How to calculate zakat
To calculate zakat, add up everything zakatable you have held for a lunar year - cash, savings, gold, silver, business stock and money owed to you - subtract debts due now, and check the total against the nisab (the value of 52.5 tola of silver or 7.5 tola of gold). If you are at or above it, zakat is 2.5% of the total.
The short version
- List your zakatable wealth. Cash at home, bank balances, gold and silver at today's rate, stock held for sale, money owed to you and investments held for trade.
- Subtract debts due now. Bills and instalments that are due, not the whole of a long-term loan.
- Work out the nisab. 52.5 × today's silver price per tola, or 7.5 × today's gold price per tola.
- Compare. If your total is below the nisab, no zakat is due this year.
- Take 2.5%. If you are at or above the nisab, multiply the total by 2.5% - or divide it by 40.
Skip the arithmetic. The free Zakat Calculator does this for you, shows the formula and the working with your own numbers, and runs in your browser - nothing you type is uploaded. Also useful: Percentage Calculator, Unit Converter.
Worked example
Cash Rs 200,000, a bank balance of Rs 450,000 and 2 tola of gold, with Rs 100,000 of debt due now. Using an example gold rate of Rs 350,000 a tola and silver at Rs 9,591 a tola:
A quick check: 1,250,000 ÷ 40 = 31,250.
Silver or gold nisab?
The nisab is 52.5 tola (about 612 g) of silver or 7.5 tola (about 87.5 g) of gold. Silver is far cheaper, so the silver nisab is much lower - around half a million rupees in early 2026, against a gold nisab of well over two million. Many scholars recommend the silver nisab when your wealth is a mix of cash and gold, as it is the more cautious choice for the giver, and the government uses silver to set the threshold for bank deductions. Use the rate for the karat you actually own: 22K or 21K jewellery is worth less per tola than 24K.
Zakat deducted by banks
On the first day of Ramadan, banks deduct 2.5% from savings and similar profit-bearing accounts whose balance is at or above the nisab the government notifies for that year. For Ramadan 1447 (February 2026) it was Rs 503,529. Current accounts are not deducted, and you can file a declaration of exemption (the CZ-50 form) before Ramadan if you would rather pay zakat yourself. Whatever the bank deducted counts as zakat paid: subtract it from your own calculation.
What is not zakatable
The home you live in, your car, furniture, clothes, household items and the tools or machinery you use to earn a living are not zakatable. Property, cars or goods you hold for sale are. Schools of thought differ on a few items - worn jewellery, pension funds and long-term receivables among them - so ask a scholar you trust if they make up a large part of your wealth.