Commercial cleaning and janitorial insurance in New York

Registering, collecting tax and proving coverage in New York

Three things come before your first New York contract: an entity filed with the Department of State, a sales tax Certificate of Authority, and proof of workers' comp plus disability coverage once you hire. New York doesn't license commercial cleaning as a trade, so no state board issues you a cleaning license. We found no statewide general business license either.

Forming the company

You file your corporation or LLC with the Department of State's Division of Corporations. LLCs have one extra step most owners don't expect. Within 120 days after the articles take effect, the LLC must publish a notice once a week for six weeks in a row in two newspapers the county clerk picks, one weekly and one daily, then file proof of publication with the Department of State.

Miss that 120-day window and the LLC's authority to do business in New York is suspended until the proof is filed. Existing contracts stay valid and members aren't made personally liable, but a suspended LLC is hard to explain to a property manager. Check with your city or county about any local permit, since local rules vary.

Sales tax on every interior cleaning invoice

New York taxes the service of maintaining, servicing or repairing real property under Tax Law §1105(c)(5). The Tax Department's memo TSB-M-91(4)S says that since June 1, 1990, combined state and local sales tax applies to all charges for interior cleaning and maintenance, whether you clean once or under a multi-year contract. Before that date, regular contracts of 30 days or more were exempt outside New York City. That exemption is gone.

The memo's list reads like a night crew's task sheet: dusting, vacuuming, cleaning and disinfecting restrooms, stripping, washing, waxing and buffing floors, cleaning appliances and changing filters. Tax applies whether you bill the owner, a managing agent or a tenant, and it has to be stated separately on the invoice.

The rate is the combined rate where the building sits, not where your office is. The Tax Department's March 2025 rate publication lists 8.875% in New York City, 8.625% in Nassau, 8.75% in Suffolk and Erie, and 8% in Monroe and Albany counties. Check for a newer edition before you set up invoicing.

You register through New York Business Express before beginning business, and the memo says you must hold a valid Certificate of Authority when you perform the cleaning. Performing taxable services without one can bring civil and criminal penalties. Confirm the current rule with the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance or your CPA.

Wage and staffing laws written for building service work

Labor Law Article 9 sets a prevailing wage and supplements for building service employees when a contractor works under a public-agency contract worth more than $1,500 whose main purpose is supplying those workers. "Public agency" reaches the state, its political subdivisions, public authorities, special district boards and boards of education. The rule exists; the Department of Labor or your attorney can tell you how it applies to a given bid.

In the five boroughs, the city's displaced building service workers law (Administrative Code §22-505) adds a transition rule when a covered building changes cleaning contractors. The incoming contractor keeps the outgoing crew for 90 days, can't discharge them without cause in that window (if fewer workers are needed, it keeps them by seniority within each job class), and gives each one a written performance evaluation at the end. Commercial office, institutional and retail buildings under 100,000 square feet and residential buildings under 50 units are outside the law.

Fingerprinting for school accounts

Education Law §3035 and the Commissioner's regulations (8 NYCRR §87.2) require fingerprint clearance through the State Education Department's OSPRA office for a contracted-service provider's employees placed in a school who will reasonably be expected to have direct contact with students under 21. OSPRA's own chart lists janitorial staff with direct student contact as needing fingerprints and janitorial staff with no direct contact as not needing them. The school's fingerprint coordinator submits the request; the New York City school district is outside this state process.

New York comp comes with two partners: disability and Paid Family Leave

Every for-profit business with employees must carry workers' comp in New York, and the Workers' Compensation Board reads "employee" broadly. Part-time cleaners, day laborers, leased or borrowed staff, family members and most subcontractors can count, regardless of 1099 status.

Comp is only one of three items on a New York certificate. Disability Benefits Law coverage becomes mandatory once your payroll has included a worker on 30 separate days within one calendar year, and Paid Family Leave is typically added to that policy as a rider. A company running night crews year-round crosses that line in its first month or two.

Owner-operators get a narrow exemption. If nobody but the owners works in the business (a solo proprietor, partners or LLC members, or one or two corporate officers who hold every share and every office), coverage isn't required. Those owners can request a Certificate of Attestation of Exemption (Form CE-200) when a government agency wants proof for a license, permit or public contract. A property manager or general contractor is a different story: the Board doesn't accept the CE-200 as proof for a private client. Owners can still opt in.

The penalties are steep. Going without coverage can mean a civil penalty of up to $2,000 for every 10 days, a stop-work order, and criminal charges that rise to a felony above five workers. Penalized employers lose access to public work for a year (five years after a felony conviction), and an uninsured owner is personally liable for the injured cleaner's medical costs and lost-wage benefits.

New York runs its own comp rating bureau, so don't assume the class code you used in another state carries over. Your carrier and the bureau assign it. The state's Construction Industry Fair Play Act presumes employee status for construction work only, not routine janitorial work, but the Board's broad view of subcontractors means an uninsured 1099 crew can still show up on your payroll at audit. Details are on the Workers' Compensation Board site.

What New York buyers write into a cleaning contract

State agencies tend to spell out what they want. One Department of Taxation and Finance request for quotes for janitorial service at its Ray Brook district office asked for $2,000,000 in general liability, required that all staff be insured against financial losses resulting from their actions, and wanted workers' comp, employer's liability and disability benefits as New York requires. It dates from 2013, but it shows what state buyers look for.

That "insured against financial losses" line is a theft requirement. A general liability policy usually won't pay when an employee steals from a client, so buyers mean a janitorial bond or crime coverage that includes clients' property. Read the exhibit for the bond amount and whether it names the client.

Private work brings its own paperwork. General contractors on build-outs ask cleaning subs for indemnity, additional-insured status and sometimes primary and non-contributory wording, because of how the Scaffold Law treats renovation-related cleaning. Property managers commonly ask for similar endorsements before the start date. Our guide to reading a cleaning contract's insurance exhibit walks through each line.

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Where New York claims and disputes come from

Renovation cleanups and the Scaffold Law

Labor Law §240(1) lists "cleaning" among covered work, and owners and contractors carry absolute liability when they fail to provide proper safety devices against elevation-related risks. In Soto v. J. Crew (2013), the Court of Appeals held that a commercial cleaning company's employee who fell from a four-foot ladder while dusting a six-foot display shelf was not doing covered "cleaning."

The court set a four-factor test. Outside commercial window washing, a task isn't covered cleaning if it's routine (daily, weekly or similarly recurring upkeep), needs no specialized equipment, expertise or unusual labor, involves only household-level elevation risk, and is unrelated to an ongoing construction, renovation, painting, alteration or repair project. No single factor decides it. Cleaning tied to a renovation, such as post-construction cleanup, can fall inside the statute, and that's why owners and GCs push the risk down through indemnity and additional-insured clauses. Courts decide case by case, so have an attorney read the clause and ask us whether your GL matches it.

Slip-and-fall suits under pure comparative fault

Under CPLR §1411, an injured person's own carelessness doesn't block recovery; it only reduces damages by their share of fault. A tenant who stepped around a wet-floor sign in a Midtown lobby can still recover part of her damages from the cleaning contractor.

Inheriting a crew you didn't hire

When you win a covered New York City building, the 90-day retention rule hands you the outgoing contractor's staff, and the law requires a written evaluation for each at the end. Discharge decisions made during and after that period can draw wrongful-termination or discrimination complaints, which is where employment practices liability can respond. Wage disputes are a different matter: most EPLI excludes them.

New York metros and what changes in each

Pricing New York cleaning insurance

We don't publish New York prices. A few state-specific factors push them.

Payroll is the rating base for comp, and payroll runs higher downstate. A cleaner in Brooklyn or Hempstead earns at least $17.00 an hour against $16.00 in Syracuse, so the same crew size produces more comp premium on Long Island than upstate.

Public contracts under Article 9 lift payroll again, because prevailing wage and supplements replace market pay on those accounts. Disability and Paid Family Leave are their own line on top of comp.

Sales tax doesn't change your premium directly, but clients compare bids after tax, which leaves less room in a thin margin for insurance costs. Put your insurance line into the bid before you set the hourly price.

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. Our cleaning insurance cost guide shows how each piece adds up.

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Licensed to place coverage for New York cleaning contractors

Commercial Cleaning Insurance Group is a brand of The Allen Thomas Group, licensed in New York (License #PC-1375403, NPN 7642818).

Before any New York quote goes out, our team reviews your buildings, payroll and contract exhibits and talks the options through with you.