Zakat on Land Shareholdings

Q: A questioner asks: What is the zakat on land shareholdings? He says that he invested one thousand riyals, and after five years it became five thousand riyals.

A: If a person invests money as a shareholding in land or the like for the purpose of sale, he must pay zakat on it every year based on its value, i.e., the value of the land or other goods. It is assessed every year, and he and his partners each pay zakat on their respective shares. If it is sold, he pays the zakat for the past years by calculating it and then paying it out.
However, he is not required to pay zakat based on the value of the final year only; rather, it is calculated for each year according to its value: the first year based on its value, the second year based on its value, and so on. This is because the value changes, such that it may be cheap at first and then increase in value, or the reverse. Therefore, he is obligated to pay zakat on the value in each year according to that year's value, which is one-quarter of a tenth of the value. And success is from Allah.