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Cleaning services

When a business providing cleaning services must lodge a TPAR to report payments made to contractors.

Last updated 25 August 2021

You must lodge a Taxable payments annual report (TPAR) if all conditions are met:

  • your business provides cleaning services to other people or businesses
  • you paid contractors or subcontractors to provide these cleaning services on behalf of your business
  • your business has an Australian business number (ABN).

Payments made to employees are not reported in your TPAR.

Each year, you must:

  • review if you need to lodge a TPAR
  • report these payments to us on your TPAR by 28 August.

When your business provides cleaning and other services

If cleaning services are only part of what your business provides, you may need to fill out a TPAR.

You should:

  • work out how much of your business income came from cleaning services
  • add up the money your business was paid for providing cleaning services for the financial year. A financial year is the 12 months from 1 July to 30 June
  • include payments for services provided by both employees and contractors or subcontractors
  • work out the total amount of your business income for the year.

If the total payments, you receive for cleaning services are:

  • 10% or more of your gross business income: you must lodge a TPAR
  • less than 10% of your gross business income: you do not lodge a TPAR.

You can also choose to lodge a TPAR even if you are:

  • under the 10% threshold (see examples below)
  • unsure if you will be under the threshold.

See the steps on how to Work out if you need to lodge

Example: business providing cleaning and other services

Jehan Building has an ABN and provides building maintenance services. These services include office cleaning.

Jehan Building uses both employees and contractors to perform the office cleaning work.

Jehan Building works out the following amounts for the financial year:

  • current goods and services tax (GST) turnover = $100,000
  • total payments received for cleaning services = $10,000
  • total payments paid to contractors = $5,000
  • total payments paid to employees = $6,000.

To work out if they need to lodge a TPAR, Jehan Building calculates:

$10,000 (total payments received for cleaning services) multiplied by 100

÷ $100,000 (total business income)

= 10%.

Jehan Building must lodge a TPAR. This is because the payments they received for cleaning services ($10,000) is 10% of their total business income for that year ($100,000).

In a TPAR, they need to report the total amount (adding up to $5,000) they paid to each of their contractors for cleaning services.

They do not include the $6,000 for payments made to their employees. This is because the TPAR is for reporting payments to contractors, not employees.

End of example

 

Example: business selling cleaning products and occasionally providing cleaning services

Cleaners 123 has an ABN and sells cleaning products.

Occasionally, customers that purchase their cleaning products also engage them to provide cleaning services.

Cleaners 123 hires contractors to provide the cleaning services for these customers.

At the end of the financial year, Cleaners 123 calculates the total payments received for cleaning services. If this is 10% or more of their current or projected business income, they must report payments made to contractors for cleaning services in a TPAR.

End of example

Examples of cleaning services

Cleaning services can include, but are not limited to, the following cleaning activities:

  • carpet
  • chimney
  • exterior, except sandblasting
  • gutter
  • interior
  • park and park facilities
  • road and street sweeping
  • swimming pool.

The cleaning services can be done on:

  • buildings
  • equipment
  • events, including:
    • agricultural
    • cultural
    • entertainment
    • scientific
    • staging of sporting
    • technological
     
  • exhibitions
  • industrial machinery
  • places
  • residences. For example, homes
  • surfaces
  • structures
  • transport vehicles, including:
    • airplanes
    • buses
    • cars and other motor vehicles
    • ferries
    • ships
    • trains
    • trams
    • trucks.
     

Example: cleaning business reporting contractor payments for labour and materials

Cleanest Management is a cleaning business with an ABN. It supplies cleaning services.

Cleanest Management hires a contractor to complete the cleaning work. As part of the agreement, the contractor provides their own cleaning products.

At the end of the month, the contractor provides Cleanest Management with a tax invoice for $3,300 (GST inclusive). The invoice is for their cleaning services and the cleaning products purchased and used for the job.

Over the year, the contractor's payments for cleaning services provided to Cleanest Management total $39,600.

Cleanest Management must include the amount of $39,600 when reporting payments made to the contractor in a TPAR.

End of example

For a simple version of this content, see TPAR for cleaning services – Easier to read information

QC56821