Zakat Calculator

Zakat is the third pillar of Islam: a fixed share of your wealth that goes to people in need, once a year. You work it out on your own zakat date, the same date every lunar year.

1. Add up your zakatable wealth. Cash, bank and savings, gold and silver, shares and funds, crypto, money owed to you, business stock.
2. Subtract debts due now. Rent, bills and loan payments that are due, not the whole mortgage. Most scholars subtract these; in the Shafi‘i school debts are not subtracted.
3. Compare with the nisab. If the total is below it, you owe no zakat this year.
4. Pay 2.5% of the whole total, not only of the part above the nisab. With 20,000 that is 500.

The nisab is the value of 85 g of gold or 595 g of silver (some Hanafi works give 612.36 g). Both come from the Prophet‘s time, when they were worth about the same. Today the silver nisab is far lower, so more people pass it. Many scholars recommend the silver nisab as the more cautious choice that gives more to the poor; others use gold, because gold has kept its value as money. Both are followed. Pick one, ideally your community‘s, and use it every year.

Gold and silver are weighed as pure metal: 10 g of 18 karat gold holds 7.5 g of gold. Pick the karat next to the weight, or enter the value instead.

Counts:

• Cash at home and money in bank, savings and current accounts
• Gold and silver bars, coins and savings in gold
• Shares, funds and ETFs (see the two views in the questions below)
• Crypto, at its market value
• Money owed to you that you expect to get back
• Business stock you hold to sell, and property bought to sell again
• Rent and other income you have saved

Does not count:

• Your home, car, furniture, clothes, phone and other things for personal use
• Tools and equipment you work with
• A property you rent out (the rent you save does count)
• Debts owed to you that you do not expect to get back
• Wealth below the nisab, or held for less than a lunar year

Running a business, a pension, or wealth that is mixed up? These are where the details matter. Use the calculator for a first number and ask a scholar you trust.

This is one of the best known differences between the schools, and each view has scholars and evidence behind it.

• Hanafi: zakat is due on gold and silver jewelry, worn or not.
• Maliki, Shafi‘i and Hanbali: generally no zakat on jewelry worn in a normal, customary way. Jewelry kept as savings, never worn, or far beyond what is customary is counted.

Follow your school or your imam. Turn on Include my jewelry in the calculator if your school counts it, or if you would rather be on the safe side. Jewelry that is not gold or silver, such as diamonds worn for yourself, is not counted.

Zakat is due when your wealth has stayed at or above the nisab for one lunar year, called the hawl. A lunar year is about 354 days. Note the Islamic date your wealth first reached the nisab, and each year on that date add everything up again and pay. Many people choose a date in Ramadan. Most scholars allow paying early; do not delay it once it is due. If you keep a solar year instead, some scholars suggest 2.577% to make up the eleven extra days.

Give it through your local mosque, a trusted charity that keeps zakat separate, or directly to people who qualify. The Quran names eight groups (9:60): the poor, the needy, those who collect and give out zakat, those whose hearts are being brought closer (many scholars include new Muslims in need), freeing captives, people in debt, in the cause of Allah, and the stranded traveller. Make the intention that it is zakat when you give it; you do not have to tell the person.

Zakat al-Fitr is different: a small fixed amount for each person in the household, given before the Eid prayer at the end of Ramadan, whatever your savings. See the dates in the Islamic calendar.