Taxable service floor

Definition

Whether a state taxes cleaning as a service, and the floor a small cleaner sits under.

Why It Matters

Square-foot pricing tells a buyer to rebuild the rate per cleanable foot, and in a minority of states that rate is not the whole price. Ohio counts building maintenance and janitorial service as a sale, and then excludes anybody with less than five thousand dollars of that service in the calendar year. The floor is crossed by the acquisition itself. A buyer already operating above it must charge tax on the acquired book from the first day, so every inherited rate is several per cent dearer to a customer who can leave on thirty days' notice. It runs backwards too. A seller who was over the floor and never collected has an accrued liability, and the successor rules hand it to the buyer. Ask which side of the floor the seller was on and whether anybody ever asked.