Is cleaning work taxable in Nebraska?

Yes — building cleaning and maintenance has been taxable in Nebraska since October 1, 2002, and the duty to collect and remit sits with you. Janitorial routes, floor care, window cleaning, and post-tenant cleanouts all fall inside the definition under Neb. Rev. Stat. §77-2701.16 and Reg-1-098. Treating any of that as untaxed labor is a liability you carry, not the customer.

What rate do I charge?

Start with the 5.5% state rate, then add the local option rate for the city where the building physically sits. Omaha's local option is 1.5%, which puts an Omaha invoice at 7%. Across the state the average combined rate lands near 6.94%, but averages don't bill jobs — sourcing to the job site address does. Price multi-city routes stop by stop so each one carries its own number.

Which customers can buy cleaning tax-free?

Government units and other qualifying exempt entities can, and they document it with a completed Nebraska Form 13. Get that form into the customer file before you issue an untaxed invoice, not after an auditor asks, because without it the sale reads taxable no matter who the buyer is. Separately, cleaning your own employees perform on buildings you own isn't a sale at all, so nothing attaches to it.

How do I register to collect?

Register through the Nebraska Department of Revenue's Nebraska e-Stop portal, the state's front door for opening a business tax account and getting a sales tax permit issued. Do it before the first taxable job rather than backfilling later, since the collection obligation starts with the work, not with your permit date. Have the permit ID in hand before you invoice taxable supply or resale lines, and if you're unsure whether a particular job is taxable, ask the DOR before the invoice goes out instead of guessing on it.

I've been invoicing Nebraska cleaning jobs without tax. What now?

The tax was still due on that work, and unbilled tax comes out of your margin once it's assessed rather than out of the customer's pocket. Nebraska offers voluntary disclosure for unpaid liability, which is the route to take before the state finds the gap on its own. Total your prior revenue by city first so you know the real number, then register through e-Stop and keep every invoice right from that point forward.

Home › Operator Blueprint › Sales Tax on Cleaning Services by State › Sales Tax on Cleaning Services in Nebraska (2025)

Sales Tax on Cleaning Services by State

Sales Tax on Cleaning Services in Nebraska (2025)

By Opora Editorial Team5 min readUpdated continuously · In Sales Tax on Cleaning Services by State

Free tool

Sales Tax Calculator

State-by-state taxability lookup for janitorial services.

Open tool →

Nebraska made a deliberate legislative decision to bring building cleaning and maintenance into its sales tax base, effective October 1, 2002, and that decision still shapes how janitorial companies price and invoice work across the state today. Nebraska Revenue Ruling and Department of Revenue Information Guide 6-401 spell out the specifics: cleaning and building maintenance services are taxable, at the state's 5.5% rate plus any applicable local option tax.

What changed in 2002 and why it matters today

Before October 2002, Nebraska treated building cleaning and maintenance largely as a nontaxable service, similar to how states like Idaho or Michigan treat it today. The Nebraska Legislature specifically amended the sales tax base that year to add "building cleaning and maintenance" as an enumerated taxable service, a decision reflected in the Department of Revenue's Information Guide 6-401, which the department has periodically updated to clarify scope and application. This guide walks through specific examples: janitorial contracts, window washing, floor care, carpet cleaning, and general building maintenance services performed on both residential and commercial structures are generally subject to sales tax under the current framework, a broader reach than states like Florida that limit taxation to nonresidential structures.

The Department of Revenue's guide also addresses common structuring questions, including how to handle bundled contracts that combine cleaning with other services, and how out-of-state cleaning companies performing occasional work in Nebraska should register and collect tax.

What Information Guide 6-401 covers and excludes

The guide's definition of "building cleaning and maintenance" is intentionally broad, covering both interior and exterior maintenance-related cleaning of structures. It generally does not extend to unrelated services a cleaning company might also offer, such as landscaping or snow removal, which fall under different statutory categories with their own rules. Companies offering a mix of services should review each specific line of business against the guide rather than assuming uniform treatment.

Service	Nebraska sales tax treatment	Authority
Commercial janitorial/office cleaning	Taxable	Neb. Dept. of Revenue Info Guide 6-401
Residential house cleaning	Taxable	Neb. Dept. of Revenue Info Guide 6-401
Window washing/floor care	Taxable	Neb. Dept. of Revenue Info Guide 6-401
Landscaping and lawn care	Separate category : different rules apply	Neb. Dept. of Revenue guidance (distinct category)
Snow removal	Generally not classified as building cleaning	Neb. Dept. of Revenue guidance

State plus local option: the combined rate operators need

Nebraska's base state sales tax rate is 5.5%, and cities are permitted to add a local option sales tax of up to 2%, bringing the maximum combined rate to 7.5% in cities that have adopted the full local option amount. Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska's two largest cities, both levy local option taxes, so cleaning companies serving clients in those metro areas should use the applicable combined rate rather than the bare state rate of 5.5%.

Worked example: an Omaha commercial cleaning contract

A janitorial company with a $7,000 monthly contract to clean an Omaha office building would apply Omaha's combined rate, which includes the 5.5% state rate plus the city's local option tax, commonly totaling 7% in Omaha. The calculation is $7,000 × 7% = $490 in sales tax collected from the client each month and remitted to the Nebraska Department of Revenue, on top of the $7,000 in service revenue the company retains. A comparable contract for a rural Nebraska town without a local option tax would apply only the 5.5% state rate: $7,000 × 5.5% = $385.

What this means for your business

Register for a Nebraska sales tax permit before invoicing. Since building cleaning and maintenance is broadly taxable, cleaning businesses operating in Nebraska need to register with the Department of Revenue and collect tax on covered services.
Confirm the local option rate for each city you serve. Because local option taxes vary by municipality, a multi-city Nebraska operator needs the correct combined rate for each specific jobsite.
Residential clients are not exempt. Unlike Florida or Maryland, Nebraska's tax reaches residential cleaning as well as commercial work, so quotes to homeowners should include tax from the start.
Keep unrelated service lines separate. If your business also offers landscaping or snow removal, track that revenue separately since it follows different statutory rules than building cleaning and maintenance.
Out-of-state companies working temporary Nebraska jobs still need to register. Information Guide 6-401 addresses this scenario directly; occasional or one-time work performed in Nebraska by an out-of-state cleaning company can still trigger a registration and collection obligation.

Nebraska's rate in the context of other taxable-cleaning states

Nebraska's approach lands between Maryland's narrower commercial-only taxation and Minnesota's fully broad base that also reaches residential cleaning at higher combined rates. Nebraska's inclusion of residential cleaning alongside commercial work puts it closer to Minnesota's model than to Florida's residential carve-out.

Frequently asked questions

Why did Nebraska start taxing cleaning services in 2002?

The Nebraska Legislature expanded the sales tax base that year to include several previously untaxed services, including building cleaning and maintenance, as part of a broader effort to diversify state revenue sources. The specific statutory and administrative details are captured in Information Guide 6-401.

Does Nebraska tax landscaping the same way it taxes building cleaning?

No. Landscaping and lawn care services fall under a separate category with their own rules under Nebraska law, distinct from the building cleaning and maintenance category addressed in Information Guide 6-401.

If I run a one-time cleaning job in Nebraska but my business is based in Iowa, do I need to register?

Potentially yes. Nebraska's guidance addresses out-of-state businesses performing cleaning work within the state, and even occasional work can trigger a registration and tax collection obligation, so review Information Guide 6-401's specific provisions on this scenario.

Do all Nebraska cities have a local option sales tax?

No. Local option sales tax adoption varies by city, with some smaller towns levying no local option tax at all, while cities like Omaha and Lincoln have adopted local option rates. Always confirm the specific rate for the jobsite's municipality.

Is snow removal considered a taxable cleaning service in Nebraska?

Snow removal is generally not classified under the building cleaning and maintenance category addressed by Information Guide 6-401 and instead may be evaluated under different service categories, so confirm current Department of Revenue guidance if this is part of your service offering.

For a side-by-side look at how neighboring frameworks compare, see our guides to cleaning services sales tax in Montana and cleaning services sales tax in New Hampshire.

The department's sales and use tax section collects the local rate notices that pair with the information guide, and municipal rates here change on a schedule that a contractor billing across several towns has to track. Full membership in the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board provides a second reference point: the annual taxability matrix uses certified definitions shared with Iowa, Kansas, and South Dakota, which makes regional expansion a documentation exercise rather than a research project.

This guide is part of Sales Tax on Cleaning Services by State in the Operator Blueprint.

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.

Methodology · Editorial standards · Corrections policy · About Opora