Zakat for sole traders, partnerships and limited companies
Zakat is a duty on people, not companies. Who pays depends on how the business is owned.
Zakat is a duty on people, not on companies. So who pays a business’s zakat depends on how the business is owned.
Sole trader
The business’s zakatable assets are simply part of your wealth. Work out the business’s zakat base, add it to your other zakatable wealth such as savings and gold, check the nisab on the total and pay 2.5% on the lot. Using one zakat date for both keeps it simple.
Partnership
Each partner owns a share of the business and pays zakat on that share (NZF). Work out the business’s zakat base once, then split it by each partner’s share of ownership. One partner may pay for the others with their consent.
Limited company
A company is a separate legal person, but the duty of zakat rests on its Muslim shareholders. AAOIFI’s standard says the company pays zakat itself when the law requires it, when its articles of association say so, or when the shareholders’ meeting decides it (2/2/1). Otherwise each shareholder pays for their share, and the company should tell them the zakat per share (2/2/5).
A shareholder who holds the shares to trade them values them at market value instead. That is part of their personal zakat, outside the company’s calculation.
If a holding company owns an operating company, the operating company works out its own zakat and the holding pays its share of it, so nothing is paid twice (AAOIFI 4/2/5; 2/2/3 asks the companies to agree who pays). In the app, tick “This company works out and pays its own zakat” on the holding’s line for that stake.
Partners and shareholders who don’t pay through the business
Zakat applies to Muslims, and some owners prefer to pay their share themselves. Only the shares of the owners who pay through the business are paid from it. In the app you list the owners with their shares, and untick those who don’t pay through this statement; the statement shows each owner’s part either way.
Owners’ current accounts
Money an owner lent to the business is a debt of the business and an asset of the owner. The business deducts it only if it is payable within the year, and the owner counts it in their personal zakat. That way nothing is counted twice or missed.
The nisab for owners
Scholars differ on whose wealth is held against the nisab. AAOIFI works out a company’s zakat for the company as a whole; NZF says each partner is liable for their own share, and the nisab applies to each person’s total wealth. Hawl does either (choose under the business’s method), and the statement shows each owner’s share of the zakat base. An owner whose share is below the nisab may still owe zakat on it when their other wealth reaches it: tick that box.