<prompt> Human: Hello personal finance, I was wondering if anyone could offer advice in my current situation.I have spent 3 weeks at my full time job. My base salary is 67,000 and I am commuting to NYC from NJ. I got my first paycheck today, and have realized that I pay 20,000 in taxes a year! Surely this is too much right?I was wondering if any of you know ways that I can take advantage of pre-taxed dollars. I use the commuter benefits, the flexible spending accounts offered by health insurance, and pay for all my benefits on a pre tax basis, but I would like to save more money by doing this pre-taxed deal. A little more about my living situation, I currently live with my mom and pay no income. I have to start paying about 80,000 in student loans starting in december. Really my only expense is my car which is 165 a month, and commuting to and from work which is roughly 600 a month. Any advice about anything in this situation is welcome. I have read all the sidebars but there is so much information that I do not know exactly how to tailor it to my situation.Thank you in advance for your help.  <response>: You are not paying 20,000 in taxes, you are rather withholding that amount for taxes. If you do not correct this withholding, youll get it back once you file your tax return next April, but that does you no good right now.Use the IRS Withholding Calculator to figure out what you need to claim on your W-4, then file a new W-4 with your employer. 