Commercial cleaning and janitorial insurance in Georgia

Georgia paperwork, from the occupation tax certificate to the E-Verify affidavit

We found no Georgia state trade license for commercial cleaning, and the state doesn't tax janitorial service. Most of your registration happens locally, and one statewide rule rides along with every local application.

Entity filing and the local occupation tax

Once your corporation or LLC is formed, the local layer is an occupation tax certificate (some cities call it a business tax certificate) issued by the city or county where you're based. Savannah, for example, issues no general business license; a cleaning company gets a Business Tax Certificate from the city's Business and Alcohol Regulations Unit after Development Services approves the location, with the tax set by class and gross receipts and due by January 31. The certificate expires December 31, and operating more than 30 days without one adds a 10 percent late fee and 1.5 percent monthly interest, so a company that opens in the fall still has a January deadline coming.

The E-Verify affidavit

When you apply for a local business license or occupation tax certificate, you swear under oath that you use E-Verify or that you're exempt, under O.C.G.A. 36-60-6. Private employers with more than 10 employees must use E-Verify, and the count is taken on January 1 of the year you apply. Savannah's affidavit asks for your E-Verify user number and date of authorization once you have 11 or more employees, and smaller employers affirm the exemption. The form warns that a false statement is a crime.

Public contracts add a second affidavit. Muscogee County School District's custodial RFP has the contractor swear under O.C.G.A. 13-10-91 that it uses E-Verify and will hire only subcontractors who hand it the same affidavit.

No sales tax on the service, but tax on your supplies

The Department of Revenue says most services in Georgia are exempt. The taxed services it lists are accommodations, in-state transportation of people, admissions and amusement charges, and janitorial or building cleaning isn't among them. You don't charge sales tax on cleaning service alone.

Service providers are usually the end users of their supplies and equipment, so you owe sales or use tax on the chemicals, liners and machines you buy. If you also sell goods, the department says you collect and remit sales tax on those sales. Confirm the current rule with the Georgia Department of Revenue or your CPA.

Background checks come from the contract

School districts set screening terms in their own RFPs. Muscogee County School District's 2026 custodial solicitation makes the contractor responsible for fingerprinting and background checks of its personnel. Ask each district what it requires and who pays.

We found no Georgia janitorial employer registration, building-service wage rule or worker-retention law. The closest thing is the state purchasing guideline below, which is guidance for agency buyers rather than a statute.

Georgia comp starts at three, and officer waivers don't shrink the count

Any business that regularly employs three or more people in Georgia needs workers' comp, and regular part-time workers count, including weekend-only staff. For a cleaning company built on part-time night crews, that line arrives early.

Corporate officers are employees. As many as five officers or LLC members may opt themselves out on Form WC-10, which goes to the insurance carrier, yet the waiver leaves them in the three-person count. Sole owners and partners sit on the employer side of the line, though they can ask their carrier in writing to cover them.

Georgia has no state fund. If the voluntary market won't write you, the fallback is Georgia's assigned risk plan for comp, which NCCI administers. Contract janitorial crews are usually rated under NCCI Code 9014. The State Board of Workers' Compensation has an enforcement division that accepts complaints about uninsured employers.

Clients check comp directly. The state's custodial template asks for statutory comp with a waiver of subrogation, and Muscogee County schools required $500,000/$500,000/$500,000 employer's liability from contractors and their subcontractors. Our comp class code and audit guide explains how sub payroll is treated.

Georgia's custodial template, and what districts add to it

The Department of Administrative Services' Insurance and Bonding Guidelines (SPD-SP048, August 2025) include a template for custodial services. It asks for:

• statutory workers' comp
• general liability of $1,000,000 each occurrence and $1,000,000 personal and advertising injury, with $2,000,000 general and products-completed operations aggregates
• $1,000,000 combined single limit auto and a $2,000,000 umbrella
• fidelity or employee dishonesty coverage, with the type and limit set by the service
• the State of Georgia and its officers, employees, agents and volunteers as additional insureds (protected parties under your policy) on the general, contractors pollution, auto and umbrella policies, with waivers of subrogation on the comp, general, pollution, auto and umbrella policies and primary, non-contributory wording on all of them

The guideline says fidelity bonds are typically required when a supplier's employees work under a state contract with limited state supervision and easy access to state property or money, and it names after-hour janitorial services first. Crime coverage there is expected on ISO CR 00 01 with the CR 04 01 Clients' Property and CR 20 14 Loss Payable endorsements. In plain terms, the policy has to reach property that belongs to the agency, and the agency gets paid directly on a covered loss.

School districts add their own layer. Muscogee County asked for CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 additional insured endorsements, which protect the district during your work and after it's finished, plus an abuse endorsement and a $5 million umbrella.

One more Georgia wrinkle: one surety's materials say Georgia is the exception to the conviction clause that many janitorial bonds carry, the clause requiring a conviction before the bond pays. Read your bond form. Our janitorial bond explainer and the guide to contract insurance requirements cover both pieces.

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Georgia exposures worth planning around

Tort reform changes how claims are tried

Senate Bill 68, signed April 21, 2025, lets juries see both billed and paid medical amounts, limits how lawyers can anchor pain-and-suffering numbers in closing arguments, allows seatbelt-use evidence in auto cases, allows split trials and narrows negligent-security premises claims. It caps nothing, but it changes how a slip claim or a van crash involving your crew is argued.

Abuse and molestation terms on school work

Muscogee County's 2026 custodial RFP required an endorsement that affirmatively adds sexual molestation, abuse or harassment coverage to the general liability policy. Many standard janitorial GL policies exclude that exposure, so a school bid can stall on one missing endorsement. Ask for it when you first price a district contract, not the week the certificate is due.

A small crew that's already over the line

Example scenario: A two-officer LLC adds a weekend cleaner for a medical office park. Both officers signed WC-10 waivers, so the owners assume they're too small for comp. Under Georgia's count, they have three employees, and the weekend cleaner who strains a back lifting a full trash bin has no policy to claim against.

Missing property after the night shift

When a tablet disappears from a state office the morning after your crew cleaned, the agency's question is whether your crime coverage answers for a client's property. Under ISO's standard clients' property coverage, the employee who took it generally has to be identified, and a janitorial bond may require a conviction first (subject to the Georgia exception one surety describes). Key logs and sign-in sheets help an investigation either way.

Georgia cities, one verified detail each

Georgia cost drivers

We don't post Georgia prices, but the drivers are clear.

School and state work push limits up. The state template wants a $2 million umbrella, and one 2026 school-district RFP wanted $5 million plus an abuse endorsement. Each adds premium, and because many standard janitorial GL policies exclude abuse, the endorsement takes some shopping.

Crime coverage that includes clients' property is its own line, and the state leaves the type and limit to each service contract, so the number you price for one agency may not fit the next. Ask for the limit in writing before you bid.

No sales tax on janitorial service keeps your bid price lower, though you still pay tax on supplies.

Your price depends on the payroll in each class code, your annual sales, the kinds of buildings you clean, how much specialty and chemical work you do, the vehicles your crews drive, your claims history and the limits your contracts require. The cleaning insurance cost breakdown shows how each factor adds up.

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Georgia licensing for our agency

Commercial Cleaning Insurance Group is a brand of The Allen Thomas Group, licensed in Georgia (License #201776, NPN 7642818).

Georgia contractors talk with a licensed agent on our team about their state, school and private exhibits first, and the quote follows from that review.