Zakat 2027: dates and amounts

Zakat isn't tied to Ramadan

This is the most common misconception: that zakat is due during Ramadan. In reality, it's due at the end of your own hawl — one full lunar year from the day your wealth crossed the nisab, whatever day of the year that was. Many still choose to pay it during Ramadan, by preference or to avoid tracking a separate date — not because religion requires it.

Not to be confused with Zakat al-Fitr

"Zakat" around Ramadan often means something else: Zakat al-Fitr, a separate obligatory charity that completes the fast, due before the Eid prayer — traditionally one sa' of a staple food, roughly 2.5 to 3 kg (often cited as 2.5 kg of rice), per member of the household. It has nothing to do with wealth or the hawl: everything on this page is about Zakat al-Maal, the zakat on wealth — not Zakat al-Fitr. Three points that commonly get confused:

• In-kind or cash? Schools differ: the majority (Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali) require a staple food; the Hanafi school permits, and even prefers, the cash equivalent when the food is readily available in the market.
• To whom, and above all when? The hadith this charity is based on states it must be given before people go out to the Eid prayer — its purpose is that no one should have to ask on that day. Going through an organization means checking it will actually reach the needy before the prayer, not after.
• Who can receive it? As with zakat on wealth, most schools reserve zakat — Zakat al-Fitr included — for Muslims in need.

Estimated 2027 Ramadan dates

Subject to moon sighting, Ramadan 2027 is expected to start on 8 February and end around 9 March 2027. These dates can shift by a day depending on the country and the sighting method followed.

The rate doesn't change: 2.5%

Unlike the nisab, the rate for zakat on monetary wealth stays fixed year to year: 2.5% of the zakatable base, no exceptions.

The nisab changes every day

The thresholds below track the price of gold and silver and are recalculated automatically — the same data the calculator uses.

Getting ready ahead of time

The most useful habit isn't redoing the calculation once a year under pressure, but tracking your own hawl month by month. That is exactly what Wazn's zakat tracking does: it keeps your hawl's start date and the actual minimum balance held across the whole year, for an exact figure on the day it's due — not a last-minute estimate.