Do I owe zakat on money sitting in my savings account?

Yes. Cash — whether in a bank account, at home, or in a digital wallet — is zakatable wealth, treated the same as gold and silver in Islamic law. If your total cash across all accounts reaches the nisab threshold and stays at or above it for a full lunar year (hawl), you owe 2.5% of the balance on your zakat due date. Most scholars advise using the lower, silver-based nisab (roughly the value of 595 grams of silver) rather than the gold-based nisab when calculating zakat on cash, since this brings more wealth into zakat and benefits more of the poor, though some jurists prefer the gold standard. You don't need to track each account separately; simply add up checking, savings, and cash on hand as of your zakat anniversary date. Money that dips below nisab during the year but recovers by year's end is still zakatable in the majority view, as long as nisab is met at the start and end of the hawl. Any interest earned should be removed from the balance and disposed of separately, since it isn't purified wealth that can count toward your zakat.

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