Michigan Tanning Salon Laws: Minors, Signage, Eyewear, Taxes

Three sets of rules reach a Michigan tanning salon. The state says what to post, what customers sign, and how a minor gets on a bed. The federal Food and Drug Administration says how the bed must be built, and that follows the bed into your salon. The Internal Revenue Service takes 10 percent of every UV session. Your city may add a fourth layer. Most of it is cheap to get right. Here is the picture, with section numbers so you or your attorney can read the source.

The Michigan statute, section by section

Part 134 of the Public Health Code, Tanning Facilities, MCL 333.13401 through 333.13409, was added by Public Act 368 of 2008, effective December 23, 2008, and has not been amended since; the compiled laws current through Public Act 103 of 2026 still show the 2008 text. Bills to replace the consent rule with a flat under-18 ban were introduced in 2013 and 2023, and neither became law.

Definitions, MCL 333.13401

A "tanning device" is the bed or booth plus its accompanying equipment, and the statute names protective eyewear, timers and handrails specifically. A dead timer or missing goggles is a tanning device problem under state law. "Protective eyewear" must block ultraviolet radiation, let the wearer keep their balance, and meet 21 CFR 1040.20, the federal standard borrowed outright.

The written statement, MCL 333.13403(1)

Before anyone uses a bed, you or an employee must hand them a written statement covering seven points set out in the statute: eye protection, overexposure, repeated exposure, foods, cosmetics and medications that change skin sensitivity, consulting a physician if taking any drug, the duty to report an injury to the owner or operator, and the microdermabrasion warning covering facials, waxing and skin peels. Most salons fold this into the intake form.

The poster, MCL 333.13403(2)

Conspicuously display a poster where customers gather, in at least 32-point boldfaced type, in substantially the form written into the statute. It is headed DANGER: ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION and runs eight numbered items. Print the statute's text, not a supplier's paraphrase, and if your rooms are spread out, post more than one.

No "safe tanning" advertising, MCL 333.13403(3)

You and your employees may not claim, or hand out printed material that claims, that using a tanning device is safe, nonburning or free from risk. Audit flyers, window signs and social captions against that sentence.

Signed acknowledgment and minors, MCL 333.13405

Before a customer tans, they sign a statement acknowledging that they read and understood the written statement and agree to use protective eyewear. Get that signature at least once a year, keep each signed statement at least one year, and produce it on request to a law enforcement officer. For a customer under 18, a parent or legal guardian must also sign, while physically present in the salon, in front of the owner or operator. A form sent home does not meet the statute. A phone call does not meet it. The parent stands at your counter and signs.

The lawsuit clause, MCL 333.13407a

This is the enforcement teeth. A customer injured at a facility that failed to follow the disclosure and consent requirements may sue for actual damages plus up to $1,000, plus reasonable attorney fees, and section 13409 lets those remedies stack with any other. No state inspector checks your poster. The check happens after an injury, when your intake binder is the first thing a lawyer requests.

No state license, but check the city

Michigan does not license, register or inspect tanning salons at the state level. Part 134 creates duties but no license, and state license-search guidance has described tanning salons as unlicensed by the state. Cities and townships can regulate on their own, and some do, so call the clerk's office before you sign a lease. If you add services that fall under cosmetology law, that is a separate question for your attorney. Our guide to opening a tanning salon walks the local permit sequence.

The federal equipment rules

21 CFR 1040.20, the performance standard. Every sunlamp product must have a timer matched to the exposure schedule on its label, accurate within 10 percent of the maximum interval, with the maximum not exceeding the manufacturer's maximum recommended exposure time. The person inside must be able to stop emission without unplugging the bed. The bed ships with one set of compliant protective eyewear per person it is rated to expose at once. The label must carry the DANGER warning statement verbatim, the exposure position and the exposure schedule with maximum times in minutes, and the manual must list compatible replacement lamps.

21 CFR 878.4635, the 2014 reclassification. Effective September 2, 2014, FDA moved sunlamp products to Class II with special controls. Beds and lamps cleared since then carry a black-box statement, permanently affixed where the user sees it before getting in, in letters at least 10 millimeters tall: "Attention: This sunlamp product should not be used on persons under the age of 18 years." A separate FDA proposal from December 2015, which would have banned use under 18 nationally and required a signed risk acknowledgment every six months, was never finalized and was withdrawn in March 2026. The federal under-18 rule today is a label on the bed; the operating rule for minors in Michigan is the state's in-person parental consent.

The 10 percent federal tax

Since July 1, 2010, Internal Revenue Code section 5000B has imposed a 10 percent excise tax on amounts paid for indoor tanning services, meaning any service using ultraviolet lamps to tan the skin. Collect it at payment and remit it quarterly on IRS Form 720, Part II, IRS No. 140, due April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31. If you do not collect it, you owe it.

• Spray tans and lotions are not indoor tanning services.
• Phototherapy by a licensed medical professional on that professional's own premises is exempt. A salon is not a medical office.
• A qualified physical fitness facility that includes tanning incidentally, with no separate charge and no tanning-based tier, is exempt. A gym selling tanning packages is not.
• Bundled packages are taxed on the portion reasonably attributable to UV tanning. Gift cards are taxed when redeemed, not when sold.

Our salon estimator lets you model the tax into per-session pricing.

Electrical, fire and workplace: ask the inspector

Nothing in Part 134 addresses wiring, but your local building department does. Expect the electrical inspector to want each bed on its own correctly sized circuit, installed under permit by a licensed electrician, and the fire marshal to look at egress, extinguishers and occupancy. MIOSHA covers your employees as at any Michigan workplace. Rules differ by jurisdiction and I will not invent specifics; get them in writing from your inspector before you buy or move a bed. See tanning bed electrical requirements.

How the equipment ties in

• The timer is a legal device. A timer that runs long, sticks closed or has been jumpered to keep a bed earning is a bed operating outside its certification, and under Michigan's definition it is part of the tanning device you answer for. If a session runs past the dial, pull the bed and read tanning bed timer not working. Replacement timers are stocked for most models.
• Eyewear in every room. The customer agrees to wear it; you provide it or allow their own. Keep sanitized, undamaged, compliant eyewear at every bed.
• Labels stay on the bed. Replacing an acrylic or canopy trim is a common way to lose the DANGER label, the exposure schedule or the under-18 black box. Order the label with the part.
• Stay inside the labeled exposure schedule, for that bed and the lamps installed in it. A hotter replacement lamp on the same timer settings changes the dose the schedule was built on. See how often to replace tanning bed lamps.
• Do not bypass anything. Safety switches, thermal cutoffs, the emergency stop and the timer are all part of the certified product.

Printable compliance checklist

• DANGER: ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION poster, 32-point bold minimum, statute text, in every customer area.
• Written statement with all seven 13403(1) items, handed to every customer before first use.
• Signed acknowledgment from every customer, renewed at least yearly, kept at least one year.
• Under 18: parent or guardian signs, physically present, in front of owner or operator.
• No "safe," "nonburning" or "risk-free" language in any ad, sign or post.
• Each bed: timer tested against a stopwatch, within 10 percent, maximum at or below labeled maximum; emergency stop working from inside.
• Each bed: DANGER label, exposure schedule and under-18 statement legible; compliant eyewear in the room.
• Session times set from the manufacturer's schedule for the installed lamps.
• Form 720 filed four times a year, 10 percent collected on every UV session.
• Local registration, zoning, electrical permits and fire inspection on file; annual review with your attorney.

What inspectors and attorneys look for

A local inspector looks at the building: circuits, exits, extinguishers, occupancy. A plaintiff's attorney after an injury looks at the binder: was the statement handed over, was it signed within the last year, was the parent in the room, is the poster right, and was the equipment maintained. The second list is the one that costs salons, and every item on it is paper or a ten-minute check. Keep a one-page log per bed: date, timer test, label check, eyewear count, lamp change. Since 1990 I have watched that log turn more than one bad afternoon into a short conversation.

Sources

• Michigan Public Health Code, Part 134, Tanning Facilities, MCL 333.13401 to 333.13409
• 21 CFR 1040.20, Sunlamp products and ultraviolet lamps
• FDA final order, 79 FR 31205, June 2, 2014, codified at 21 CFR 878.4635
• IRS Indoor Tanning Services Tax Center, IRC 5000B and 26 CFR 49.5000B-1

Related guides

• How to open a tanning salon in Michigan
• Salon estimator: beds, circuits and per-session math
• Tanning bed timer not working: what to check
• Tanning bed electrical requirements: do you need a 220V circuit?
• About Stan Pope and Sun Systems & Service