<prompt> Human: I am starting a new job the first week of January and am wondering what I should put for my Federal, State and Local Allowances. I want to get the max on each paycheck as I do not want to give an interest free loan to government. I was hoping there was some accountant trick to maximize it without risking an audit. Thank you for your help. -25 years old-Unmarried with no kids-I am not a dependent-46,000 Salary-Live with girlfriend who owns the condo that I am help pay the mortgage on  <response>: The instructions on the W-4 will tell you to have two allowances 1 for you, and 1 because you only have one job. This will withhold the tax based on your salary minus 2x3,9502,250 2 is number of allowances, the first dollar figure is personal exemption amount for 2014 and 2,250 is fixed which makes sense since thats equal to the typical deductions for a simple return 3,950 personal exemption 6,200 standard deduction.So if you put down 2 and have a super-simple return, you should owe nothing and get nothing back. If you want to get the max per paycheck, you can try to work the system by putting down 3 allowances. This subtracts another 3,950 to the income used in the calculation, which for you means it will incur you owing a little less than 1,000 to the IRS, keeping you clear of the under-withholding penalty. But of course youll get that 1,000 in your paychecks and you can invest it. 