Invoices, payments and taxes for cleaning services

FIZ issues the invoice for every cleaning job and the scheduled invoices of a monthly contract, takes card payments on your phone, gathers your expenses from e‑Fatura and prepares your IVA and Seg. Social declarations. All you do is confirm.

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A cleaner shows her phone and the client pays contactless by card, in a bright living room in Lisbon, with a caddy of cleaning products on the table.
Customers
15,000
App Store rating
4.9
AT certification
No. 3041

CAE, IVA and taxes for cleaning services

What is the same for everyone, and what changes between being self-employed and having a company.

For everyone

Activity code (CAE)

81210, «Limpeza geral de edifícios», for houses, flats, offices and the common areas of buildings; 81220 for specialised cleaning, such as windows. Before 2025, in CAE-Rev.3, these codes were the same.

Decree-Law 9/2025 (CAE-Rev.4) (Opens in a new window)Decree-Law 381/2007 (CAE-Rev.3) (Opens in a new window)

Domestic service (serviço doméstico)

Someone who cleans a household’s home regularly, under its instructions, has a domestic service contract: it is employment, and the household is the employer at the Seg. Social. Someone who cleans on their own account, for one client or several, issues an invoice to each.

Decree-Law 235/92, art. 2 (Opens in a new window)Contributions Code, art. 116 (Opens in a new window)

IVA

23% on the mainland, also for cleaning a home: the reduced rate for works on housing leaves cleaning out.

IVA Code, art. 18 (Opens in a new window)Lista I, verba 2.27 (Opens in a new window)

IVA exemption

If you invoiced up to 15,000 € last year, or expect no more than that in the year you start, you can invoice without IVA. Once you pass 18,750 € in the current year, you charge IVA from that moment.

IVA Code, art. 53 (Opens in a new window)art. 58 (Opens in a new window)

Invoices

An invoice for every cleaning job, or for every month on a contract paid monthly, even if the client does not ask for one. A simplified invoice works for jobs up to 100 €; with the IVA exemption, with no limit.

IVA Code, art. 29 (Opens in a new window)art. 7 (Opens in a new window)art. 40 (Opens in a new window)

Self-employed

IRS · income tax

The tax you pay once a year on what you earned, in the declaration filed from April to June of the following year. In the simplified regime, 35% of what you invoice for services counts. With 30,000 € in services, IRS is worked out on 10,500 €.

IRS Code, art. 28 (Opens in a new window)art. 31 (Opens in a new window)IRS activity table (Opens in a new window)

Seg. Social

Under the simplified regime, the contribution is worked out on 70% of services: 21.4% for trabalhadores independentes, 25.2% for empresários em nome individual.

Contributions Code, art. 162 (Opens in a new window)art. 168 (Opens in a new window)

Company

IRC · corporate tax

Yearly tax on the company’s profit, filed in the Modelo 22 by the end of May. With turnover up to 200,000 € and the other legal conditions, it can opt for the simplified regime: 10% of services counts.

IRC Code, art. 86‑A (Opens in a new window)art. 86‑B (Opens in a new window)

Accounting

The company must keep full accounting (contabilidade organizada), with a certified accountant.

IRC Code, art. 123 (Opens in a new window)OCC Statute, art. 10 (Opens in a new window)

Checked on 12 October 2026

Every day: the cleaning is paid and the invoice goes out at once

When the cleaning is done, issue the invoice in FIZ. The client pays contactless on your phone or scans a QR code, and FIZ reports the invoice to the AT. Each payment has a fee, which depends on the plan.

On a monthly contract, such as one for an office or the common areas of a building, scheduled invoices go out by themselves on the day you choose, on the paid plans, and FIZ reports them to the AT.

Accept paymentsCertified invoicing

Contactless

The customer holds a contactless card, or a phone with Apple Pay or Google Pay, near your phone.

By QR code

Show the QR code to your customer. They scan it and complete the payment on their own phone.

Expenses: purchase invoices reach FIZ by themselves

When you buy cleaning products, a vacuum cleaner or fuel with your NIF, the supplier’s invoice lands in the AT’s e‑Fatura. On the paid plans, FIZ fetches it by itself and suggests whether the expense is business, personal or mixed use.

Expenses and tax deductions
Cleaning products

Higiene do Tejo, Lda. · Portuguese supplier invoice

Amount excluding IVA
150.00 €
IVA (23%)
34.50 €
Payable to the supplier
184.50 €

If you charge IVA, this IVA is deducted from the IVA on your sales. With the IVA exemption, it stays a cost.

Example with sample data

At the end of the quarter: the declarations are ready

On paid plans, FIZ calculates your Seg. Social contribution from your invoices and prepares the quarterly declaration. Confirm with one click and FIZ submits it.

If you charge IVA, on the Auto Pro and Prime Pro plans FIZ does the same with the periodic IVA declaration.

Seg. Social for the self-employedIVA declaration for the self-employed
Seg. Social quarterly declaration

July to September

Services: 70% of 9,000 €
6,300 €
Monthly base: one third
2,100 €
Monthly contribution: 21.4%
449 €
Example with sample data

Start using FIZ today.

No need to wait until the end of the month, quarter or year. FIZ imports from Portal das Finanças (the AT website) the invoices already issued and received, including those from other software. No need to enter it all again.

A woman working on a laptop at a table at home
From Portal das Finanças to FIZ

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Frequently asked questions about cleaning services

Which CAE code is used for cleaning?

In CAE-Rev.4, in force since 2025, cleaning houses, flats, offices and the common areas of buildings uses 81210, «Limpeza geral de edifícios». Specialised cleaning, such as windows, has 81220. In CAE-Rev.3, these two codes were the same.

Other cleaning now has 81232, which was 81292 in CAE-Rev.3, and disinfection and pest control 81231, formerly 81291.

Does a self-employed cleaner (recibos verdes) charge IVA?

Yes, unless exempt: 23% on the mainland. Anyone who invoiced up to 15,000 € in the previous year, or expects that much in the year they start, can invoice without IVA; then the IVA on the products you buy stays a cost.

Which IVA rate applies to cleaning services?

23% on the mainland, for homes, offices and buildings. The 6% rate for renovation, repair or upkeep work on a home expressly leaves cleaning out. In the Azores and Madeira, each region’s normal rate applies.

What is the difference between domestic service and recibos verdes?

In domestic service, the person works regularly for a household, under its instructions, and earns a salary: the household is the employer, with an employment contract and Seg. Social contributions.

On recibos verdes, the person works on their own account, for one client or several, and issues an invoice for each service or each month of a contract. They pay IRS and Seg. Social as a self-employed worker.

Which IRS coefficient applies to cleaning?

In the simplified regime, cleaning services have the coefficient 0.35: 35% of what you invoice counts as income. With 30,000 € in services, IRS is worked out on 10,500 €. Cleaning is not in the IRS activity table, so the 0.75 coefficient does not apply.

To avoid paying more IRS than you need to, business expenses need to reach 15% of what you invoice for services. Business invoices on e‑Fatura, the rent for your premises and the salaries you pay count, plus a fixed amount the law already allows for, or your Seg. Social contributions if they are higher. If the total is below 15%, the difference is added to your taxable income. FIZ shows how much is left to reach 15%.

In the year you open your activity, the services coefficient is reduced by 50%, and the next year by 25%, if in those years you receive no salary or pension and have not closed an activity in the previous five years.

Which IVA applies to cleaning a short-term rental (alojamento local)?

The cleaning invoice to the host carries IVA at 23%, unless the cleaner is exempt. The 6% rate is the one for the stay the host invoices to the guest, with the cleaning fee charged with it.

If the host charges IVA on stays, they deduct the 23% on the cleaning invoice in their periodic declaration.

What changes when you have a cleaning company?

The CAE, IVA and invoice rules stay the same. The company pays IRC on profit and keeps full accounting (contabilidade organizada) with a certified accountant. On FIZ Max, the company’s certified accountant confirms the IVA declaration with one click and FIZ submits it to the AT.

IRS declaration

Other industries

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