Zakat on Employee Shares and RSUs

Short answer: (a) Unvested RSUs: you do not own them yet — they lapse if you leave — so no zakat. (b) Vested shares: your wealth — zakatable. (c) Vested but locked-in: ownership is complete, so per the sounder view they are zakatable; if you lack liquidity, you may defer and pay the accumulated years when the lock opens or you sell. Details: Zakat requires complete ownership (milk tāmm). An unvested grant is a conditional promise contingent on future events, so it is outside the reckoning. From vesting day, the shares' value joins your wealth and is assessed on your annual zakat day. Locked shares remain yours — value growth and dividends included — so they are not inaccessible wealth; the restriction only justifies deferring payment for lack of liquidity. Evidence: Quran 9:103 ('from their wealth' — i.e. what they own); Ibn Majah 1792 (no hawl before ownership); the principle of Shaykh al-Uthaymin and the Permanent Committee that incomplete ownership carries no zakat. For complex individual cases, consult a qualified scholar.