Step 1 — Check the nisab
Zakat is due only if your net zakatable wealth has been at or above the nisab for a full lunar year. The nisab is 87.48 g of gold or 612.36 g of silver (often rounded to 85 g and 595 g). Most scholars and charities use the silver nisab — a few hundred dollars — because it brings more people into giving. Enter today's price in the calculator.
Step 2 — Add up zakatable assets
Cash and bank balances in any currency; gold and silver by weight at today's price (jewellery included in the Hanafi view, exempt if in regular use for the other schools); shares, funds and crypto at market value (traders) or the zakatable portion of underlying assets (long-term investors, often estimated at 25–40%); business stock and receivables; money owed to you that you expect to receive; pension and investment savings you can access.
Step 3 — Deduct short-term debts
Debts due within the coming year — credit cards, bills, the next 12 months of loan instalments — reduce zakatable wealth. Most contemporary scholars do not allow deducting the full balance of a long-term mortgage.
Step 4 — Pay 2.5%
Multiply the net figure by 2.5%. If you use a solar-year date instead of the lunar anniversary, some scholars advise 2.577% to account for the 11 missing days.
What is not zakatable
Your home, car, furniture, clothes, tools of your trade, and property or land held for personal use. A rental property itself is not zakatable; the rent you have saved is.
Common mistakes
Forgetting gold held by a spouse or children under your care; using the purchase price of gold instead of today's price; ignoring investments and end-of-service savings; deducting a 25-year mortgage balance; and paying on the gross value of a business rather than stock plus cash plus receivables minus payables.
When and to whom
Pay on your zakat anniversary — many choose Ramadan. Recipients are the eight categories in Quran 9:60, principally the poor and needy; it may not be used for mosques or general charity projects. It can be paid in advance and split across the year.