"ZakatAccounting for Investment in Malaysia: A Case of Islamic Unit Trust Fund"

Zakat accounting means the process of identifying assets required for zakat, determining the conditions of assets, confirming the applicable zakat rates, and assessing the zakat on the related assets. The rate of payable zakat was determined at 2.5 per cent. However, it is argued if zakat were imposed on the shares’ capital value. Is it fair and sensible if zakat based on physical asset is imposed solely on the income generated by the asset? Data were collected from documents analysis. The data then analyzed by content analysis.As a result, on 7th July 2011, Selangor government has issued the fatawa that zakat for unit trust would be based on ‘urudtijarah (trade goods). Meaning, zakat is imposed on the value of the shares and the income generated from the share. Based on content analysis of secondary data, the result shows that the zakat accounting for IUTF must be based on the intention of owning the shares in IUTF