I claimed 0 on my W-4...?

when I got hired for a job at an AMC theater yesterday. One of the managers was helping me and another new hire out, and she was saying that 0 would have the government take more out now, but give me more back later, or something like that, so I just claimed 0. Was that the best thing to do? I'm an 18-year-old still living with my parents (in California), and I'm a full-time college student

Some people say that it's better to just claim 1, take a bigger paycheck, and deposit some of it into a savings account with interest, and just pay the government back with that if I owe them. If I claim 0, then I'm practically giving the government an interest-free loan. The savings account I have is WaMu and I believe it's .25% (a month, I think)...is that gonna yield much over time?

Any professional advice?

I claimed 0 on my W-4...?sheet music

You are still a dependent of your parents, so you should claim zero. You aren't giving an interest free loan to the government because that's all you are entitled to. If you were NOT a dependent, you'd be entitled to claim 1 - since you are though, your parents get your exemption and you don't get one.

If you make under $5350 for the year you won't owe anything in taxes, so if you make less than about $103 a week they won't take anything out anyway for federal income tax, so it won't matter what you put on your W-4.

If you are making over that they'll take something out because they take out like you make that much every week all year. So this year, unless you had a job earlier, you'll get back whatever is taken out - you'll have to file a tax return though to get it. For next year, if you make over around that amount (limit will be a little higher for 2008) then you'd owe some tax. Then if you filed your W-4 as 1 instead of 0, you'd probably owe around $350 when you filed - putting the money into your savings account each week, if you had the discipline to do that, would make you about $8 interest for the year. Legally you are supposed to file for no more allowances than you are entitled to, though.

I claimed 0 on my W-4...?state theatre opera theater

By claiming -0- you have allowed the federal government to use your money with no return for you. Let's say you are entitled to receive a refund of $500, then that's all you get. If you had claimed 1 during the year, you get that $500 through out the year, and could have used it or put it away in savings in small incremental amounts. Many people don't care that they're loaning the gov't their money with no return, because it's like Christmas in April.
it is a horrible way to save money but if you find it hard to put money away and sometimes at your age it can be hard you did a good thing...in the spring you will get a bigger return and at that time you will have the option of putting some into a IRA....i did it this way to when i was your age because saving was tough.
If you're going to make less than $5350 this year, you won't owe any tax. (That's the standard deduction amount.) You can claim exempt on this year's w-4. You have to remember to change it for 2008, though, if you're going to keep working through the year. Single 0 is correct for you.

Since it's nearly December, and you're going to get one check with withholding on it anyway, I'd just leave it and file in January to get my withholding back.
Keep your money and invest it, it's a good discipline to develop at a young age. You should be OK claiming single and 1 exemption. Might want to check to see if your parents are still claiming you.