Most of us would love to put the cleaner on the tax return. For the average Australian household the answer is no: house cleaning is a private expense, the same as groceries or rent. But there are four groups who can legitimately claim some or all of it, and the amounts are not trivial once you add end-of-lease cleans, short-stay turnovers and a home office to the picture.
Quick Answer: House cleaning is not tax deductible for personal use. It is deductible, in full or in part, when the cleaning relates to earning income: a rental property that is rented or genuinely available for rent, a home-based business, a short-stay (Airbnb-style) property, or a dedicated home office. You claim the income-producing share, keep the invoices, and lodge it under the matching expense category.
This guide is general information for the 2025–26 financial year. It is not tax advice. The ATO changes rates and thresholds, so check the linked ATO pages or talk to a registered tax agent before you lodge.
How the ATO decides what is deductible
A deduction is an expense you incurred to earn assessable income. Three tests decide whether cleaning qualifies:
Connection to income. The cleaning has to relate to a property or space that produces income, not to your own living arrangements.
Apportionment. If the space is used for both income and private purposes, you can only claim the income-producing share.
Records. You need invoices or receipts showing what was cleaned, when, and what it cost. Bank statements alone rarely satisfy an audit.
Fail any one of those and the deduction goes. Pass all three and the cleaning is treated like any other running cost.
Who can claim house cleaning
Landlords with a rental property
If your property is rented out, or is genuinely on the market and available to rent, cleaning is a deductible rental expense in the year you pay for it. That includes:
End-of-lease cleaning between tenants, whether you pay for it or a departing tenant's bond covers it and you top it up.
Pre-rental cleaning to get the property to a lettable standard before the first tenant moves in.
Periodic cleaning during a tenancy that you pay for under the lease, such as shared areas in a duplex or a strata-managed block, window cleaning, or pest control alongside a clean.
Rubbish removal and carpet cleaning done as part of a turnover.
You cannot claim cleaning while the property is used privately, sitting empty by choice, or under renovation before it is available to rent. If you do the cleaning yourself, you can claim the cleaning products but not your own labour.
Claim it under rental expenses: repairs and maintenance (or cleaning, if your software separates it) on the rental schedule of your return. If the same job involves replacing carpet or repainting, those parts may be capital works or depreciating assets claimed over time rather than immediately.
People with a dedicated home office
If you work from home in a room used only for work, cleaning that room is a running expense. The ATO offers two ways to claim running expenses:
Fixed rate method. A single hourly rate covers electricity, internet, phone, stationery and the like for every hour you work from home. For 2025–26 the fixed rate is 70 cents per hour. Under this method you do not claim cleaning separately; it is folded into the rate. Keep a record of your hours for the whole year.
Actual cost method. You claim each expense at its work-related share, and cleaning can be one of them. The share is usually floor area: a 15 square metre office in a 150 square metre home is 10%, so $2,000 of annual cleaning gives a $200 deduction. Keep every cleaning invoice and a floor-plan or measurement note.
If your workspace is a shared area, such as the dining table, the ATO's position is that you cannot claim cleaning under the actual cost method, because the space is not used exclusively for work. The fixed rate method still works for the hours you spend there.
Home-based businesses
Running a business from home, with an ABN and your home as the principal place of business, opens the widest door. Cleaning of the business area is a business running expense:
The room or area used exclusively for the business: claim 100% of its share of cleaning.
Mixed-use areas (a studio that doubles as a rumpus room): claim the business proportion, based on floor area and time used.
Client-facing spaces such as a treatment room, a home salon, or a workshop that customers enter: these usually justify more frequent cleaning, and the whole cost of cleaning that space is deductible.
Sole traders usually claim this on the business schedule of the individual return; companies and trusts claim it as an ordinary business expense. GST-registered businesses claim the GST credit on the cleaning invoice through their activity statements, so keep tax invoices, not just receipts.
Short-stay and Airbnb hosts
Turnover cleaning between guests is deductible in proportion to the property's income use:
Whole property listed all year: cleaning between guests is fully deductible.
Whole property listed part of the year: apportion by the days it was listed and available versus used privately.
A room in your home: apportion by the floor area of the guest's room plus their share of common areas, and by the days it was rented.
Cleaning fees you charge guests are income; the cleaner's invoice is the matching expense. Keep the platform's payout statements alongside the invoices.
What you cannot claim
Cleaning your own home, including before a party, after a renovation, or when you are selling (selling costs go into the capital gains calculation, not deductions).
Your own time spent cleaning, even for a rental.
Cleaning a rental while you or family live in it rent-free or below market rent.
Cleaning that is really a capital improvement, such as stripping and resealing timber floors as part of a refurbishment. Those costs are claimed over time.
The private share of any mixed-use space.
Worked examples
Investment unit, tenant moves out. You pay $420 for an end-of-lease clean and $180 for carpet steam cleaning before the next tenant. Both are deductible in full this year as rental expenses.
Graphic designer, dedicated office. Home 120 square metres, office 12 square metres (10%). Weekly cleaner at $150 a fortnight is $3,900 a year. Under the actual cost method the office share is $390. Under the fixed rate method cleaning is not claimed separately; you claim 70 cents for every hour worked from home instead, so compare both before choosing.
Airbnb host, granny flat. The flat is listed 300 days and used by family for 65 days. Turnover cleans totalled $2,600. Claim 300 ÷ 365 of that, about $2,137.
Home salon. A converted garage used only for clients is cleaned twice a week at $90 a visit. The full $9,360 a year is a business expense, and the GST component is claimable if the business is registered.
Records the ATO expects
Tax invoices showing the address cleaned, the date, the service and the amount.
For home offices, a floor-plan measurement and, for the fixed rate method, a timesheet, diary or roster of hours for the whole year.
For rentals, the lease and the dates the property was available for rent, so you can show the cleaning fell inside an income period.
For short-stay, the listing calendar and payout statements.
Keep everything for five years from the date you lodge. A booking confirmation and invoice that name the property and the service, like the ones Simply Maid emails after every clean, are enough for most audits.
How to claim
Individuals lodge through myTax or a registered tax agent. Rental cleaning goes in the rental schedule; home office expenses go under work-related expenses (item D5) using whichever method you chose.
Sole traders report business cleaning in the business income and expenses schedule.
Companies and trusts claim it as an operating expense in the entity's return and claim GST credits on activity statements.
If the amount is small and you are confident of the apportionment, you can lodge yourself. Once rentals, a business and a home office overlap, a registered tax agent usually pays for their fee in errors avoided.
Frequently asked questions
Is end of lease cleaning tax deductible?
Yes for landlords, in the year it is paid, provided the property was rented or available for rent. Not for tenants: a tenant's bond clean is a private cost of moving house.
Can I claim my regular cleaner if I work from home?
Only the work-related share of a room used exclusively for work, and only under the actual cost method. If you use the 70 cents per hour fixed rate, cleaning is already included and cannot be added on top.
Does the ATO accept a percentage of the whole-house clean?
Yes, when the percentage matches the floor area of the income-producing space. Note it down once, keep the measurement, and apply it consistently.
Are cleaning products deductible if I clean the rental myself?
The products are. Your labour is not.
Do I need an ABN or GST registration to claim?
No. Individuals claim rental and home office cleaning on their personal return. GST registration only matters if you want to claim the GST credit on the invoice.
What if a relative rents the property at a discount?
Deductions are limited to the income earned, and the ATO may treat a below-market arrangement as private use. Get advice before claiming.
Summing up
House cleaning is deductible when the space being cleaned earns you income and you can show the numbers. Landlords and short-stay hosts have the clearest path. Home-office workers should compare the fixed rate method against an actual-cost claim before deciding. Home-based businesses can claim the most, and are also the most likely to be asked for evidence.
If you are booking an end of lease clean in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, or a regular clean for a home office, ask for the tax invoice to name the property. It makes the deduction simple at tax time. Our pricing page shows what each service costs before you book.
