Personal Allowances Worksheet

• Taxpayers should claim up to the number of allowances (mistakenly called deductions) permitted based on the Personal Allowances Worksheet on the Form W-4. If a taxpayer prefers to get a larger refund, she can claim fewer exemptions than she is entitled to claim.
  
  

Deduction Considerations

• If a taxpayer plans to claim a larger amount of adjustments to income and itemized deductions, you should use the Deductions and Adjustments Worksheet to calculate how many exemptions you can claim if it exceeds the number you can claim from the Personal Allowances Worksheet.
  
  

Bottom Line

• The Internal Revenue Service recommends that taxpayers use whichever deduction worksheet gives you the higher amount of allowances. However, taxpayers should not claim more allowances than they are entitled to because underwithholding can be punished with fines and jail time, according to Bankrate.