Zakat on the Employee's Salary
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The first and second questions of Fatwa No. ( 282 )
Q1: An employee saves a varying amount of money from his salary each month; in one month the savings are less, and in another they are more. The first portion has reached the lunar year (hawl), while the rest has not, and he does not know the exact amount he saved in each month. How should he pay its zakat? Q2: Another employee receives his salary monthly and deposits everything he receives into a safe with him. He spends from this safe daily, or at close intervals, on his household expenses and needs in varying amounts according to necessity. How is the hawl calculated for what remains in the safe, and how is the zakat paid in such a case? Considering that, as we mentioned, the hawl has not passed for all of the savings.
A1,2: Since the first and second questions share the same meaning and have similar counterparts, the Committee decided to provide a comprehensive answer to generalize the benefit. The ruling is as follows: If a person owns a nisab of money, and then subsequently owns other money at different times, which is not generated from the first amount nor arising from it, but is independent—such as what an employee saves monthly from his salary, or an inheritance, a gift, or rent from a property, for example—then if he is careful to be precise in his rights and careful to pay from the charity to its recipients only what is obligatory upon him from his wealth, he must make a calculation table for his earnings, assigning a hawl to each of these amounts that begins from the day he owned it, and he must pay the zakat on each amount individually whenever a hawl has passed from the date he acquired it. If he desires ease and follows the path of leniency, and his heart is pleased to prioritize the side of the poor and others among the categories of zakat recipients over his own side, he should pay zakat on all the money he owns when the hawl completes for the first nisab he owned from it. This is greater for his reward, higher for his rank, more abundant for his ease, and more caring for the rights of the poor, the needy, and the other categories of zakat recipients. Any amount he pays in excess of what has completed its hawl is considered early zakat for what has not yet completed its hawl.
And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
Q1: An employee saves a varying amount of money from his salary each month; in one month the savings are less, and in another they are more. The first portion has reached the lunar year (hawl), while the rest has not, and he does not know the exact amount he saved in each month. How should he pay its zakat? Q2: Another employee receives his salary monthly and deposits everything he receives into a safe with him. He spends from this safe daily, or at close intervals, on his household expenses and needs in varying amounts according to necessity. How is the hawl calculated for what remains in the safe, and how is the zakat paid in such a case? Considering that, as we mentioned, the hawl has not passed for all of the savings.
A1,2: Since the first and second questions share the same meaning and have similar counterparts, the Committee decided to provide a comprehensive answer to generalize the benefit. The ruling is as follows: If a person owns a nisab of money, and then subsequently owns other money at different times, which is not generated from the first amount nor arising from it, but is independent—such as what an employee saves monthly from his salary, or an inheritance, a gift, or rent from a property, for example—then if he is careful to be precise in his rights and careful to pay from the charity to its recipients only what is obligatory upon him from his wealth, he must make a calculation table for his earnings, assigning a hawl to each of these amounts that begins from the day he owned it, and he must pay the zakat on each amount individually whenever a hawl has passed from the date he acquired it. If he desires ease and follows the path of leniency, and his heart is pleased to prioritize the side of the poor and others among the categories of zakat recipients over his own side, he should pay zakat on all the money he owns when the hawl completes for the first nisab he owned from it. This is greater for his reward, higher for his rank, more abundant for his ease, and more caring for the rights of the poor, the needy, and the other categories of zakat recipients. Any amount he pays in excess of what has completed its hawl is considered early zakat for what has not yet completed its hawl.
And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.