Page 108 - Dimensi Baharu Zakat di Malaysia

© DIMENSI BAHARU ZAKAT DI MALAYSIA
ISBN 978-967-2959-04-5

Transaction in Months Prior to Hawl

Table 2: Transaction at the End of Hawl
Institutions
Transaction at the End of Hawl
A1 B1 B2
Final month non-current assets purchased / /
added back into zakatable assets
Monthly average amount deducted from /
zakatable assets
Source: Interview

Although as earlier mentioned that the purchase of fixed or non-
current assets can be deducted from zakatable amount, it is not
necessarily the case when it comes to the transactions carried out in
the final months prior to hawl. In this aspect, JAWHAR suggested
that any purchase of assets (such as investments) made within the
last three months prior to hawl should be added back to the zakatable
amount. It argued that such transactions may not be genuinely for
business but merely a “window dressing” tactic. Window dressing
refers to actions taken by business institutions (including Islamic
financial institutions) prior to the end of a financial year in order to
improve the appearance of its financial statements and performance
before presenting it to clients or shareholders.
It is found from the study (Table 2), that two institutions (A1 and
B1) have reported that they only make adjustment for one final
month. In contrast, B2 stated that they do not make adjustment using
the actual amount of non-current asset acquired in the final month.
Instead, in this particular month they used monthly average as the
amount deducted from zakatable assets, so that no adjustment need
to be done. As for the rest of the studied institutions, there is no
report about the case has been heard from them.
From the finding, it is understood that the institutions have not
strictly followed JAWHAR’s suggestions as it is, they themselves
who know whether the transactions made are really genuine or
merely as window dressing. From a different point of view,
JAWHAR’s suggestion seems strange since the whole assessment

98
99