The Universal Pension Scheme: Contributions and Zakat

Short answer: (1) Zakat: contributions are outside your control until 60 — ownership is incomplete; so on the GPF principle no zakat is due before the pension/lump sum reaches your hand, after which the cash rules apply. (2) Ruling: where the scheme pays a predetermined/guaranteed increment on deposits, it takes the structure of stipulated increase on a loan (riba) — the cautious evidence-based position is to avoid it; if enrolment is compulsory (a condition of employment), divest whatever exceeds your own contributions by giving it away without expecting reward. Details: Scheme structures vary — check whether funds are genuinely invested with profit-loss sharing, or it is simply 'deposit and receive at a set rate' (an interest structure). Before joining voluntarily, have a qualified scholar examine the scheme documents. A nominee's entitlement after the contributor's death is new wealth in the recipient's hand — reckoned from receipt. Evidence: Quran 2:275, 2:279; Ibn Majah 1792 (ownership and hawl); the Permanent Committee's provident-fund principles. For complex individual cases, consult a qualified scholar.