SimpleReturns

Company tax returns for cleaning businesses

Reviewed by Lee Jones, Founder · Updated 16 July 2026
The short answer

If you run your cleaning business through your own limited company, the filing duty is the same as for every company: a Company Tax Return to HMRC within 12 months of your year end, plus a set of accounts, even in a year you made a loss. What makes yours different is what goes into it: the regular clients paying week after week, the products and cloths you get through by the box, the machines, the miles between jobs and the branded workwear. And there is one habit that causes more mess than anything HMRC does: running the company and your personal life out of one bank account.

Official source. This guide is a plain-English summary of official GOV.UK guidance, not advice. The authoritative source is Company Tax Returns on gov.uk. Always rely on that over our summary.

What counts as your company's income?

Everything the company was paid for the work. For a cleaning company that usually means:

  • Regular domestic cleans, the weekly and fortnightly clients. Steady money is still taxable money, every visit of it.
  • Commercial contracts, like an office or dental surgery paying a fixed monthly invoice.
  • One-off jobs, deep cleans, end-of-tenancy cleans, after-builders cleans, ovens.
  • Anything you charge on top, like products billed to the client or a fee for a same-week booking.
  • Work through a booking platform. If clients come via an app that takes a cut, your income is the full amount charged to the client, not the smaller sum that reaches the account; the app's cut is a separate cost you claim.

Your tax bill is worked out on the profit, which HMRC calculates its own way rather than copying the accounts figure. Small companies pay 19% on profits up to £50,000; bigger profits move towards 25%.

One side note while we are talking about money in: if the company's takings go over £90,000 across any rolling 12-month period (not just your accounting year), it has to register for VAT. That is a separate job from the tax return, but a healthy round of regular clients adds up faster than you think, so keep an eye on the running total.

What can your company claim?

The rule behind every expense is simple: the cost must be purely for the business, and where something is part personal only a clear business part counts. For a cleaning company, the usual claims are:

  • Supplies and consumables. Cleaning products, cloths, sponges, mop heads, bin liners, gloves. You buy them constantly and they are all costs of doing the work, so keep the receipts even for £14 at the cash and carry.
  • Equipment. Vacuums, a carpet-cleaning machine, a floor polisher, a steamer. Bigger kit like this can normally be claimed in full in the year you buy it.
  • Travel between jobs. Driving from one client to the next during the working day is a business cost, but the ordinary trip from home to your first job and back from your last is commuting and does not count. Use your own car and the company can pay you a set rate per business mile instead of a share of running costs: 55p for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year (6 April to 5 April), then 25p. A van bought for the business normally gets a full deduction in the year you buy it; cars differ. And if the company owns a vehicle you also use privately, that private use can bring a benefit-in-kind charge, so get an accountant to look first.
  • Workwear, with one honest caveat. A branded polo or tabard the company makes you and your team wear counts as uniform and is claimable, and so are protective items like heavy-duty gloves and aprons. Plain everyday clothes are not, even if you only wear them for work: the leggings and trainers you clean in are still ordinary clothes in HMRC's eyes. The logo genuinely matters.
  • Insurance. Public liability cover, and insuring the kit and the van.
  • Phone and software. The phone you take bookings on and the app that runs your schedule or invoicing. If the company takes out the phone contract in its own name and gives you one phone, the whole cost is a company cost with no extra personal tax, even when you use it personally too. A contract in your own name is different: only specific business calls can be claimed, not a slice of the whole bill.

One honest line if you have a small team: wages are a business cost, but paying people runs through payroll, HMRC's separate system with its own rules. Once someone earns £96 or more a week the company must register as an employer, which is not part of this return.

The trap in this trade: one bank account for everything

Plenty of cleaning companies start as one person and a car, and the money habits start too: client payments land in the same account that pays for the weekly shop. Once you are a limited company that stops working: the company's money is not your money. There are only three proper ways to take it out: a salary through payroll, dividends paid out of profits with the right records, and anything else becomes a director's loan the company must record, with its own tax rules.

A mixed account causes two problems. Your return must be built from the true business figures, and untangling a year of groceries from client payments is slow work. And every personal spend from the company account tends to count as money you owe the company, and an unnoticed director's loan can carry a real tax cost. Our guide to the director's loan account explains that side. The fix is cheap: open a separate business account today and pay yourself from it properly.

What does filing actually look like?

HMRC's own free filing service has closed, so every company now files through commercial software. With SimpleReturns, you upload the company's bank statement, answer a few plain-English questions (no accounting words, we promise), and check every figure before anything is sent. We then file both things every cleaning company owes: the return to HMRC and the accounts to Companies House. It is free to start, no card needed, and £99 flat when you file.

One deadline to respect: file late and the penalty is £200 from the very first day. Put your year end in the phone now.

Common questions

Do I still have to file if my cleaning company made a loss?

Yes. Every company that gets a notice from HMRC must send a Company Tax Return with its accounts within 12 months of its year end, even in a year it made a loss or has no tax to pay.

Can my cleaning company claim for products and equipment?

Yes. Cleaning products, cloths, gloves and other consumables are everyday business costs, and bigger equipment like a vacuum or a carpet-cleaning machine can normally be claimed in full in the year you buy it. Keep the receipts.

Can I claim the clothes I clean in?

Only branded uniform like a polo or tabard with your logo, and protective items such as heavy-duty gloves and aprons. Plain everyday clothes like leggings and trainers are not claimable, even if you only wear them for work.

When does my cleaning company have to register for VAT?

When its takings go over £90,000 across any rolling 12-month period, not just your accounting year. That is a separate job from the tax return, so keep an eye on the running total as your regular clients add up.

Why should I keep company and personal money in separate accounts?

Because the company's money is not your money, and a mixed account is slow to untangle at return time. Personal spending from the company account tends to become a director's loan, which can carry a real tax cost. A separate business account avoids all of it.

Want your cleaning company's return filed for you?

SimpleReturns turns the company's bank statement and a few plain-English questions into both filings: your accounts and your CT600. You check every figure before anything is sent, and filing the return to HMRC and the accounts to Companies House together costs a flat £99.

Start your return

And if your company and personal money have been tangled all year, sort the account out first and expect some untangling; we would rather say that plainly than pretend software makes it vanish.

General guidance, not advice. This guide explains how the rules generally work for small UK limited companies. It isn't tax advice for your specific situation, if you're unsure, check with us or an accountant.