Personal Trainer Permit Requirements in Lexington, 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. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government — Division of Revenue — Occupational License

   Every business entity operating in Fayette County must apply for and obtain an initial occupational license from the LFUCG Revenue Department before starting business. The occupational license fee is a flat 2.25% of an individual's compensation and a business's net profits — there is no fee tier by business type — reported on an annual Net Profits License Fee Return. Employers file an Employer's Return of License Fee Withheld quarterly, or monthly when quarterly withholding exceeds $300, plus an annual Reconciliation of License Fee Withheld.

   Official government source

   $100 initial license fee and a $100 annual minimum license fee, plus the 2.25% occupational license fee on net profits and payroll·Not published by the LFUCG Revenue Department; the license must be obtained before starting business

   $100 initial license fee and a $100 annual minimum license fee, plus the 2.25% occupational license fee on net profits and payroll

   Not published by the LFUCG Revenue Department; the license must be obtained before starting business

2. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government — Certificate of Occupancy / Home Office Certificate

   A personal training business in a commercial space needs a Certificate of Occupancy from the LFUCG Division of Building Inspection, not from Planning and Preservation. A Certificate of Occupancy is required for any business to operate in Lexington-Fayette County and is issued by the LFUCG Division of Building Inspection, 101 E. Vine St., (859) 258-3770. If you are not changing the use of the space and are not doing additions or remodeling that would require a building permit, you may apply directly for a Certificate of Occupancy at lexingtonky.gov/permits and then schedule a life-safety inspection with a Fire Inspector at (859) 231-5668. If the use is changing or remodeling is taking place, you apply for a building permit instead and the Certificate of Occupancy is issued once the permit conditions are met. A trainer working from a Fayette County residence instead obtains a Home Office Certificate, also applied for and paid at lexingtonky.gov/permits.

   Official government source

   $25 for a Certificate of Occupancy for an existing commercial building; $10 for a Home Office Certificate for a home-based location. A certificate reached through a building permit carries that permit's fee, which the division does not publish online·Not published by the Division of Building Inspection; the life-safety inspection is scheduled by appointment with the Fire Inspector

   $25 for a Certificate of Occupancy for an existing commercial building; $10 for a Home Office Certificate for a home-based location. A certificate reached through a building permit carries that permit's fee, which the division does not publish online

   Not published by the Division of Building Inspection; the life-safety inspection is scheduled by appointment with the Fire Inspector

Official Sources

• Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government — Revenue Division

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