Calculating zakaat

Q: SARS is owing me a refund but pending verification. The amount might be more or less once they finalise. What amount do I use to calculate the zakaat.

Q: I made an intention that a certain portion of my annual bonus will be set aside for Sadaqah and Lillah. The money is not in a separate bank account but together with my savings. I have a spreadsheet of the amount what was spent and how much is still available for charity.

Do I need to include the amount into my Zakaat calculation, assuming that I have not discharged it as charity it for a lunar year? The intention is to still discharge the money as Sadaqah or Lillah.

Q: A person gave me R100 of his zakaat and asked me to buy a zakaat hamper and give it on his behalf to the poor. I bought the hamper for R100 which was inclusive of 15% vat and thereafter gave it to a recipient of zakaat. Did R85 of the person's zakaat get discharged or did R100 of His zakaat get discharged?

Similarly, if zakaat vouchers are given to the poor and they make purchases with it from a specific shop to which zakaat money has been given, and the shop owner has been informed that he should give the poor who come to him items to the value of the zakaat vouchers, and the shop owner sells them the items for the full amount of the zakaat vouchers but deducts 15% of the money for vat, will the full amount of the zakaat vouchers be regarded as the zakaat discharged or will the amount less 15% be regarded as the zakaat discharged?

Q: If money has been collected with the intention of building a house, then when will zakaat be due on it?

Q: A husband has custody of the wife's jewellery. They are currently separated - the mother in law had custody of it for 22 years as it was kept as an amaanat but zakat has not been paid on this jewellery.

Q: I am a young baaligh teenager and I have a share in a business with my friend. We have not yet cashed out and split the money. The money that is owed to me is more than the nisaab amount. However, we do not have that amount of cash on hand and so that is why we have not cashed out and split the profits. Is zakaat liable on me?

Q: If a person works for some years and every year, he has to discharge zakaat for example in Dhul-Hijjah. (basically his zakaat year ends in that month and discharges zakaat then). After some years, he opens up his own business from the savings he has accumulated. Thereafter, when should he now pay out any zakaat due on him? Should such a person continue discharging zakaat in Dhul-Hijjah, or he has to take a new date because of the business? 

Q: My father passed away in June 2023, but his estate only got distributed in June 2024. Do I have to pay zakaat on the amount inherited from the date of his death or only from the time it was given to me? Part of the estate was a gold coin given to me in June 2024.

Q: If a person calculates his zakaat and keeps it separately in an envelope with the intention of discharging it but before discharging it, he passes away. Will this money form a part of the estate?

Q: Before I got married, my parents used to pay my zakaat. They used to pay it in Ramadaan.

After I got married, for 3 years I never worked out my zakaat in Ramadaan and it got left till last year. On the 1st of Zul Hijjah, I went and got my jewellery weighed and sorted out my zakaat. Gold was at its highest that it has been in years that time so I paid that amount for all the years as the jeweller said that it will be higher than the other years that I never pay. Alhamdulillah I payed off everything last year. I wanted to know for this year, am I supposed to calculate my zakaat in Ramadaan or should I now calculate it on the 1st of Zul Hijjah?

I did not calculate it in Ramadaan this year as I thought I should value it that same day as I did last year.