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Zakat calculator: how much zakat do you owe?
Zakat is 2.5% of the wealth you have held for a full lunar year, and it is due only if that wealth reaches the nisab. Add your cash, savings, gold, silver and investments, add money owed to you, take away the debts you must pay now, and take 2.5% of the result. With 11,000 that counts and a nisab of 8,748, zakat is 275. The zakat calculator does the sum on your own numbers.
- Wealth that counts11,000
- Zakat due, 2.5%275
Your wealth that counts is 11,000, above the nisab of 8,748, so zakat is due: 275. Setting aside 22.92 a month has it ready when the year ends.
Read the full guide
This page does the arithmetic. It is not a religious ruling: scholars differ on several points below, so ask one you trust about your own case.
How do you calculate zakat?
- Add what counts: cash at home and in the bank, savings, gold and silver, shares and other investments, goods you hold to sell, and money owed to you that you expect to get back.
- Take away what you owe now: bills and debts that are due, not the whole of a long debt.
- Compare with the nisab. Below it, nothing is due.
- At or above it, take 2.5%: divide by 40.
On the calculator's opening numbers: 10,000 in cash and savings, 2,000 in gold and investments and 500 owed to you make 12,500. Take away 1,500 of debts and 11,000 counts. That is above the nisab of 8,748, so zakat is 275.
What is the nisab?
The nisab is the least wealth a person must hold before zakat is due. It is set by weight: 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. Its value in money changes with the price of the metal, so look up today's price per gram and multiply:
- If a gram of gold costs 100, the gold nisab is 8,748.
- If a gram of silver costs 1, the silver nisab is 612.36.
The silver nisab is much lower, so more people reach it. Many scholars advise the silver nisab for cash and savings because it brings more help to people in need. Others use gold. Type the one you follow into the calculator.
How do you calculate zakat on gold?
Weigh it, multiply by today's price per gram for its purity, and take 2.5%. Gold counts once you hold 87.48 grams or more, or once it reaches the nisab together with your other wealth.
For 100 grams at 100 a gram: 10,000 of gold, and 250 of zakat.
Scholars differ on jewellery that is worn every day. Some count it, some do not. Gold kept as savings counts for all of them.
What does not count for zakat?
The things you live with and use: the home you live in, your car, furniture, clothes, tools for your work. Zakat is on wealth that is kept or grows, not on what you use every day.
When is zakat due?
Once a lunar year has passed since your wealth first reached the nisab. Many people choose one date, often in Ramadan, and work it out on that day each year.
A lunar year is about eleven days shorter than a calendar year. If you count by the calendar year, some scholars use 2.577% to make up the difference: on 11,000 that is 283.47.
How do you make sure the money is there?
Set it aside every month. Zakat of 275 is 22.92 a month, which is easier to find than 275 on one day. It works like any yearly cost: a sinking fund holds it until the date arrives.
If you also give regularly through the year, decide that share before your bills, not from what is left. Budgeting when you give first shows how that changes the rest of the month.