Question

Assalamualykum,
If my total asset worth for Zakat is £5,000 and I have £9,250 student finance debt, would I pay no zakat as I am in overall negative equity? Or are we not able to include student finance debt in our calculations and so would pay zakat on £5,000

Jazakallah for your time

Answer

You can deduct that amount that you will be paying towards the student loan over the coming year. So for example, if you will be paying £300 in the coming year towards your student loan, then you can deduct £300 from your total asset of £5000 and zakat will be payable on the remainder £4700. If you intend to pay back the entire loan in the coming year, the total £9250 be deductible.

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel