How we work out your Zakat

Zakat on wealth is one fortieth — 2.5% — of the qualifying wealth you have held for a lunar year. That share is not in dispute, and it is the one figure on this page nobody argues about.

We work it out on your net wealth: everything you own that counts, minus what you owe.

Where the exact amount falls between two pennies, we round up. A fraction of a penny is never allowed to make your Zakat smaller than it should be.

Zakat is only due once your wealth reaches a minimum, called the Nisab. Below it, you owe nothing — and that is not a failure or an oversight, it is simply how the obligation works.

The Nisab is set in metal, not currency, so it moves as gold and silver move. There are two long-standing ways to measure it, and they are far apart:

We use the silver standard by default. It is the lower of the two, so more people reach it and more wealth becomes payable. The common reasoning is that this favours those entitled to receive Zakat. You can switch to the gold standard on the result screen, and the figure recalculates immediately.

Where we had to choose: Which standard to use is a genuine difference among scholars, and it is the most consequential choice on this page. Because the two thresholds are roughly ten times apart, anyone whose wealth sits between them owes Zakat under one and nothing under the other. If you follow a position on this, set it deliberately rather than accepting our default.

We treat wealth landing exactly on the threshold as reaching it.

You can enter gold and silver either as a value you already know, or by weight. If you enter a weight, we need its purity, because jewellery is rarely pure metal.

Purity is taken as parts per thousand:

• Gold — 24k as pure, 22k as 916, 21k as 875, 18k as 750
• Silver — 999, 925 (sterling) and 800 (coin) as marked

You can list several pieces at different purities, and each is valued separately at the live price for that metal before being added together.

Where we had to choose: 21k and 18k are exact fractions of pure gold. 22k is not — it works out at 916.67 per thousand, and we use the trade’s usual 916. That rounds very slightly in your favour, which means a fractionally lower valuation and a fractionally lower Zakat. We also treat 24k as entirely pure, though bullion is typically 999.9.

Debts reduce the wealth Zakat is due on. The calculator asks about three kinds:

• Money you owe — loans and debts due now
• Wages owed to employees but not yet paid
• Zakat from previous years that you have not yet paid

Each is deducted in full, at face value.

Where we had to choose: Scholars differ on how much debt may be deducted. Some limit it to what is immediately due and exclude long-term debt such as a mortgage; others allow more. We deduct what you enter, so the judgement about what belongs there stays with you.

Where we had to choose: Money owed to you is counted in full, with no reduction for debts that may never be recovered. If you are confident a debt will not be repaid, consider leaving it out.

The calculator answers one question: what would be due on the wealth you have described, at today’s prices. It is a photograph, not a diary.

In particular, it does not track your Hawl — the lunar year your wealth must complete before Zakat falls due. Zakat is owed on wealth held across that year, not on whatever happens to be in your account today. Working out your Hawl date, and whether it has passed, is still yours to do.

We also treat shares and cryptocurrency as fully payable at market value, without distinguishing between what you hold to trade and what you hold long term — a distinction some rulings do draw.

Gold and silver prices come from gold-api.com, quoted in US dollars per troy ounce and converted to a price per gram for your calculation.

We refresh them roughly three times a day, so a price can be up to eight hours old. That is why every screen showing a rate also shows when it was taken — an eight-hour-old price is a good guide, but it is not the live market.

If prices cannot be reached, the calculator says so rather than falling back on an old or invented figure. A plausible-looking wrong number is worse than an honest gap.

Prices are currently quoted in US dollars only. Support for other currencies is coming.

Everything above is our best effort, not a ruling. If you are qualified to correct it, or you follow a position we have not accounted for, we would rather hear it than have you quietly distrust the answer.

Until this page has been reviewed, treat the figure it produces as a careful estimate to check — not as a verdict.