Zakat questions, answered for your situation

Zakat on wealth is an individual obligation, not a household one: every adult compares their own wealth to nisab and pays zakat on their own assets, and family members' wealth is never combined or assessed jointly. This has two practical consequences. First, if no single member of the family individually reaches nisab, no one owes zakat that year, even if the family's combined wealth would cross nisab if added together. Second, the reverse also holds: if one member of the family reaches nisab on their own, for example through jewelry they own, while another member's assets stay below it, the first owes zakat on their own wealth and the other owes nothing; one member's wealth never makes another liable. (This interacts with the jewelry question elsewhere in this FAQ: Hanafi jurists generally treat personal jewelry as zakatable once it reaches nisab, while the majority exempt jewelry kept for ordinary personal wear.) A joint account is assessed the same way: each owner pays zakat on their actual share, not the account's full balance. Children's wealth is a separate point of difference among scholars: the majority (Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali) hold that zakat is due on a minor's wealth and the guardian pays it from the child's own assets, while the Hanafi view is that nothing is due until the child reaches adulthood. In practice, each family member should run the wealth calculator with only their own assets; don't add a spouse's gold or a child's savings to your own draft. This is unlike Zakat al-Fitr, which is paid by the head of household for every dependent, including children; open the Zakat al-Fitr calculator for that.

Yes, someone else may pay your zakat for you, but only with your knowledge and consent: zakat is an act of worship that requires niyyah (intention) from the person the money belongs to, so the payment only counts as your zakat if you knew about it and meant for it to be paid on your behalf. Paid that way, it fully discharges your obligation, and the person who paid it has simply done you a kindness; the underlying duty was always yours, not theirs. If someone pays on your behalf without your knowledge or authorization, most scholars hold that it does not discharge your zakat, since the required intention was never yours to begin with. In practice, a spouse or family member covering the other's zakat, for example on jewelry, is common and entirely valid as long as the owner has consented.

Once your zakatable wealth reaches nisab, the 2.5% rate applies to the entire zakatable amount, not just the portion that exceeds the threshold. Nisab works as a trigger for the obligation, not as a tax-free allowance you subtract before calculating; there's no such thing as the first slice of wealth up to nisab being exempt once you've crossed it. For example, if nisab is 100,000 and your zakatable wealth is 150,000, your zakat is 2.5% of the full 150,000, which is 3,750, not 2.5% of just the 50,000 above nisab. This is exactly how the wealth calculator computes it: it checks whether your net zakatable wealth meets or exceeds nisab, and if so, applies the 2.5% rate to that whole amount.

The property itself is usually not zakatable if you are holding it to live in or rent out, rather than to resell; it's treated as a fixed asset, not trade goods. What is zakatable is the rental income once you receive it and it becomes part of your savings. In the calculator, add your net rental income under the "Rental income" category in the assets tab (or fold it into "Bank accounts" or "Cash on hand" if it's already sitting there); leave the property's market value out unless you bought it to resell, in which case enter it under "Real estate" at full value instead.

Most contemporary scholars treat cryptocurrency as zakatable wealth, reasoning that coins and tokens function as a form of currency or tradeable property with recognized value, so the standard 2.5% applies once nisab and hawl are met. Enter the current market value of your holdings under "Crypto assets" in the assets tab. This is a newer area of fiqh without a classical precedent, so a minority of scholars are more cautious, and views on specific tokens can vary; treat this as a considered contemporary position rather than a settled consensus.

While your contributions sit in the fund and you cannot withdraw or control them, most scholars hold that no zakat is due, since you don't yet have full possession of that wealth; it's treated somewhat like a debt owed by someone unable to pay. Once you actually receive a payout, whether at retirement or as a partial withdrawal, it becomes zakatable like any other cash: add the accessible amount under "Pension" or "Retirement accounts" in the assets tab, only the portion you can currently access, not your full projected balance.

It depends on your intention. If you bought shares to trade or resell for profit, they're treated like trade goods and their full current market value is zakatable: enter that value under "Shares (100% zakatable)". If you're holding them long-term for dividends or a mix of reasons, most contemporary bodies say only the company's own zakatable assets (cash, receivables, and inventory, not its buildings or machinery) should be assessed, not the full share price. Since that breakdown is rarely available to an individual investor, this calculator applies a commonly used estimate of 25% of market value: enter the full value under "Shares (25% zakatable)" and let the calculator apply the proxy. This 25% figure is a practical estimate used by several contemporary scholars and institutions, not a fixed textual ruling, so adjust it in your own records if you have better information about a specific company.

Yes. Setting money aside for a future purpose, however worthy, does not remove it from zakat once it reaches nisab and a lunar year has passed while you hold it. Ibn Baz's often-cited position is direct: wealth saved for marriage, building a home, or similar goals is zakatable like any other savings. Enter it under "Bank accounts" or "Cash on hand" in the assets tab along with the rest of your savings. The only amount excluded is money you've already handed over and no longer possess, such as a down payment already paid to a seller.

Zakat is owed by whoever actually owns the wealth, so if the jewelry legally belongs to your wife, she is the one obligated to pay it, not you. You may pay it on her behalf, but only with her permission. In the calculator, enter her gold under "Gold holdings" as its own line item so its value is clear, and work out her share of the total zakat separately if you're calculating for more than one owner. Jurists also differ on whether jewelry worn for personal use is zakatable at all: Hanafi jurists generally require it once nisab is reached, while most Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali jurists exempt jewelry kept for wear. The calculator assumes all gold entered is zakatable, so adjust if either of you follows an exempting view.

A committee is really a set of interest-free loans between members, so what you owe or are owed changes with each round. If you have paid in more than you've received back so far, the difference is money owed to you: enter it under "Receivables" in the assets tab. If you've already received your payout and it's more than you've contributed, the excess is a loan you owe the group; if the remaining installments are due within the coming year, add them under "Short-term debts" in the liabilities tab. Money you've received and not yet spent, whether from your turn or otherwise, counts as ordinary cash under "Bank accounts" or "Cash on hand".

It depends on how confident you are of getting it back. Money owed by someone solvent and willing to pay, a "strong" debt, is added to your zakatable wealth every year, the same as cash you hold directly. Money owed by someone struggling to repay or disputing the debt, a "weak" or doubtful debt, is generally left out of the calculation each year; once you do receive it, most scholars say to pay zakat for that one year only, not backdated for the years it was outstanding. Enter what you're confident of recovering under "Receivables" in the assets tab.

If your liabilities bring your net zakatable wealth below nisab, or to zero, no zakat is due for that year; keep tracking it, since your position can change. In the calculator's liabilities tab, enter bills and debts due within the coming year under "Short-term debts" and "Immediate expenses"; for a mortgage, car loan, or other multi-year debt, enter only this year's installment under "Long-term debts", not the full outstanding balance. That last point is where the calculation often surprises people: most contemporary scholars only let you deduct the coming year's payment on a long-term loan, not the whole amount owed, so a large mortgage balance doesn't automatically zero out your zakat the way it might reduce a bank's assessment of your net worth.

Agricultural produce has its own calculator: open Ushr rather than the wealth calculator. Ushr is due at harvest itself, with no lunar year (hawl) to wait out, and it isn't reduced by your debts the way wealth zakat is. The rate depends on how the land was watered: 10% if rain-fed or naturally irrigated, 5% if watered by machinery or purchased water, and 7.5% for a mix of both. Enter the market value of each harvest by irrigation type; scholars differ on whether a minimum harvest (the nisab, about 653 kg of staple produce) is required before anything is due, which the calculator lets you toggle between the majority and Hanafi positions.

That's Zakat al-Fitr (fitrana), a separate, fixed per-person obligation, not part of your wealth zakat. It has its own calculator: open Zakat al-Fitr, add the number of people in your household (yourself plus every dependent you support), and choose either a locally announced amount per person or the price of a staple food. It must reach the poor before the Eid al-Fitr prayer; the majority hold it should not be delayed past the prayer, though giving it a day or two earlier is recommended. The Hanafi school permits paying its cash value, while many Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali jurists prefer an actual staple food unless there's a clear need for cash.

Wealth zakat is due once you've held zakatable assets at or above nisab continuously for one full lunar year (hawl); the count resets if your wealth drops below nisab in between. This calculator doesn't track the calendar for you: it assumes zakat is currently due on whatever you enter, so you're responsible for confirming you've actually completed a hawl before you pay. The lunar-year wait is specific to wealth zakat; it doesn't apply to Ushr, which is due at harvest, or to Zakat al-Fitr, which is due before the Eid prayer regardless of how long you've held anything.