its proper time, whereas for the portions whose full lunar year has not yet elapsed you will have paid the zakat in advance. Advancing the payment of zakat is permissible when there is a legitimate Shar‘i (Islamically sanctioned) reason, and for most people—employees in particular—this is the only workable method: one simply fixes a certain month of the year and makes it his annual zakat-paying date, repeating the same in that month the following year. Allah knows best.
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Zakat on invested capital
Question: I have a sum of money amounting to seven thousand Egyptian pounds, which I have placed in a commercial investment project. Is zakat due on it? What is the amount due, to whom do I give it, and do I pay zakat only on the principal or on both the principal and the profit?

Answer: Money invested in trade is subject to zakat once it reaches the nisab (minimum threshold) or more, and its profit is likewise subject to zakat; the profit follows the principal and is paid together with it. Therefore, when one full lunar year has passed on the principal, you must pay zakat on the whole amount, adding the profit—if any—to the capital, and you pay zakat on the total at the rate of one quarter of one tenth (2.5%).

As for the recipients of zakat, you give it to those whom Allah the Exalted has specified in His words:
“Zakah expenditures are only for the poor, the destitute, those employed to collect it, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, for freeing slaves, for those in debt, in the path of Allah, and for the wayfarer—an obligation from Allah, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” (al-Tawbah 9:60)

So you pay zakat to anyone belonging to these eight categories. Give it to the poor and the needy—there are many of them, they are easy to find, and they are in dire need—so direct your zakat to them.