Yes, taxes paid to the government can be adjusted against Zakat obligation. Government taxes include all forms of actual taxes levied by the government including but not limited to, incomes tax, sales tax, property tax, wealth tax etc. (Please see: Discussion 81522 • Reply 81610)

For Example:

You received Salary of $100 every month for 12 months = $1200 yearly, the zakat due on this is $10 per monthly salary or $120 Yearly (assuming that total yearly Salary is above Nisab because amount of production/earning/wealth below Nisab is exempt from Zakat). You paid $150 in government taxes related to Salary for the whole year.

Now come year-end (which is one date in the year fixed by you for calculation of Zakat on wealth), your Zakat on wealth comes out to be $200. You paid other government taxes of $200 throughout the year.

Your gross Zakat obligation = 120+200 = $320

Total paid in taxes= 150+200 = $350

Net Zakat obligation = 320-350 = negative $30

In this scenario, you have paid more in taxes than your zakat obligation, hence you are not required to pay any Zakat this year. You can carry forward this $30 of more taxes paid this year for adjustment against Zakat obligation of next year.

Refund usually happens when advance tax paid throughout the year is more than the final tax obligation at year-end. If this is the case, then the amout of refund cannot be considered as tax paid to the goverment, so the above equation would need to be adjusted accordingly.

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Hopefully this will give you a clear picture but in case of any confusion, please free to post a follow-up question here.