Zakat on salaries and income
Zakat is binding on the amount of one’s savings in the form of salaries on one’s annual Zakat day. Regardless of how much salary one received in the year, only the remainder on the Zakat anniversary will be considered and be subject to Zakat. Salary spent throughout the year will not be subject to Zakat.
Zakat on savings
The easiest way to work this out is to review your level of savings on your Zakat anniversary and use that for your Zakat calculation.
What about other types of income like benefits?
Other types of income such as benefits (that make up part of the welfare system in the UK) are still classed as income. On your Zakat anniversary, any money that you have with you should be included in your cash balance for Zakat purposes, irrespective of whether it came from salary, benefits, rental income etc. You need to determine whether this income takes you over the Nisab threshold and if so you will need to pay Zakat on this amount. Though some may think that benefits do not equate to Zakatable income – this is most definitely not the case.
Is there Zakat due on interest income?
If interest has been earned on your liquid investments and assets, then it should ALL be given away to charity. Interest is unlawful in Islam and therefore giving this as charity would not bring the reward that usually accompanies this good deed as we need to understand that the interest we have got on our money is NOT actually ours.
Approved by Mufti Amjad 13th August 2023
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