REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Any company or person who works a lot that organizes a pension fund. Is the pension fund compulsory?

The employee's contribution to this fund can be forfeited if it is made at his own discretion. No zakat must be paid on these funds if the entrepreneur due to company or government policy collects them by force. Zakat will be due on these funds when they can be withdrawn.

If these funds are withdrawn and reach the value of nisab (three ounces of gold or cash value) and a year passes, the zakat (with a 2.5 percent allowance) will be due. Zakat must be paid for the money a person receives and then voluntarily contributes to the pension fund, if it reaches the nisab and after a period of one year.

Professor of Comparative Fikih, Faculty of Shari`ah, Kuwait University, Abdul Aziz Al Qassar stated that it is not mandatory to pay zakat on what is known as pension money (i.e. pensions paid to employees at retirement) unless the money is actually owned. Muslim jurists state that the person who will pay zakat must have money that he will pay.

Whereas the pension fund that the company keeps is not actually owned by the person for a while, therefore it is not obliged to pay zakat on it until it becomes his property in one way or another. According to the consensus of legal experts, it is not allowed to pay two years' zakat in advance.

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