Is There Sales Tax on a Gym Membership in New York City?

It is the first of the month and the gym’s charge lands on your card. The membership price is the one you signed up for. The total is not. There is a line for tax, and below it a smaller charge for the locker you rent, and that one seems to carry a different tax.

The front desk says it is “the city tax.” A friend whose gym is outside the city pays no tax at all. One page online gives one rate, another a different one, and a third says gyms in New York are not taxed.

Each of them is partly right. Which part depends on where the gym is, who runs it, and what each line on the bill is for.

The short answer

Gym in the city

Yes, 4½%

New York City's local sales tax. For a commercial gym, the Tax Department says no New York State sales tax is added on top.

Gym outside city

Usually no

A commercial gym is not taxed. A club its own members run is: its dues carry state and local sales tax.

Extras on the bill

Often yes

Classes and personal training carry the 4½% in the city. Lockers, towels and the snack bar are taxed wherever the gym is.

Haircut, tattoo, tanning

Yes, 4½%

In the city, the same 4½% as the gym. Products sold with the service, like aftercare cream or tanning lotion, are taxed separately.

That is the short version. The rest of this page decides which of those lines describes your gym, your bill and, if you own the place, your register.

Is a gym membership taxed in New York City, and at what rate?

Yes. A gym membership in New York City carries the city’s local sales tax of 4½%.

It starts with state law. New York State lets the city tax a list of services, and gyms are on it. The words are:

“a tax, at the same uniform rate, but at a rate not to exceed four and one-half per centum, in multiples of one-half of one per centum, on the receipts from every sale of the following services: … and every sale of services by weight control salons, health salons, gymnasiums, turkish and sauna bath and similar establishments and every charge for the use of such facilities, whether or not any tangible personal property is transferred in conjunction therewith …”

That sentence sets a ceiling, not the rate. The rate comes from the city’s own law, the Administrative Code, which imposes the tax “at the rate of four and one-half percent” on the same list, gyms included. The city charges the most the state allows.

The 4½% is the whole tax on your dues

This is where it is easy to go wrong. It is tempting to take the combined state and city rate on goods in New York City, 8.875% as of October 2026, and multiply the dues by it.

New York State’s Department of Taxation and Finance, the Tax Department, says that is the wrong number. Its gym bulletin says: “Dues or membership fees paid to health and fitness facilities are not subject to New York State sales tax.” Schedule N, the part of the sales tax return where a gym reports these charges, describes them as “subject to the 4½% local tax only.”

So on a commercial gym membership in the city, the Tax Department’s position is that 4½% is all of it.

Where the gym is decides it

The Tax Department ties the tax to where the facility is. It applies to charges for “the use of these facilities located in New York City.”

Pools and courts count too

The Tax Department’s New York City gym bulletin also reaches “establishments that offer customers access to facilities for participating in sports, such as swimming pools or basketball or racquetball courts.”

In an advisory opinion dated November 3, 2020, issued to one business, the Department explained that “in 2008, the Administrative Code was amended and expressly excluded the participatory sports exemption,” and concluded that the business’s charges were subject to the New York City local sales tax.

What else on my gym bill is taxed: classes, personal training, guest passes, childcare?

In the city, most of it, at the same 4½%. The Tax Department says that “dues, membership and initiation fees, and any charges paid for the use of these facilities located in New York City are subject to the New York City local sales tax.” It lists charges that fall inside that rule:

• aerobic, Pilates or other exercise classes
• personal training
• guest access
• childcare services
• fitness and wellness workshops
• use of a spa, and services such as massage, facials and body treatments by people who are not medical professionals
• tanning services

The Department names initiation fees in the same sentence as dues, so a joining fee at a city gym carries the 4½% too. And a personal training package is not a separate, untaxed service: it carries the city tax the same way the monthly dues do.

If my gym is outside New York City, is there still sales tax?

Usually not.

For an ordinary commercial gym, the Tax Department is clear: “Dues or membership fees paid to health and fitness facilities are not subject to New York State sales tax. These charges are also not subject to local sales taxes if the facility is located outside New York City.”

The exception is a club its members run.

When the gym is really an athletic club

State law taxes club dues separately from the city’s gym tax. It defines the kind of club it means as “Any club or organization of which a material purpose or activity is social or athletic,” and it taxes:

“The dues paid to any social or athletic club in this state if the dues of an active annual member, exclusive of the initiation fee, are in excess of ten dollars per year … and on the initiation fee alone, regardless of the amount of dues, if such initiation fee is in excess of ten dollars.”

Once the tax applies to a club, the law says it “shall be paid by all members, other than honorary members”. Ten dollars a year is a low bar, so the real question is whether the place is an athletic club at all.

The member-control test

The Tax Department’s test turns on who runs the place: “To be considered an athletic club, the club must be organized such that its members have an extensive role in the operation of the club.” Its examples are a club whose members:

• plan and control the club’s activities
• select and approve new members
• participate in management of the club
• have a proprietary ownership interest in the club

And it says what does not count: “A club owned by a private operator where members pay a seasonal fee to belong to the club and do not have any role in operating the club is not considered to be an athletic club.” Nor is “a facility that provides exercise or other equipment, or that promotes exercising solely for health or weight reduction purposes.”

If your club passes the test, the Tax Department’s position is that “New York State and local sales taxes are imposed on dues and membership fees paid to any athletic club in the state.”

Why are lockers, towels and the snack bar taxed at the full rate?

Because the Tax Department puts them on a different list from the dues: “Charges for the following are examples of charges that are subject to state and local sales taxes regardless of where in New York State the facility is located: locker fees; bottles for water or other beverages; bottled water; gym bags, towels, training aids, etc.; food sold from a snack bar or restaurant facility; and certain items sold from vending machines.”

The New York City bulletin adds yoga mats to the list and repeats the point: these are taxed “regardless of the type or location of the facility.”

So one bill can carry two taxes. In the city, a commercial gym’s dues carry the 4½% only and the locker carries the full state and local sales tax. Outside the city, a commercial gym’s dues carry nothing and the locker is still taxed.

One exception goes the other way. “Sales of food supplements, appetite suppressants, etc., are exempt from both state and local sales taxes.”

Do haircuts, tattoos and tanning get the same 4½%?

Yes, in the city. The same city law that taxes gyms opens its list with “every sale of the services of beauty, barbering,” and the Tax Department applies the same 4½% to tattooing and tanning. Each has its own detail.

Haircuts

The Tax Department lists haircuts at the 4½% city rate with no state tax. The products are a different matter. Shampoos, conditioners and styling products sold at the counter carry the combined state and city rate, 8.875% as of October 2026.

Two kinds of product are not taxed at all, the Department says: dandruff preparations, including dandruff shampoos, and products intended as a hair regrowth treatment.

Haircuts, manicures, massage and the products sold beside them, with the service rate and the goods rate side by side, are on our guide to sales tax on personal care.

Tattoos

The Tax Department says tattooing and permanent make-up are “exempt from state and local sales tax everywhere in New York State outside New York City, but subject to New York City’s local sales tax when sold in New York City.”

The Department’s tattoo bulletin excludes one case: “Tattooing services performed in New York City for medical reasons (e.g., cancer radiation therapy) by a person who is licensed under Title VIII of the Education Law are not taxable.”

The jewelry and aftercare ointments, lotions or creams sold with a tattoo are taxed throughout New York State.

Tanning

The Tax Department says tanning, “whether paid on a per-visit basis or paid for in advance,” is untaxed outside New York City and “subject to New York City’s local sales tax when sold in New York City.” A prepaid package is no way around it.

The lotions, creams, protective goggles and jewelry a salon sells are taxed throughout the state. Sunscreen with an SPF of 2 or greater is not taxed, the Department says.

Indoor tanning also carries a federal tax that has nothing to do with sales tax. As of the current U.S. Code, the Internal Revenue Code says:

“There is hereby imposed on any indoor tanning service a tax equal to 10 percent of the amount paid for such service”

Is a yoga or Pilates studio treated like a gym?

In the city, a Pilates studio, yes. A studio that teaches only yoga, no.

The Tax Department describes the businesses inside the gym tax this way: “Health and fitness facilities are generally facilities that provide customers or members with access to exercise equipment. Pilates, aerobics, and fitness studios, weight reducing salons, spas, gyms, saunas, Turkish baths, tanning salons, and similar businesses are examples.” The New York City bulletin names “Pilates, aerobics, and fitness classes” as programs that bring a studio in.

Yoga has its own sentence: “Facilities in New York City that offer only instruction in various yoga disciplines are not considered to be weight control salons, health salons, or gymnasiums. As a result, charges by these facilities for yoga classes are not subject to the New York City local sales tax.”

The word that matters is “only.” The Department says yoga taught at a facility that “also provides exercise equipment or Pilates classes” is taxed. And a yoga-only studio that charges for yoga mats is charging for one of the items on the full-rate list above.

If you run the gym or the shop

If you own a gym, studio, barbershop, tattoo shop or tanning salon in the city, this part is yours.

Register before you open. Your Certificate of Authority comes from registering with the Tax Department, and the law sets the timing: register “at least twenty days prior to commencing business or opening a new place of business.” That applies to a second location too.

Report the city-only sales on Schedule N. The Tax Department tells city service businesses to “report the sales subject to only the New York City local sales tax on Schedule N (Form ST-100.5).” Gym charges have their own box there, described as “subject to the 4½% local tax only.” Lockers, towels, drinks and retail products do not belong in that box; they carry the full state and local rate.

Set up two tax codes, not one. At a commercial gym, dues, initiation fees, classes, personal training, guest passes and childcare belong under the 4½% city-only code. Lockers, towels, bottled water, gym bags, mats and the snack bar belong under the full state and local rate. One code for everything will be wrong on one side or the other.

Our business tax services page covers the income tax returns, estimated payments and payroll filings a business owes, and how we help with sales tax registration and returns.

What to do this month

If you belong to a commercial gym in the city, look at your last bill. Dues, classes and training should carry the 4½%. A locker or a towel charge carries more. If the dues line itself carries more than 4½%, ask the front desk why; the Tax Department’s position is that no state tax applies to it.

If your gym is outside the city, a commercial gym’s dues carry no sales tax; the locker and drinks still do. If your members run the club, expect state and local sales tax on the dues.

If you run a gym, studio or shop, check three things before the next return: that you registered for a Certificate of Authority before opening each location, that your city-only sales go on Schedule N, and that your register uses two tax codes.

If you would like someone to look at your own bill, your register or your returns, contact us or call (646) 397-0003. We work with small businesses and individuals in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, in English or Korean.