Zakah Question

[Tabassum07]

:salam2:

It's that time of the year again, and I'm going crazy. Over the past year, my savings have went up and down so much, that I don't understand what to do....

At this time last year, I had X amount. I had a lot of expenses later in the year. And then since I was working. I had an income as well, though that started later in the year too. So now I have X+Y amount.

When I calculate my zakah, do I just give on X ?

What happened over the year was this:

Started off with X
It became X - a
Then it became X -a + b and so on.....

Do I try and decipher the amounts 'a' and 'b'? Or do I just give zakah on X ?

Please help, I am rotting my brains over here..

 

[Seeking Allah's Mercy]

:salam2:

It's that time of the year again, and I'm going crazy. Over the past year, my savings have went up and down so much, that I don't understand what to do....

At this time last year, I had X amount. I had a lot of expenses later in the year. And then since I was working. I had an income as well, though that started later in the year too. So now I have X+Y amount.

When I calculate my zakah, do I just give on X ?

What happened over the year was this:

Started off with X
It became X - a
Then it became X -a + b and so on.....

Do I try and decipher the amounts 'a' and 'b'? Or do I just give zakah on X ?

Please help, I am rotting my brains over here..

Asalmaolaikom wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu. . .

If you have the minimum amount on which zakah becomes fardh say 100$. And you had this amount with you throughout the year. you pay zakah of 2.5$. If the amount was reduced to 99$ or 98$ you don't have to pay the zakah. If it increased to 101 or102 or 200 then you pay its 2.5% accordingly.

If at some point in the year the amount was reduced from 100$ to 98$ and then increased to 102$ you don't have to pay zakah as far as I know. because you didn't keep 100$ throughout the year.

Inshaa'Allaah someone more knowledgable can answer better.

 

[bari]

:salam2:
The consevative way is to select a date, then you have find the balance between those dates, I.e. one year, what was the minimum balance, you calculate based on that minimum. The khair is to go by the last balance if it is better than the minimum for the benefit of zakah recipients.

 

[ahmed_indian]

If you became the owner of Nisaab on 20 Ramadan for example, then every year you will have to calculate your Zakaat on the 20 Ramadan. One has to use the Lunar Calendar.

Therefore if on the 20 Ramadan of this year you own $ above nisab then Zakaat will have to be paid on this, even though your balance may have fluctuated during the year.

http://www.islamic-relief.com/zakat/zaknisab3.aspx

http://calltoislam.com/pdf/A Brief Guide To Zakaah - Call To Islam Research.pdf

 

[Tabassum07]

Asalmaolaikom wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu. . .

If you have the minimum amount on which zakah becomes fardh say 100$. And you had this amount with you throughout the year. you pay zakah of 2.5$. If the amount was reduced to 99$ or 98$ you don't have to pay the zakah. If it increased to 101 or102 or 200 then you pay its 2.5% accordingly.

.

:salam2:

Okay, so say, I had $100 on 10th Ramadan last year. This year, I have $105. Do I pay 2.5% on the 100 or the 105 dollars?

I spent all day today calculating my zakah.. I think I've done it all right. According to this example, I paid it on the $100, and not the $105, since I got that 6 months later.

 

[Seeking Allah's Mercy]

:salam2:

Okay, so say, I had $100 on 10th Ramadan last year. This year, I have $105. Do I pay 2.5% on the 100 or the 105 dollars?

I spent all day today calculating my zakah.. I think I've done it all right. According to this example, I paid it on the $100, and not the $105, since I got that 6 months later.

Actually I missed a point there. My mother corrected me. If you own 100$ for a year or "major portion of the year" i.e 8 or 9 months you pay 2.5$.

As for having an amount for a period less than a year or minor portion of the year you don't have to pay zakah. Which is to say you pay zakah for 100$ and not for 5$ [that you got for a period less than a year or minor portion of the year].

 

[ShahnazZ]

I'm literally losing my mind over this as well. It's so confusing. I have to make up for last year and do this year's as well...

 

[Tabassum07]

I managed to figure it all out, alhamdulillah - the important point and what will make zakah easier for next year is to write down everything that you have currently. Then next year, you can calculate whether you have more or less than last year's (and its usually more), and you pay the zakah on your last year's balance.

I have a small notepad with a calculator attached to it that I use to list down my yearly zakah, whether I've cleared away monthly interests, and I note down everything which happened to me financially. And I only became nisab last year, so its helped immensely. I had big headings saying "What I have Right Now on 8/8/11" "What I had last year".. "Zakatable amount", "And therefore zakat..." lol.

It was really complicated for me, because I moved between countries too this year - so I had to include things like exchange rates in as well. The most difficult thing was trying to find out the day's gold rate for 22 Karat gold in rupees - all the business websites had 24 karat gold listings, and I kept finding outdated versions of the 22karat. In the end, I called three jewellry stores and took the highest price, lol.

Strangely enough, I loved doing all the calculations (I was a Finance minor), and look forward to next year's inshaAllah!