryland has no local sales tax add-on, this calculation would be identical whether the building sits in Baltimore City, Montgomery County, or anywhere else in the state.
What this means for your business
- Register with the Comptroller if you clean nonresidential buildings. Commercial and industrial building cleaning companies need a Maryland sales and use tax license and must collect the 6% rate on covered invoices.
- Keep residential and commercial revenue clearly separated. If you serve both markets, maintain records distinguishing untaxed residential work from taxed commercial and industrial work.
- Watch for the common-ownership community carve-out. If you clean HOA or retirement community buildings, evaluate which specific spaces within the building qualify for the legislative exclusion versus which remain taxable.
- Landlord lump-sum billing has special treatment. Landlords who provide janitorial services as part of a lump-sum rental charge generally don't collect tax on that bundled rent, but do pay tax on any cleaning services they purchase from third-party vendors, and a landlord who separately bills tenants for cleaning must collect tax on that separate charge.
- One rate statewide simplifies multi-county work. Because Maryland's 6% rate doesn't vary by county or city, a company serving clients from Annapolis to Frederick applies the identical rate to every covered invoice.
Maryland's approach compared with other taxable-cleaning states
Maryland's approach is unusual for how specifically the statute defines the taxable activity, compared with a state like Nebraska, which taxes building cleaning under broader "building maintenance" language, or Minnesota, which reaches even residential cleaning. Maryland's specificity gives operators a clearer statutory anchor, but also means the details, like the common-ownership community carve-out, genuinely change outcomes.
Frequently asked questions
Is cleaning the common areas of an apartment building taxable in Maryland?
Yes, generally. While the interior of individually occupied apartment units is excluded, common areas of an apartment building are treated as part of a commercial building under Md. Code, Tax-General §11-101(c) and are subject to the 6% sales and use tax.
Do landlords need to collect sales tax on cleaning services included in rent?
Generally no, if the janitorial services are bundled into a lump-sum rental charge. In that case, the landlord instead pays tax on any cleaning services purchased from third-party vendors. If the landlord separately itemizes and charges tenants for janitorial services, that separate charge is taxable.
Is fire and flood cleanup taxable under Maryland's commercial cleaning rules?
Generally yes, when performed on a commercial or industrial building, including removal of damaged property, soot removal, and water extraction performed in connection with other cleaning activities. Emergency water extraction performed on its own, and not as part of other cleaning services, is excluded from tax.
Does Maryland allow counties to add their own local sales tax on top of the 6% rate?
No. Maryland has a uniform statewide sales and use tax rate of 6% with no local add-on, unlike states such as Colorado or Missouri where local jurisdictions can layer on additional tax.
Is cleaning a medical office building taxable in Maryland?
Yes. The Comptroller's guidance specifically lists medical facilities among the examples of commercial or industrial buildings covered by the statute, so janitorial and cleaning services performed there are subject to the 6% sales and use tax.
For a side-by-side look at how neighboring frameworks compare, see our guides to cleaning services sales tax in New York and cleaning services sales tax in Oklahoma.
The comptroller's sales and use tax section is where legislative changes to service taxability are implemented in administrative guidance, and this state has moved on service taxation more recently than most of its neighbors. A contractor holding contracts written before a change took effect needs a pass-through clause that actually functions. The AICPA state and local tax resource center covers how practitioners handle mid-term tax changes on multi-year service agreements, which is a drafting question rather than a filing one.
How we built this guide
Opora editorial sources from BLS OEWS wage tables, ISSA-447 production rates, NCCI workers' compensation classifications, EPA List N, OSHA 29 CFR standards, and primary state regulatory filings. We don't recycle blog posts — we audit primary documents.
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