When should Zakah be paid on salary received on monthly basis?

What are the rules for paying Zakah on salary that is received on a monthly basis? I receive salary each month, more than half of my saved money has not yet entered its 12th month; do I still need to pay Zakah for this? Should I record the month that I received my salary and then pay Zakah for this as it enters its 12th month?

Answer:

Zakâh is payable on whatever you possess on your nisâb date (the date when you reached nisâb). Ignore all fluctuations in between the nisâb date of one year to the next. As long as you're at or above nisâb on your nisâb date, you would pay Zakâh on what you possess on your nisâb date.

So to answer your question, you don't need to wait 12 months for each part of your income/wealth/assets. Even if only 1 day had passed on that new wealth (i.e. it was received just the day before your nisâb date), but at both ends of the year, you possessed assets above nisâb, you would pay Zakah upon that wealth too.

This also makes Zakâh calculations much simpler too. There's no need to keep a running total/tally. You can simply look at your assets and liabilities/debts on one day (the nisâb date) and calculate based on the total value.

And Allâh knows best

Q&A Category: