How zakat is calculated
Zakat is 2.5% (one fortieth) of the zakatable wealth you've owned for a full lunar year, called the hawl, as long as it is at or above the nisab. Many people pick a fixed date each year, often in Ramadan, and calculate on what they hold that day.
Zakatable wealth includes cash, bank balances, gold and silver, shares and funds, business stock and money you expect to be repaid. Your home, car, furniture, clothes and the tools you work with are not included.
Gold or silver nisab?
The nisab is the minimum wealth on which zakat is due: the value of 85 grams of gold or 595 grams of silver. Because silver is much cheaper, the silver nisab is far lower, so more people pass it.
Many scholars recommend the silver nisab for cash and mixed savings, because it means more zakat reaches the poor. Others use gold, especially where it better reflects the cost of living. If you hold only gold, the gold nisab applies. Follow the view of the scholars you trust.
Zakat on specific assets
- Gold and silver: zakat on the market value. Scholars differ on jewellery worn regularly; the Hanafi school includes it, while others exempt it.
- Shares: if you trade them, zakat on the full market value. If you hold them long term, many scholars allow zakat on your share of the company's zakatable assets instead.
- Retirement accounts: views differ; a common approach is zakat on what you could withdraw today after penalties and tax.
- Business: zakat on stock for sale, cash and receivables, minus business debts due. Not on buildings or equipment.
- Crypto: most scholars who allow it treat it like cash or trade goods, at today's value.
Zakat vs Zakat al-Fitr
Zakat al-Fitr is a separate, small charity paid per person before the Eid al-Fitr prayer, usually set locally as the price of a staple food. This calculator is for zakat al-mal, the yearly zakat on wealth.