Laundry expenses 2026: payroll treatment and evidence

Updated March 2026 - Laundry expenses concern the cleaning of certain work garments when the employee bears that cost for professional purposes. In payroll, this should not be handled as a routine allowance. The treatment depends on the nature of the clothing, the reality of its business use, the reimbursement method and the quality of the supporting file.

See also meal expenses 2026, payroll tax 2026 and tax or social question.

This topic is not about ordinary clothes that can easily be worn in everyday life. It concerns garments or equipment genuinely linked to the job: uniforms, protective clothing or professional outfits whose maintenance cost is incurred because of work.

Reimbursement may be acceptable where the expense corresponds to a real professional cost. That is precisely why the payroll treatment needs to be documented properly.

The correct treatment depends mainly on:

• ▸the exact type of garment involved;
• ▸whether its use is strictly professional;
• ▸whether the employee really bears the cleaning cost;
• ▸whether the reimbursement is based on actual cost or a defendable fixed method;
• ▸whether the company can justify the approach if URSSAF reviews the file.

Hayot Expertise insight: with laundry expenses, the classic weakness is an internal flat allowance kept for years out of habit, without a clear basis, without evidence and sometimes for clothing that can also be worn privately.

The amount itself is not always the main problem. The real issue is consistency. A business may reimburse laundry costs in payroll while the expense policy, the nature of the clothing and the supporting documents all point in different directions.

That is where adjustments can arise during an audit: not because the topic is forbidden, but because the method is too vague, too old or impossible to defend.

We generally recommend checking:

1. ▸which category of clothing is concerned;
2. ▸whether the calculation is based on actual cost or an objective fixed method;
3. ▸whether the payroll treatment matches the wider professional-expense policy;
4. ▸whether the evidence retained would still be understandable several months later in the event of an audit.

We can help review your current policy, supporting documents and payroll configuration.

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In 2026, laundry expenses should be handled as a genuine professional-expense topic: usefulness, evidence, method and social consistency all matter. A simple method is fine, provided it is documented and defensible.

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