When Does Zakat Become Due on Items Intended for Resale?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

Is zakat due on personal items intended for later resale, or only on the money received after selling them?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

Regarding personal items, Zakat is not due until one intends to sell and actually puts those items up for sale. Note that if one uses the items in a way that would imply that one no longer intends their sale, they are no longer considered merchandise and therefore no longer zakatable assets.

An example of this would be the following:

If I owned some tools and put them on a virtual marketplace with the intention to sell them, those tools would now become zakatable merchandise. However, if, after putting them up for sale, I continue to use the tools, this disqualifies them from being considered zakatable merchandise, as my usage of them contravenes my intention. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Zakat will be due on the value of the items up for sale. [Ibid.]

Note: another reason why an item would not be considered merchandise is if that item is already among those things that are zakatable assets, such as farm land or gold and silver. [Ibid.]

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he went on to study at Darul Uloom Seminary in New York and completed his studies at Darul Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen.

There, he completed the memorization of the Quran and his study of Islamic Sciences. Throughout his years of study, he was blessed to learn from many great scholars: Habib Umar bin Hafiz, Habib Kazhim al-Saqqaf, Shaykh ‘Umar bin Husayn al-Khatib, and others.

Upon returning, he joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.