<prompt> Human: Today was my first paycheck of being on salary. We spent some time negotiating and agreed upon 35K annual. I sat down and budgeted for myself figuring that with a semi-monthly pay period that Id be taking home checks of about 1081. Well, I opened my check and saw that my check today was 1082, so I checked what the untaxed dollar amount was, and to my shock it was NOT the agreed upon salary amount, but it added up to 33297. Not only was the paid out amount incorrect but somehow they added a single allowance for both state and federal onto my check.I kinda feel like the employer is trying to deceive me, by paying me a lesser amount and adding allowances to my check. I pay self-employment tax every year and so I set my w-4 up for the quantity of money that I predict I will earn every year. Is it legal for employers to do this???  <response>: If you agreed on a salary, then just point out the error. I would venture to guess its a simple payroll error, instead of purposeful malice. 