Does a Texas health club have to charge sales tax on personal training session fees?

Subject

Health club personal training sessions — sales tax on amusement services

Plain-English summary

This letter is a clarification of an earlier Comptroller response to the same taxpayer about whether fees for personal training sessions (PTS) at a health club are taxable as an "amusement service." The taxpayer owns an interest in a health club where members pay a membership fee to use exercise equipment, weights, a track, and a swimming pool. Separately, members can buy a contract for a set number of personal training sessions, in which a club employee designs a workout, uses the equipment/weights with the member, and shows the member how to use the equipment correctly.

The clarified holding (shown in bold in the original letter) is that a separately stated charge, flat fee, or contract — apart from the regular health club membership — for personal training sessions will not be taxable as an amusement service if both of these are true:

1. The service is one-on-one (personal one-on-one training), and
2. The trainer actually puts the client through the workout program, rather than merely designing the program and instructing the member on how to use the equipment.

Separately, the letter notes that health club membership itself is exempt from sales tax when it is purchased under a written prescription from a licensed practitioner of the healing arts for the primary purpose of health maintenance or improvement, citing subsection (g)(7) of Rule 3.298, Amusement Services.

What this means for you

Health/athletic club owners

If you charge a separate fee or sell a separate contract for personal training sessions (distinct from regular membership dues), that charge escapes sales tax as an amusement service only if the sessions are genuinely one-on-one AND the trainer is actively putting the client through the exercises — not just handing them a written program and a quick equipment tutorial. If your "personal training" product is really just program design plus a one-time equipment walkthrough, this letter's exemption language does not clearly cover it, based on the letter's own wording.

Members with a doctor's prescription

If a member buys health club membership specifically because a licensed healing-arts practitioner prescribed it in writing for health maintenance or improvement, that membership is exempt from sales tax under Rule 3.298(g)(7). The letter notes that some personal training workouts can be for medical health reasons and are sometimes doctor-prescribed, which is relevant context for this exemption.

Accountants and tax professionals

Because this is a taxpayer-specific clarification of a prior letter (not a new independent ruling), it is useful mainly as an illustration of how the Comptroller distinguishes taxable amusement-service instruction from exempt hands-on personal training, and of the doctor's-prescription membership exemption in Rule 3.298(g)(7). It binds only the original requesting taxpayer.

Common questions

Q: Are personal training session fees at a Texas health club taxable as an amusement service?
A: Under this letter's clarified language, no — as long as the fee is separately stated from regular membership, the training is one-on-one, and the trainer puts the client through the program rather than just designing it and showing equipment use.

Q: What if the trainer only designs a workout and explains how to use the equipment, without personally running the client through it?
A: The letter's clarified holding applies specifically to a trainer putting the client through the program, "rather than just designing the program and instruction on how to use the equipment" — implying that program-design-and-instruction-only services fall outside this exemption language.

Q: Is regular health club membership taxable?
A: This letter doesn't address ordinary membership taxability directly, but it does note one specific exemption: membership purchased under a licensed healing-arts practitioner's written prescription for health maintenance or improvement is exempt from sales tax, citing Rule 3.298(g)(7).

Q: Can I rely on this letter for my own health club's tax treatment?
A: No. This is a letter addressed to a specific taxpayer clarifying an earlier response to that same taxpayer's facts. Under STAR's rules, it can only be the basis of a detrimental-reliance claim for the taxpayer it was issued to.

Citations and references

Rules cited:

• 34 Tex. Admin. Code Rule 3.298(g)(7), Amusement Services (exemption for health club membership purchased under a licensed practitioner's written prescription for health maintenance/improvement)

Source

• STAR search: https://star.comptroller.texas.gov/search?doc_type_code=L&tax_type_code=
• Opinion: https://star.comptroller.texas.gov/view/9305043L

Original ruling text

May 11, 1993

Dear ***:

This is to clarify my earlier response to your letter regarding the
taxability of fees charged to individuals for participating in a series
of
personal training sessions (PTS) which are primarily instructional in
nature
or nontaxable personal services. The clarified language is depicted in
bold print.

FACTS

You own an interest in a health club which for a fee allows members to
use
the exercise equipment, weights, track, and swimming pool. To
participate
in a PTS, members are required to purchase a contract which would allow
them
to participate in this activity for a designated number of times. A PTS
would involve an employee designing a workout for that individual
using various exercise equipment and weights. It also entails that
employee
showing the members how to use the equipment correctly to insure maximum
benefits and to minimize injuries. The area where this activity takes
place is not exclusive to only this event (i.e., weight room is available
and used by other members during a PTS). This workout can be for medical
health reasons and is sometimes prescribed by doctors.

RESPONSE

A separately stated charge, flat fee, or contract (separate and apart
from
the normal health club membership) for club members to participate in
personal training sessions [BEGIN BOLD TEXT] will not be taxable as an
amusement service if:

a. the service involves personal one and one training, and

b. involves putting the client through the program, rather than just
designing the program and instruction on how to use the equipment. [END
BOLD TEXT]

Membership in a health club purchased pursuant to a written
prescription by
a licensed practitioner of the healing arts for the primary purpose
of health
maintenance or improvement, is also exempt from sales tax. See
subsection (g)(7)
of the enclosed Rule 3.298, Amusement Services.