Save and Pay as You Go

People wait in line at the post office in Racine, Wis., on Tuesday afternoon. (By Gregory Shaver/AP)

She wrote: "We are getting back too large a refund this year partly because we had a child in 2007. The problem we have with most withholding calculators is we never know who should take how many allowances. Since my husband and I are both employed, should he take six and I take none? Should we each take three? Should the higher-paid one take most? It's just really confusing."

No question, getting your tax situation just right can be confusing. The thing is, says Dupree, you don't want too much or too little income tax withheld from your pay.

To find the correct amount to withhold, Dupree said, use the calculator at http://www.irs.gov, which you can find by typing "withholding calculator" in the search field. Use the results to help complete a new Form W-4, which you then need to submit to your employer. And what better time to do it than this week, especially since you'll need your most recent income tax return to fill out the fields on the IRS calculator?

You'll have to enter information about your income and tax liability for the previous year and an estimate of your 2008 itemized deductions. Based on your responses, the calculator will tell you how many allowances to take. For spouses filing jointly, it will also break down how many allowances each of you should take.

If you find all the questions on the IRS calculator intimidating, try the withholding calculator designed by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine at http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/withholding. It's a quick and easy calculator in which you answer just three questions to come up the number of allowances you should take.

I know you may be sick of anything tax-related, but with a little planning now, you could improve your tax outlook for 2008.

· On the air: Michelle Singletary discusses personal finance Tuesdays on NPR's "Day to Day" program and online athttp://www.npr.org.

· By mail: Readers can write to her at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

· By e-mail:singletarym@washpost.com.

Comments and questions are welcome, but because of the volume of mail, personal responses are not always possible. Please note that comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.