Short answer
No. There is no zakat on the home you live in, your car, furniture, clothes, phone or work tools, however expensive, because they are for your own use. The four schools agree. Zakat applies only if you bought the house or car in order to sell it.
Things kept for personal use and basic needs (hawa'ij asliyya), such as your home, car, furniture and tools, are not zakatable. A house or car bought with the firm intention of reselling it counts as trade goods and is zakatable at its market value.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Zakat falls on wealth that grows or is kept to grow: cash, gold, silver, trade goods and grazing livestock. Things you own in order to use them are outside it. The Prophet ﷺ said a Muslim owes no zakat on his horse, which was his transport, and the scholars applied this to every item of personal use. The four schools agree on this.
- Your home, even a large one: no zakat.
- A second home kept for holidays or for family: no zakat, as long as it is not held for sale.
- Your car, or several cars used by the family: no zakat.
- Furniture, clothes, books, laptops, phones and work tools: no zakat. Gold and silver are the exception (see zakat on jewellery).
The ruling changes with the purpose. A car dealer's stock, or a house bought to flip, is trade goods and zakatable at market value. A house you rent out has its own rule (see zakat on rental property). A taxi or delivery van is a work tool, so the vehicle is exempt, but the money you earn and save with it is zakatable.
Money you are saving to buy a house or car is still cash in your hands, so it is zakatable on your zakat date until you actually spend it.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:219
۞ يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلْخَمْرِ وَٱلْمَيْسِرِ ۖ قُلْ فِيهِمَآ إِثْمٌۭ كَبِيرٌۭ وَمَنَٰفِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَإِثْمُهُمَآ أَكْبَرُ مِن نَّفْعِهِمَا ۗ وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنفِقُونَ قُلِ ٱلْعَفْوَ ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمُ ٱلْءَايَٰتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ ﴿٢١٩﴾
They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, "In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit." And they ask you what they should spend. Say, "The excess [beyond needs]." Thus Allah makes clear to you the verses [of revelation] that you might give thought.
Giving is asked from what is beyond one's needs.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1463
Sahih... ليس على المسلم في فرسه وغلامه صدقة ...
"A Muslim owes no zakat on his horse or his slave."
Things kept for personal use, like a riding animal (today a car), carry no zakat.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Zakat, opening section. No zakat on dwellings, clothes, household furniture, riding animals or tools of work.
- Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Zakat, on basic needs (al-hawa'ij al-asliyya). Defines items of need as outside zakat.
- al-Mughni, Kitab al-Zakat, on goods for personal use. The same ruling in the Hanbali school.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.