NEW YORK, U.S., April 2, 2012 (Fox NY): The New York Department of Taxation and Finance decided that yoga studios fall into a category of businesses — specifically weight control or health salons — that must pay the city’s levy, officials said. The state — which collects the city’s sales tax — already began auditing yoga studios, presenting them in some cases with bills for back sales taxes for the past three years.
“We do see this as a fairness issue,” according to Edward Walsh, a spokesman for the Department of Taxation and Finance, noting that Pilates studios have to pay sales tax. “Businesses that provide similar services should be subject to the same taxes in the city.” The new tax policy was met with cries of protest from the yoga business community. For years, studios budgeted without the expectation of a sales-tax hit.
According to Alison West, executive director of Yoga for New York, a lobbying group, the new tax policy could not have come at a worse time, with the industry just beginning to get back on its feet after the economic downturn, or what she termed “the yoga crisis.” Like most businesses, yoga studios likely would pass the sales tax on to the customer, forcing prices up.