<prompt> Human: I have a quick question about allowances and how that changes your federal tax withholding...I set my allowances about 2 weeks ago after I got my last paycheck to 9 so that my bonus that was coming in today didnt get taxed all to hell. Well I got my bonus last night and checked out my paystub. Basically my allowances showed up on my paystub as 9, but my bonus still had about 25 taken out just for federal. I thought setting my allowances to a higher number was supposed to change that?Any help understanding this would be most appreciated, since right now Im still fuming.  <response>: They specifically withhold tax at a higher rate on bonuses to discourage people from doing what you did. Relax, when you file your taxes at the end of the year you will get back any money that was lost to excess withholding. 