Zakat on business stock

Allah tells the believers to spend from the good things they have earned (al-Baqarah 2:267), and scholars cite this ayah for zakat on trade. Most scholars, among them the Hanafi school followed in Bangladesh, hold that goods kept for sale are zakatable like cash.

What counts

1. Goods kept for sale: the stock in the shop, in the warehouse or on the way.
2. Raw materials that will become goods for sale.
3. Land, a plot, a flat or anything else bought with the intention of selling it.
4. The business's cash, and the money customers owe it.

What does not count The shop or building, furniture, machines, tools and vehicles the business uses, and land or a house kept for your own use or to rent out. Rent you have saved counts as cash.

How to value it on your zakat date

1. Count the stock on your zakat date at the price it would sell for in the market on that date, not what you paid for it.
2. Add the business's cash and the money owed to it that you expect to get back.
3. Take away what the business must pay, such as unpaid bills to suppliers.
4. Partners each count their own share.

In the calculation Enter the value of the stock under Business stock, the business's cash under Cash and bank, what customers owe under Money owed to you, and the bills the business must pay under Debts.

If you are unsure about your own situation, ask a trusted local alim.