<prompt> Human: 23 year old single male, 52,000 salary. I get paid weekly and put 20 in my 401k and right now I am claiming one allowance for federal and California and it takes another 200 out in taxes, so Im netting 600 weekly.Assistant: While I love the IRS Withholding Calculator as much as the next guy, anything that asks 11 questions just about income is sort of detailed for this general question.For a single person with no dependents who has no major deductions, claiming 2 federal allowances is the typical default. That should get you very close to zero refund, though you could owe a little bit as well depending what else you are up to.Claiming 1 would give you a bigger refund because more taxes will be taken out. Claiming zero is a bit masochistic. Human: Is claiming one over the other a smarter financial decision?  <response>: Thats sort of subjective. Some people like the idea that they are forced to save when they have more taken out and get a bigger refund. But you earn no interest on that, so its nobodys textbook definition of a smart financial decision. It would be smarter to just do a regular small weeklybiweekly transfer to savings as part of your bill pay routine, or even some direct deposits will let you split the payment like that. 