Household Tax Deduction for Cleaning Services in 2026 — Full Guide

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The household tax deduction (kotitalousvähennys) is Finland's most underused tax break. For cleaning services, it can knock 35% off the labour cost — making professional cleaning meaningfully cheaper than the sticker price suggests. Here's how it works in 2026.

The basics in 60 seconds

If you buy cleaning, renovation, or care work from a registered Finnish business — and pay an invoice — you can deduct 35% of the labour cost from your taxes. The maximum is €1,600 per person per year. Two adults living in the same household can each claim the full amount: €3,200 total per year.

What qualifies (and what doesn't)

The deduction applies to labour cost only — not materials. For cleaning services, that's nearly the whole bill since materials are minimal. Eligible services include:

• Regular home cleaning
• Move-out and move-in cleaning
• Window cleaning
• Deep cleaning
• Specialist cleaning (sauna, balcony, post-construction)
• Snow clearing on private yards
• Lawn care and garden work

What doesn't qualify:

• Cleaning of common areas in housing companies (taloyhtiö stairwells, shared yards)
• Office or business premises cleaning (this falls under business expenses instead)
• Services bought outside the EU/EEA
• Materials and product costs separately invoiced

The €100 own-share

The first €100 of eligible expenses is the household's own share (omavastuu). The deduction kicks in above that. In practice, if you only used the service for a single small cleaning of €200, the deductible part is €100 × 35% = €35.

For anyone using cleaning regularly, the own-share is hit in the first month and doesn't matter for the rest of the year.

How to claim it

The deduction is claimed in your tax return through OmaVero. You'll need:

• The cleaning company's business ID (Y-tunnus)
• Invoices showing the labour portion separately
• Date and address of the work

If you pay by invoice and request electronic copies, all of this is on each invoice. You can claim either in advance (lower withholding during the year) or after the fact in your tax return.

Worked example: a family that uses cleaning weekly

Anna and Mikko live in a 75 m² apartment in Espoo. They book Cleava for weekly cleaning at 39€/hour. A typical clean takes 3 hours, so each visit costs €117. Over a year that's €117 × 52 = €6,084.

The labour portion is essentially the whole amount. 35% of €6,084 = €2,129. Minus the €100 own-share (one per couple), that's €2,029. But the maximum is €1,600 per person, so each claims €1,600 — totalling €3,200 returned across the year. The real annual cost: €6,084 − €3,200 = €2,884, or €55.46/week.

Common mistakes

The most common reasons claims get rejected:

• Company isn't in the prepaid register (ennakkoperintärekisteri). Always check. Cleava is registered, as are all reputable cleaning companies.
• Cash payment. Only invoice payments qualify. No bank transfer trail = no deduction.
• Work done in a property the claimant doesn't live in. The deduction applies to your own home or one used by your parents, in-laws or grandparents.
• Materials not separated from labour on the invoice. Make sure your invoice shows the labour clearly.

What's changing in 2026

The current deduction is 40% of labour, capped at €2,100 per person (raised from 35%/€1,600 per government decision 22.4.2026, retroactive to 1.1.2026). There have been periodic political proposals to lower the cap or rate — check Vero.fi for the latest as the rules can change year to year. As of the start of 2026, the rates above are in effect.