Paying Zakah to the government employees appointed for collecting Zakah

Fatwa no. 21544 All praise is due to Allah and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' have read the letter delivered to the Grand Mufty from His Eminence, the acting Minister of Finance and National Economy no. 9/2/6315 which is referred to the committee by the Secretariat General of the Council of Senior Scholars, no. 3131, dated 27/5/1421 A.H, and the question of his Excellency is:As-salamu `alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh (May Allah's Peace, Mercy, and Blessings be upon you!) In supplementing our letter no. 9/2/1984, dated 13/2/1421 A.H, which included an inquiry about (Part No. 8; Page No. 354) the ruling on the permissibility of the chieftains and their deputies in the Southern Province and part of the Western Province, taking a tenth of the Zakah (obligatory charity). It was noted in our letter that the viewpoint of the ministry is that those chieftains and their deputies are not regarded as Zakah collectors. The ministry receives reports from the municipal and financial bodies of `Asir which included a request from a number of chieftains and their deputies to take the due tenths as they could not take them from the government Zakah collectors. However, no statement has been received until this date.I hope you will inform us about the ruling on the permissibility of giving them a tenth (of Zakah) in order to take the required action. May Allah protect you.

After the Ifta' Committee studied the inquiry, it answered that as long as the chieftains and their deputies do not perform any work in collecting Zakah, they do not deserve anything from it. In the past they would take these tenths because of their work in collecting Zakah, but now the situation has changed.May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.