· by Michael Blair, Nashville's Cleaning Service
When people look for home cleaners around Spring Hill or Nashville, they are usually choosing between two kinds: a person who cleans on their own and is paid directly, and a company that sends its own cleaners. Price and schedule get most of the attention. The federal rules get very little, and they can turn a homeowner who pays a cleaner directly into an employer with forms to file. This is what the IRS and the Labor Department’s rules say. It is not tax advice: the figures below are the ones the IRS gives for 2026, they change from year to year, and a tax professional should confirm how they apply to your situation.
Are you the employer when you hire a house cleaner directly?
You can be, if you control how the cleaning is done. IRS Publication 926, the Household Employer’s Tax Guide, lists housecleaning workers, housekeepers and maids among the workers who do household work, and its test turns on control: if you decide how the cleaning gets done, and not just which rooms, the cleaner is your employee. Under the same guide, hours and pay schedule do not change that, so part-time work paid per visit counts the same as a full-time job.
The other side of the line is a self-employed worker. Publication 926 says that if only the worker controls how the work is done, the worker is not your employee, and it describes the typical self-employed worker as someone who brings their own equipment and sells the service to anyone who will hire them, as a business of their own. IRS Tax Topic 756 on household employees draws the same line. Where one particular cleaner falls depends on the facts of the arrangement, which is why a tax professional should look at yours.
The Labor Department’s wage-and-hour rules use similar language. 29 CFR 552.3 defines domestic service employment as household services performed by an employee in or about a private home, and names maids and housekeepers in a list it calls illustrative, not exhaustive.
The figures the IRS gives for 2026
If your cleaner is your household employee, two dollar amounts decide what you owe. For 2026, Publication 926 says social security and Medicare taxes apply to the wages of a household worker you pay $3,000 or more in cash wages, at 6.2 percent for social security and 1.45 percent for Medicare, each owed by both the employee and the employer. Topic 756 notes that the threshold can change from year to year. A cleaner who comes every week reaches it sooner than one who comes once a month, which is worth keeping in mind when you read our post on weekly, biweekly or monthly cleaning.
Federal unemployment tax is separate. Publication 926 says it applies if you pay total cash wages of $1,000 or more to household employees in any calendar quarter of 2025 or 2026, at 6 percent of cash wages, and that wages over $7,000 a year per employee are not taxed.
Three more points come straight from the IRS. You are not required to withhold federal income tax from a household employee’s wages, though you may if the employee asks and you agree. Household employment taxes are reported on Schedule H with your Form 1040. And state unemployment tax is a separate question that Publication 926 sends to your state’s unemployment tax agency. Wages paid to a spouse, a child under 21, a parent or an employee under 18 follow exceptions that Topic 756 lists.
- $3,000 or more in cash wages to one household employee in 2026: social security and Medicare taxes apply
- $1,000 or more in total cash wages in any calendar quarter of 2025 or 2026: federal unemployment tax applies
- Federal income tax: withholding is not required, only if you both agree
- State unemployment tax: ask your state’s unemployment tax agency
What changes when a cleaning company sends the cleaner?
If the company controls the work, the cleaner is not your employee. Publication 926 treats a cleaner sent by an agency, where the agency directs the work and the way it is done, as that agency’s worker rather than yours. You are paying a business for a service, and the household employer rules above are not yours to follow for that cleaner.
The word "agency" alone does not settle it. The same publication says a worker can still be your employee even if you hired them through an agency or from a list an agency provided. What counts is who controls the work, not how you were introduced.
When you book recurring house cleaning with us, you are hiring the business, not taking on a person, and our post on what to expect from a cleaning service describes how a visit runs. If you want to know how any company, ours included, handles the people it sends, ask before you book.
Does a house cleaner get a 1099 or a W-2?
A household employee gets a W-2 when the IRS rules call for one. Publication 926 says to file a separate 2026 Form W-2 for each household employee you pay $3,000 or more in social security and Medicare wages, or whose wages you withhold federal income tax from, and to give the employee their copies by February 1, 2027. Topic 756 adds that you need an employer identification number to complete it.
Publication 926 does not tell a household employer to send a 1099 to a cleaner, and we will not guess at the rules for paying someone who is self-employed. If your cleaner works for themselves, ask a tax professional what, if anything, you need to file.
Below the threshold the IRS still suggests a record. Publication 926 encourages an employer who does not have to file a W-2 to give the household employee a receipt with the dates worked, the wages paid and a general description of the work, so the employee can report the income. Keeping your own record of what you paid, and to whom, helps whichever way your arrangement turns out. If you would rather book a service than become an employer, ask us for a written estimate for your rooms and schedule.
Sources
- IRS Publication 926 (2026), Household Employer’s Tax Guide — Who is a household employee, the agency rule, the 2026 thresholds, W-2 and Schedule H, state unemployment tax
- IRS Tax Topic 756, Employment taxes for household employees — Withholding, the yearly threshold, exceptions and Form W-2
- 29 CFR 552.3, Domestic service employment (eCFR) — Labor Department definition naming maids and housekeepers
FAQ
Hiring a House Cleaner Yourself or Through a Company — questions
Is a housekeeper an independent contractor?
It depends on who controls the work. IRS Publication 926 says a worker is your employee if you control not only what is done but how it is done. A self-employed housekeeper usually brings their own tools and offers services to the public as an independent business. A tax professional can review your arrangement.
Is a house cleaner a household employee?
Often, if you hire and direct them yourself. The IRS lists housecleaning workers, housekeepers and maids as household workers, and they are your employees when you control how the work is done, whether full time or part time. A cleaner sent by a company that controls the work is not your employee.
Do I need to file a 1099 for my housekeeper?
Publication 926, the IRS guide for household employers, covers W-2s for household employees and does not direct you to file a 1099 for a housekeeper. If your housekeeper is self-employed rather than your employee, ask a tax professional what, if anything, you need to file for the payments you made.
Do I have to pay taxes for a house cleaner?
If the cleaner is your household employee, you may. For 2026 the IRS says social security and Medicare taxes apply once you pay one household employee $3,000 or more in cash wages, and federal unemployment tax once you pay $1,000 in any calendar quarter. Confirm your case with a tax professional.
How much can I pay a housekeeper before I owe taxes?
For 2026, IRS Publication 926 sets $3,000 in cash wages to one household employee as the point where social security and Medicare taxes apply. Federal unemployment tax starts at $1,000 in total cash wages in any calendar quarter of 2025 or 2026. The IRS figures can change every year.
Do I need to withhold taxes from my cleaning lady’s pay?
Federal income tax, no: the IRS says you are not required to withhold it from a household employee unless they ask and you agree. Social security and Medicare are different. Once you pay $3,000 or more in cash wages in 2026, you generally withhold the employee’s share or pay it yourself.