Registration, Certificates, & Other Crucial Requirements –

Do You Need a License to Open A Yoga Studio? Let’s Explore this question and check out the yoga studio requirements

Let’s talk about the real-life scenario with practical things you require before starting a yoga class. In this article, we will cover the needs for business registration, taxation, insurance, payment setup, CO, and yoga certification you need to open a yoga studio.

How to open a yoga studio? 6 Key Requirements

All the countries have different licensing requirements to open any fitness-related business. We are covering information on how to start a yoga studio in the US. Here are some basic requirements.

1) Business Registration

You need a general business license to open a yoga studio. You must register your yoga studio just like any other business type. You can register it as one of the following.

• Sole proprietorship,
• Partnership,
• Limited liability company (LLC),
• Corporation.

Go to the U.S. Small Business Administration website’s this page, scroll down to the “Look up your state” section, and search for the state where you want to open the yoga studio. The page will lead you to the right resources on how to register a business in your preferred state.

2) Employer Identification Number (EIN)

For taxation purposes, you need to obtain EIN from the internal revenue (IR) department. It is for federal taxation. Each state has different taxation rules for health and fitness establishment. Taxation is complicated, for example, in New York, there are different taxation rules for yoga instructors and yoga studios having equipment. So you must consult a tax expert on whether your yoga studio is subject to state and local taxes.

3) Business Insurances

All the businesses in the fitness industry are required to take general liability insurance. There are other highly recommended insurances, too. Here’s the list.

General liability insurance: To get protection against regular business risks like property damage, personal injury, legal cases and fines, and more. It ranges from $300 to $700 per year.

Professional liability insurance: It protects yoga instructors from lawsuits claims for errors, omissions insurance, and negligence.

Workers’ compensation insurance: In most states, it is mandatory to have this insurance to cover lawsuit costs and settlement in the event of employees getting injured while performing their duties.

4) Certifications for Yoga Studios

There are no legal requirements for yoga studios to get a certification. However, yoga classes get certificates to indicate their authenticity and use them in marketing material. Here is the list of game-changer yoga certificates for studios.

Yoga Alliance (YA)

Yoga Alliance is one of the most reputed yoga certification providers around the globe. It has 6 certification levels for yoga studios.

• Registered Yoga School (RYS) 200
• RYS 300
• RYS 500
• Registered Children’s Yoga School (RCYS)
• Registered Prenatal Yoga School (RPYS)

Fees are $640 USD for the first year and then $200 each year to maintain the membership. After being a registered yoga school (RYS), you’ll get a chance to get clients who aspire to be yoga instructors and need certificates from YA, because now you’ll get eligibility to train and certify the yoga teachers. You get the benefit of getting your studio’s name in YA’s Registered Yoga School directory. 

Other certificates for Yoga Studios

The Association of Yoga Professionals (AYP) and World Yoga Federation also have highly valuable certificates for yoga classes. You can use these credentials in your advertisements to attract more clients.

5) Payment Acceptance Set up

Another necessary component to opening a yoga class is to decide how you’re going to accept the Payments.

3 main requirements for payment integration.

1. A physical point of Sale (PoS) to accept payment at your doorstep via card. Payment gateways charge 2.9% to 4% per transaction.
2. Online payment integration in your website or a third-party page to let clients make a payment online.
3. Software that keeps track of all payments received via cash, cheque, card, and online transfers, and also stores details refunds, coupons, and gift cards.

You can use Yottled for all 3 purposes. It is 100% free for businesses. You get the option to push the credit card fees to your customers’ final bill to save approx. 3%, which otherwise you’re supposed to pay from your revenue.

6) Certificate of Occupancy (CO)