<prompt> Human: I did change the number of dependencies to 2 in January so that I could file for next year, but I was wondering if filing for last year would be okay considering what I did. I dont think I would owe them more considering that I have been paying of student loans and have a lot of interest I have paid, some of which I understand will be returned if I do file. Im just wondering if it would be worth filing this year or if it would be best not to and then just file next year.Ive never filed before if youre wondering.  <response>: It sounds like you selected 3 allowances, which is not saying you have 3 dependents. The number of allowances does affect how much tax gets taken during the year, but it does not change what your total tax is. So if you used a too-high number of allowances, too little tax was taken, and the upshot is you owe the rest of your tax by the tax filing deadline.Your post didnt supply enough info for us to know if you owe any income tax.If you are not being claimed as a dependent, and you have no dependents, then 2 is the typical number of allowances to use. Using one allowance more than that basically suggests your income will be 4050 less. If you are paying student loan interest and can deduct it, that reduces your taxable income by some amount, but not quite by 4050, so by itself that aspect of your tax situation doesnt merit using 3. But if, say, you also contributed to a traditional IRA, or had some tax credit eligibility, it could be that 3 allowances was accurate. 