Personal Trainer Permit Requirements in Bowling Green, KY

1. EIN (Employer Identification Number)

   Required if you have employees or operate as an LLC or corporation. Free from the IRS.

   Official government source

   Free·Immediate (online application)

   Free

   Immediate (online application)

1. Kentucky Department of Revenue — Sales and Use Tax Permit (Retailer's or Seller's Permit)

   KRS 139.200 imposes a 6% tax on the gross receipts of all retailers from retail sales of tangible personal property and of digital property, and from the furnishing of the services enumerated in subsection (2). That enumerated list is long and catches many service businesses that assume they are untaxed: landscaping services including lawn care and maintenance, tree trimming, landscape design and installation, and snow plowing or removal (paragraph (g)); janitorial services including residential and commercial cleaning and carpet, upholstery and window cleaning (h); small animal veterinary services (i); pet care services including grooming, boarding, pet sitting and obedience training (j); non-coin-operated laundry and dry cleaning (l); indoor skin tanning (n); non-medical diet and weight reducing (o); extended warranty services (p); photography and photofinishing (q); telemarketing (r); lobbying (t); executive employee recruitment (u); website design and development (v) and website hosting (w); bodyguard services (z); security system monitoring (aa); private investigation (ab); process serving (ac); repossession (ad); personal background checks (ae); parking and valet (af); rental of space for meetings, conventions, weddings, banquets, parties and other short-term social events (ai); social event planning and coordination (aj); leisure, recreational and athletic instructional services (ak); recreational camp tuition (al); personal fitness training (am); massage except when medically necessary (an); cosmetic surgery (ao); body modification including tattooing, piercing, scarification and branding (ap); non-medical laboratory testing (aq); interior decorating and design (ar); household moving (as); specialized design (at); lapidary (au); labor to repair or maintain commercial refrigeration equipment where no property is sold (av); labor to repair or alter apparel, footwear, watches or jewelry where no property is sold (aw); prewritten computer software access services (ax); and data brokering services (ay), the last effective August 1, 2026. KRS 139.240(1) requires every person presently engaged in or desiring to engage in business as a retailer or seller in Kentucky to file a permit application for each place of business, and KRS 139.250 requires the department to issue a separate permit per location, makes it nonassignable, limits it to the person named, and requires it to be conspicuously displayed. There are no local sales and use taxes in Kentucky, so the rate is 6% statewide.

   Official government source

   No fee. Neither KRS 139.240 nor KRS 139.250 prescribes a charge for the retailer's or seller's permit, and the Department of Revenue issues the account at no cost through the Kentucky Business One Stop registration·Not published by the Department of Revenue. KRS 139.240(1) requires the application to be on file before engaging in business as a retailer, and KRS 139.240(4) waives the written signature for electronic registrants, so file through the Kentucky Business One Stop before the first taxable sale

   No fee. Neither KRS 139.240 nor KRS 139.250 prescribes a charge for the retailer's or seller's permit, and the Department of Revenue issues the account at no cost through the Kentucky Business One Stop registration

   Not published by the Department of Revenue. KRS 139.240(1) requires the application to be on file before engaging in business as a retailer, and KRS 139.240(4) waives the written signature for electronic registrants, so file through the Kentucky Business One Stop before the first taxable sale

2. No Kentucky Personal Trainer License — but Training Is Taxable and Prepaid Packages Trigger Health Spa Registration

   Kentucky licenses no personal trainers. The Department of Professional Licensing administers twenty-five regulatory boards — including massage therapy, dietitians and nutritionists, applied behavior analysis, occupational therapy and athletic agents — and none covers personal training or fitness instruction, and the Kentucky Business One Stop portal states that Kentucky has no statewide business license applying to all businesses. Certifications from NASM, ACE, ACSM or NSCA are private credentials that gyms and insurers may demand but that no Kentucky agency requires or recognizes. Two Kentucky requirements do bite. First, tax: KRS 139.200(2)(am) subjects personal fitness training services to the 6% sales tax, and paragraph (ak) separately taxes leisure, recreational and athletic instructional services, so session fees are taxable gross receipts and the trainer must hold a sales and use tax permit under KRS 139.240; the rate is a flat 6% statewide because Kentucky has no local sales and use taxes. Second, prepaid packages: a trainer who operates a studio and sells memberships or prepaid session blocks can fall within the Health Spa Act. KRS 367.900(1) defines a health spa as any for-profit establishment providing as one of its primary purposes services or facilities purporting to improve physical condition or appearance through sports activities, fitness training, exercise or body building, which reaches a training studio. KRS 367.905 then requires a registration statement and fee with the Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection before any membership is sold, plus a surety bond under KRS 367.906, and requires prepaid contract funds to be escrowed until the business has been open thirty days. KRS 367.906(4) exempts a spa only where no initiation or similar nonrecurring fee is charged at or near the start of the term or renewal and no member is ever charged more than thirty-one days in advance — so a trainer who bills session by session or month to month stays outside the bond, while one selling ten-session or annual packages up front does not. A trainer must also hold the local occupational license of the city or county where he or she works.

   Official government source

   No state license fee, because no Kentucky personal trainer license exists, and private certification is priced by the certifying body rather than by government. The sales and use tax permit is free under KRS 139.240 and 139.250. If the Health Spa Act applies: $100 initial registration fee and $50 annual registration fee to the Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection, plus a surety bond of $10,000 for 150 or fewer unexpired contracts, $25,000 for 151 to 300, or $50,000 for 301 or more. Local occupational license fees are set by the city or county·Nothing to apply for at the state level as a trainer. Register the sales and use tax account through the Kentucky Business One Stop before the first taxable session. Any health spa registration statement, fee and bond must be filed with the Office of Consumer Protection before the first membership is sold, with renewal due on or before July 1 each year

   No state license fee, because no Kentucky personal trainer license exists, and private certification is priced by the certifying body rather than by government. The sales and use tax permit is free under KRS 139.240 and 139.250. If the Health Spa Act applies: $100 initial registration fee and $50 annual registration fee to the Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection, plus a surety bond of $10,000 for 150 or fewer unexpired contracts, $25,000 for 151 to 300, or $50,000 for 301 or more. Local occupational license fees are set by the city or county

   Nothing to apply for at the state level as a trainer. Register the sales and use tax account through the Kentucky Business One Stop before the first taxable session. Any health spa registration statement, fee and bond must be filed with the Office of Consumer Protection before the first membership is sold, with renewal due on or before July 1 each year

1. City of Bowling Green Finance Department — Business License

   Bowling Green requires all businesses operating within city limits to register with the Office of Occupational License (Finance Department) — a one-time $50 registration fee (a $275 cash bond may also apply), not an annually re-issued license. Businesses must also file and pay an Occupational License Tax of 2% of net profits (increased from 1.85% effective Jan. 1, 2024) via annual Net Profit Tax Returns, plus periodic Employee Withholding Tax Returns if they have employees.

   Official government source

   $50 one-time registration fee; ongoing 2% Occupational License Tax on net profits·Processing time not published by the city

   $50 one-time registration fee; ongoing 2% Occupational License Tax on net profits

   Processing time not published by the city

2. Zoning Approval / Certificate of Occupancy

   A personal training business in a Bowling Green commercial space needs a certificate of occupancy from the City of Bowling Green Building Division within Neighborhood and Community Services, which issues building and electrical permits and handles changes of occupancy. Zoning compatibility — including home occupation rules for training run from a residence — is administered by the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County, whose Land Use Certificate documents zoning compliance.

   Official government source

   The Building Division does not publish a permit fee schedule online; the City-County Planning Commission charges $50 for a Land Use Certificate and $330 for a Conditional Use Permit where one is required·Not published by the City of Bowling Green Building Division

   The Building Division does not publish a permit fee schedule online; the City-County Planning Commission charges $50 for a Land Use Certificate and $330 for a Conditional Use Permit where one is required

   Not published by the City of Bowling Green Building Division

Official Sources

• City of Bowling Green Finance Department

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