Understanding Sales Tax As A Gym Owner

Do you have to charge sales tax on your gym members? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t always clear-cut. After a brief run-through though of the basics though, you should be equipped to find the answer quickly and avoid legal trouble.

(Disclaimer: the following is for information purposes only and is not intended to replace or serve as certified legal or financial advice. Please contact your local state to understand the laws of your state.)

Sales tax on gym memberships

Let’s start off with the good news. No feds are going to enforce a sales tax on your fitness operations. Whew! You may still have to deal with state and local taxes however. In some cases, the complexity of what is taxable can send your brain spinning.

In about half the states, sales tax is charged on gym memberships. In some cases, however, there are exceptions for non-profits or certain types of gyms.

If you’re blessed to live in one of the states that won’t tax gym membership, watch out! They may still tax you on the local level.

Be thorough when investigating sales tax laws. You’ll probably want to work with your accountant to make sure you’re complying with all laws and filing correctly and on time.

Sales tax on goods sold

Even if your state doesn’t enforce sales tax on gym memberships, doesn't mean you’re getting off scot-free. Do you sell, swag, smoothies, training equipment, etc? Be prepared to charge the tax.

The easy way to do it

How about having all of this handled for you? Gymbookkeeping.co can do that. We have a professional team that can assist you in setting up your point of sale system to charge sales tax and we’ll take care of filing the sales taxes for you too.