D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 9, r. 9-472
Gross receipts from the sale of or charges for the service of real property maintenance shall be subject to the tax. For the purpose of this section, the term "real property maintenance" means the activities of keeping the land or premises of a building clean, orderly and functional, including performing minor adjustments, maintenance or repairs.
Examples of keeping the land or the premises of a building clean, orderly and functional include, but are not limited to, the following:
The term "real property maintenance" shall not include activities such as painting, wallpapering, or other services performed as part of construction or major repair services performed under an employee-employer relationship, or services performed by persons who are not considered to be regularly engaged in business.
For the purpose of this section, an "employer-employee relationship" exits if the employer exercises or has the right to exercise control over the individual in the performance of services under the usual common law rules applicable in determining the employer-employee relationship, not only as to the result to be accomplished by the work, but also as to the details and means by which that result is accomplished. Other factors characteristic of an employer, but not necessarily present in every case, are the furnishing of tools and the furnishing of a place to work to the individual who performs the services. Workers provided under temporary help service contracts or under other agreements are not considered employees for the purpose of this section.
Whether the relationship of employer and employee exists shall be determined, when the issue arises, upon an examination of the particular facts of each case.
A maintenance or janitorial contract includes minor adjustments, maintenance or repairs that are performed on the land or building. These tasks are performed in the normal course of the contract and are usually performed with small tools (hammer, screw driver, pliers, etc.). Examples of minor adjustments include, but are not limited to, bulb, fuse and filter replacements; wall plate replacements; oiling of motors or other movable items; motor screw adjustments; installation of peepholes, kickplates and mailslots; and installation of doorstops and weather stripping.
Minor adjustments shall not include a complete overhaul of any equipment associated with the real property. If a District building permit is needed, the task shall not be considered to be minor. Examples of repairs that are exempt from the tax include the following:
Inground or indoor swimming pool maintenance includes seasonal services such as winterization, spring start-ups, chemical treatments, pump and filter cleaning, vacuum cleaning, wall cleaning and scrubbing and any necessary minor repairs. Inground or indoor swimming pool maintenance shall not include retiling or other major repairs such as overhaul of the heating system, pumping, or electrical systems.
Parking lot, garage and recreational area maintenance includes services such as sweeping, cleaning, pressure washing, vacuuming, mowing and snow removal. Real property maintenance for parking lots, garages and recreational areas shall not include pavement patching, asphalt repair, sealing, grading, or installing wheelstops.
Pest control consists of the services of identifying, preventing, controlling, or eliminating, by use of chemical or mechanical means, infestation of any of the following:
Trash removal service includes the removal of waste, refuse and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial operations, commercial operations, and institutional activities.
Vendors providing real property maintenance services may issue a resale certificate on all tangible personal property that will be sold or transferred as part of the taxable service or taxable contract. Items such as brushes, mops, brooms, and wiping cloths that are consumed in performing or used to perform taxable real property maintenance services shall not be considered to be sold or transferred as a part of the taxable service; therefore, such items shall not be purchased with a certificate of resale. Examples of materials for which a vendor may issue a resale certificate include the following:
Vendors providing temporary help to perform real property maintenance shall be required to collect the sales tax on the charges for that service. The tax shall be collected even if the temporary help performs some inconsequential nontaxable services. Vendors providing temporary help for nontaxable services shall not be required to collect the tax if that help also performs some inconsequential taxable real property maintenance services. Temporary help includes maids-for-hire performing real property maintenance services for domestic purposes as well as commercial purposes.
Property management companies that are responsible for the management of properties in the District of Columbia shall not be considered vendors. Those companies shall be considered consumers of all materials and services purchased to manage the property, including the services of subcontractors. Vendors, including subcontractors, providing materials and services to property management companies shall be required to collect the sales tax on the charges to these companies. For the purposes of this section, a property management company is a company providing mixed taxable and nontaxable services, such as real property maintenance and rent collection, to manage property for a contracted fee.
Property management companies providing real property maintenance services through their own employees shall not be required to collect the sales tax on the charges for these services.
Property management companies shall be considered vendors if they provide taxable services outside of the property management contract or if they solely provide taxable services, either through their own employees or through subcontractors. As vendors, they may issue a certificate of resale for the materials and services they purchase in accordance with § 472.12.
All other persons performing services usually provided by property management companies shall be considered consumers of all materials and services purchased to manage the property.
Real property maintenance services performed on the construction site shall not be considered "other services performed as part of construction." Real property maintenance services, such as trash hauling, window cleaning, building cleaning, or any of the services listed at §§ 472.2, 472.6, 472.8, 472.9, 472.10 and 472.11, performed on the construction site shall be subject to the District sales tax. "Other services performed as part of construction" includes such services as plumbing, wiring, masonry work, and other major repairs, additions, or improvements to real property.
A vendor purchasing real property maintenance services from another vendor may issue a resale certificate for the taxable services rendered. The certificate shall be preserved by the vendor accepting the certificate and shall be the authority for that vendor not to add reimbursement for the tax to the price of the service.
For example, Company A is performing a janitorial contract for XYZ Management Company. Included in the contract are services for window cleaning and trash removal. These services are subcontracted to B and C. Company A may issue a certificate of resale to B and to C. Neither B nor C would collect tax from Company A for the services they rendered. However, Company A would collect tax from XYZ.
D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 9, r. 9-472