How the zakat is worked out
- Add your zakatable wealth: cash, bank balances, investments, business stock, money owed to you, and gold and silver at today’s price.
- Take away debts due in the coming lunar year (not interest).
- Compare with the nisab: 87.48 g of gold or 612.36 g of silver × today’s price per gram.
- If you are at or above the nisab, zakat is 2.5% of the net amount.
zakat = (assets − debts) × 2.5%, when assets − debts ≥ nisab.
Examples
Savings above the silver nisab. Silver costs 1.10 per gram, so the silver nisab is 612.36 × 1.10 = 673.60. With 8,000 in the bank and 500 of bills due, net wealth is 7,500 and zakat is 7,500 × 2.5% = 187.50.
Gold jewellery valued by karat. 20 g of 22-karat gold at 75 per gram of pure gold is 20 × 22/24 × 75 = 1,375. Added to 3,000 of savings that is 4,375; zakat is 109.38 (if the silver nisab is used and the jewellery is counted).
Below the gold nisab. With gold at 75 per gram the gold nisab is 87.48 × 75 = 6,561. Net wealth of 4,375 is below it, so on the gold basis nothing is due — but it is above the silver nisab. This is exactly where the choice of nisab matters.
Gold or silver nisab — a real difference of opinion
The nisab was set in weights of gold and silver. Because silver is far cheaper today, the silver nisab is much lower, so more people pay zakat under it. The National Zakat Foundation advises the silver nisab when your wealth is a mix of assets and the gold nisab when you hold only gold; others prefer gold. The calculator shows the threshold for the basis you choose and tells you how far you are from it.
What this calculator does not decide
It does not fetch prices, and it does not rule on assets where schools of thought differ — jewellery worn regularly, pension funds, property held for rent, or cryptocurrency. It does not cover agricultural produce, livestock or minerals, which follow different rules. Wealth must have been held for a full lunar year (hawl). For these questions, speak to a scholar or a zakat organisation you trust.