Are house cleaners tips tax deductible in 2026?
Yes — house cleaners are on the IRS tipped occupation list (code 407). Tips in this job are deductible for 2026, up to $25,000, if the customer chose the amount and could have declined.
Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 407 · Home services · official title: Home Cleaning Service Workers
How tipping works in this job
Regular clients tend to tip periodically rather than per visit — monthly, or at the holidays — while one-off deep cleans and move-out cleans are tipped on the day. Agency cleaners are often tipped in cash left on a counter, which does not pass through the agency at all and so appears nowhere in your pay records unless you write it down.
The regulations say: Perform any combination of light cleaning duties to maintain private households in a clean and orderly manner. Duties may include making beds, replenishing linens, cleaning rooms and halls, and vacuuming. Examples given: House cleaner, pool cleaner, carpet cleaner, window washer.
The thing most likely to disqualify your tips
Agency service fees and cancellation charges are the agency’s revenue, not tips. And if you are an agency employee, the cash left on the counter is still yours and still reportable — the fact the agency never saw it does not put it outside the deduction, it just means nobody else is keeping the record for you.
Check your own numbers
Pre-filled for house cleaners. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Step 1 — your occupation
Checking for House cleaners (Treasury code 407). This occupation is on the list.
Step 2 — is it actually a tip?
Answer for the money you are asking about. If some of your income is tips and some is service charges, run them separately.
Step 3 — your tips and income
The phase-out runs on modified AGI, which for most people is the same as AGI.
3 questions left to answer.
OBBBA Deductions · obbbadeductions.com
Tips deduction worksheet — tax year 2026
The three tests, as answered
- Does the customer decide the amount? not answered
- Can the customer decline to pay it? not answered
- Is it a mandatory service charge or auto-gratuity? not answered
Answer the 3 remaining questions above for a result.
Watch out for this in your job: Agency service fees and cancellation charges are the agency’s revenue, not tips. And if you are an agency employee, the cash left on the counter is still yours and still reportable — the fact the agency never saw it does not put it outside the deduction, it just means nobody else is keeping the record for you.
Educational estimate only, not tax advice. It runs entirely in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. The deduction is scheduled to expire after tax year 2028.
How this applies to house cleaners
House cleaning splits into two quite different tipping patterns, and which one you are in determines how hard this is. Regular clients on a weekly or fortnightly rota tend to tip periodically — a lump at the holidays, or something extra every few months — rather than on each visit. One-off work is the opposite: deep cleans, move-out cleans and post-renovation cleans get tipped on the day, in cash, usually left on a counter.
If you work through an agency, the cash on the counter never touches the agency’s books. That does not put it outside the deduction; it just means you are the only person keeping the record. The agency’s pay stub shows your wages, and your qualifying tips sit entirely outside it. Reporting those tips to your employer is what makes them deductible, and it is the step most often skipped in this trade.
Cleaning in teams adds a second wrinkle. Where two or three cleaners work a house together and the client leaves one amount, the split is yours to agree and yours to record. Only your share is your qualifying tip. If your team splits unevenly — a lead taking a larger cut — the split you actually operate is the one that matters, not an even division.
The line to hold onto is that the agency’s charges are never tips. Service fees, cancellation fees, supply charges and travel surcharges are the agency’s revenue. Clients occasionally say they have "already added something" when they mean they booked a more expensive package, and that is a purchase rather than a gratuity. If you are self-employed rather than agency-employed, remember also that your tips are taken into account only to the extent the cleaning business is profitable once supplies, travel and insurance are accounted for.
The three tests, whatever your job
Paid voluntarily
The customer sets the amount and can decline to pay it.
Paid in cash or a cash equivalent
Card payments and mobile payments count.
Received directly or through a tip pool
Both routes qualify.
Questions
- Are house cleaners on the IRS tipped occupation list?
- Yes. Home Cleaning Service Workers is Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 407, in the home services category. The regulations describe it as: Perform any combination of light cleaning duties to maintain private households in a clean and orderly manner. Duties may include making beds, replenishing linens, cleaning rooms and halls, and vacuuming.
- What is the most common reason house cleaners lose the deduction?
- Agency service fees and cancellation charges are the agency’s revenue, not tips. And if you are an agency employee, the cash left on the counter is still yours and still reportable — the fact the agency never saw it does not put it outside the deduction, it just means nobody else is keeping the record for you.
- How much of my tips can I deduct?
- Up to $25,000 per return, whatever your filing status. The cap applies first, then the amount is reduced by $100 for every $1,000 of modified adjusted gross income above the threshold for your filing status.
- Does a mandatory service charge count as a tip?
- No. A mandatory service charge or automatic gratuity is not a qualifying tip, and the final regulations confirmed this explicitly. It does not qualify even when the customer cannot decline it — a qualifying tip has to be an amount the customer chose to give.
Related occupations in home services
- 408
Locksmiths
You open, repair, change and install locks and safes, and cut keys.
- 409
Roadside assistance workers
You help drivers whose vehicles have broken down — towing, jump starts, tyre changes, fuel delivery.
- 401
Home maintenance and repair workers
You repair and maintain homes and their contents — general handywork, roofing, painting, flooring, or restoring furniture and instruments.
Occupation data transcribed from T.D. 10044 — final regulations on occupations that customarily and regularly received tips, Treas. Reg. § 1.224-1(h) table 1, last verified 2026-09-08. Read the regulations.