GST on gym membership in India (2026): rate, invoice and registration explained

The rate today: 5%, without input tax credit

After its 56th meeting on 3 September 2025, the GST Council cut GST on gyms, fitness centres, yoga, salons and similar wellness services from 18% with input tax credit to 5% without it. The change took effect on 22 September 2025, as reported by the Press Information Bureau and Business Standard. If you still see 18% on an older website, it was written before the change.

Input tax credit normally lets a business set off the GST it paid on its own purchases against the GST it collects. At this rate that credit is not available, so tax you pay on equipment or services generally cannot be claimed back against membership fees. Ask your accountant how that changes your costs.

Do you have to register?

It depends on your yearly turnover and your state. The figure most often quoted for services is ₹20 lakh a year, and ₹10 lakh in some special-category states. A gym below the limit can usually still register voluntarily.

If you are not registered you do not charge GST and you do not show it on bills. Ask your accountant which side you are on.

What a gym tax invoice shows

• The gym's name and GSTIN
• A running invoice number that never repeats, and the date
• The member's details and a description of the service, such as a monthly membership
• The service code (SAC): 999723, physical well-being services including health club and fitness centre
• The taxable value
• The tax: CGST and SGST for a gym serving members in its own state
• The total, and how it was paid

A worked example

Most gyms quote one price and do not add tax on top. If a plan costs ₹1,500 including GST, the 5% is worked out from inside that price, so the member still pays ₹1,500:

• Taxable value: ₹1,428.57
• CGST at 2.5%: ₹35.71
• SGST at 2.5%: ₹35.72
• Total: ₹1,500.00

A ₹2,100 quarterly plan is ₹2,000 taxable plus ₹50 CGST and ₹50 SGST. A ₹800 monthly plan is ₹761.90 plus ₹19.05 and ₹19.05.

At gym scale: 100 members paying ₹1,500 a month collect ₹1,50,000. The GST inside is ₹1,50,000 × 5 ÷ 105, about ₹7,143, split roughly ₹3,571 CGST and ₹3,571 SGST. Over a year that is about ₹85,700 that is not yours to keep. A rate card that ignores this quietly shrinks your income by nearly 5%.

Inclusive or on top: decide once

If you show GST separately, a ₹1,500 plan becomes ₹1,575 for the member (₹37.50 CGST plus ₹37.50 SGST), which some will notice. Gyms in competitive areas usually keep the price the member sees and absorb the tax inside it. Gyms with business customers who can use the tax on a bill tend to show it separately. Neither is wrong. The rate card and the invoice just have to agree. Jimwala treats plan prices as GST-inclusive.

CGST and SGST, or IGST

Same state: the tax is split equally, which is why 5% shows as 2.5% plus 2.5%. A service supplied across state lines, for example to a company registered elsewhere, shows IGST at the full 5%. Almost every gym invoice is CGST and SGST. If a business customer in another state asks for an invoice, check with your accountant first.

If you are not registered

An unregistered gym issues a clear numbered fee receipt, not a tax invoice: gym name, member name, what they paid for, the dates and the amount. Do not show a GST line you are not entitled to charge.

Habits that keep it clean

• Number invoices one after another and never reuse a number, even for a cancelled one.
• Never edit an invoice a member already has. Cancel it and issue a new one.
• If your GSTIN or rate changes, apply it to new invoices only.
• Once a month, send your accountant one report of invoices issued and tax collected, and check collections in your records against bank and cash.
• Supplements, merchandise and personal training may be different supplies from the membership, with their own rate. Ask how each of your income lines is treated.

Jimwala numbers invoices in order, shows the tax split when you add a GSTIN, gives plain receipts when you have none, and never rewrites an invoice you have issued. It does not file your returns. Your accountant does that.

Who actually asks for a tax invoice

Individual members rarely do. The requests that come usually have a reason: a company reimbursing fees, a professional claiming the cost, a corporate tie-up. If you are registered, issue a proper invoice for every membership regardless, because the law requires it whether or not anyone asks.