Invoicing a joining fee and the first month
How a gym puts a new member's joining fee and first month on one invoice, with the right VAT per line, the right title, terms and a pay link.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Fitness businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
A new member signs up on a Saturday morning. They owe a joining fee once and a membership fee every month, starting now. The front desk wants them on the gym floor, the owner wants the money, and whoever does the books wants a document that will still make sense when the VAT return is prepared.
Getting the first invoice right matters more than it looks. It sets the pattern for every month after it, it is the first document the member sees with your name on it, and in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya the VAT on it has to follow your own country's rules.
Two lines, one invoice
Put both charges on one invoice, as separate lines:
- Line one: the joining fee, described plainly, for example "Joining fee, once-off".
- Line two: the first month's membership, naming the month, for example "Membership, October 2026".
Separate lines keep the member's questions short ("what is this second amount?") and let you read the two kinds of income apart later. One point to know before you rely on that: all invoice revenue posts to a single account, Professional Services Revenue (4100), and a line cannot name a different sales account. If you want joining fees and membership fees as separate lines in your income statement, your accountant will need to move them with a journal. The line descriptions are what make that possible.
Invoices start as drafts, which can be changed or deleted. Check the member's name and e-mail address on the draft, because the address is where the PDF and every later reminder will go.
VAT on each line, by country
South Africa
A South African business sets each line's VAT to 15% or 0%. Decide the setting for the joining fee and the membership fee once, with your accountant, and use it on every new member's invoice so the pattern never varies by receptionist. The invoice screen does not tell zero-rated and exempt apart, so if you ever bill something that is exempt, agree with your accountant how it should be reported.
Nigeria and Kenya
A Nigerian or Kenyan business picks a tax code on each line: standard, zero-rated, exempt, out of scope or reverse charge. Only standard lines carry VAT, at the approved rate for your country. This works once your country pack is activated under Settings, Jurisdiction & regulators.
Use the invoice form under Accounting for this. The New invoice form under Billing & Finance offers only 15% or 0% and shows rand, so it does not follow Nigerian or Kenyan VAT.
Achekam's Nigerian and Kenyan tax figures were loaded under review, and it computes nothing from a figure until an Achekam platform administrator approves it. More generally, Achekam takes the standard rate from the approved rule in force on the invoice date and refuses rather than guesses when no approved rule applies. If a standard-rated line is refused, that is the reason.
When a line states no rate
When an invoice line states no rate, VAT is taken at the rate in force on the invoice date. A joining fee invoiced in one month and credited in another stays consistent, because a credit note uses its original invoice's date and tax codes.
"Tax Invoice" only when you are registered
Enter your VAT registration number in Settings under Firm Profile. Documents made by the server print that number and are titled Tax Invoice only when a VAT number is set. That way an unregistered gym's documents are not titled as tax invoices, and a registered gym's documents carry its number every time.
There is one limit to know about at the time of writing. The invoice PDF downloaded or e-mailed from the invoice screen is always headed TAX INVOICE and cites the South African VAT Act, whatever your country or VAT number. The server's own template handles this correctly; the browser-made PDF does not. If you are not VAT-registered, or you trade in Nigeria or Kenya, look at the PDF before you send it and raise the issue with your accountant.
Terms and the invoice number
Issuing the draft gives it the next number in your sequence and posts it to the ledger as an amount owed (debtors), sales and output VAT. The number format is set in Settings, so decide it before the first member joins; a format such as a prefix and a running number is easy for members to quote when they pay.
Default payment terms are 30 days. That is generous for a joining fee most gyms want before the first workout. Say in your membership terms when the joining fee and first month are due, and tell new members at the desk, so the invoice's due date and the conversation agree.
Sending it, with or without a pay link
An issued invoice can be downloaded as a PDF on your letterhead and e-mailed from the invoice, with or without a pay link. If the send fails, the invoice says it was not sent, so check before assuming the member has it.
A pay link opens a public page with your gym's name and branding where the member pays. There is no link for a draft or a voided invoice. A link lasts 14 days by default, and if an open link for the same amount already exists, it is reused rather than duplicated.
A worked example in words: a member joins mid-month. Reception creates a draft with the joining fee and the rest of the month, checks the e-mail address, issues it, and e-mails it with a pay link while the member is still at the desk. The member pays on their phone before their first session. From the next month, the member gets one line per invoice, for the membership only.
Before you issue the first one
- Your VAT number is in Settings, if you are registered.
- In Nigeria or Kenya, the country pack is active and you are on the Accounting invoice form.
- Each line has the right VAT setting or tax code.
- The invoice number format is set.
- Your membership terms say when the joining fee and first month are due.
- The member's e-mail address is right.
For gyms collecting every month without debit orders, collecting membership fees without debit orders sets out a routine. If you are weighing invoices against ringing fees up at reception, read membership at the till or on an invoice. South African gyms can check what a valid tax invoice must show, and the documentary proof behind it, in SARS's VAT 404 guide for vendors.
Get the first invoice right and every member after that follows the same pattern: two clear lines, the VAT your country requires, and a link the member can pay from before they reach the change room.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
