To determine how many withholding allowances Molly currently claims, we need to carefully analyze the given information step-by-step.
1. Identify Molly's current tax withholding based on her biweekly earnings and the withholding table provided.
Molly's biweekly gross earnings are \[tex]$839.52. Based on the tax table, her earnings fall in the wage range $[/tex]820 \leq \text{wages} < 840[tex]$. So, we focus on this row for our withholding calculations:
\[
\begin{array}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|}
\hline \text{If the wages are -} & \multicolumn{10}{|c|}{ \text{And the number of withholding allowances claimed is} } \\
\hline \begin{array}{c} 820 \end{array} & \begin{array}{c} \\\ 840 \end{array} & 95 & 77 & 59 & 40 & 24 & 11 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
\hline
\end{array}
\]
2. Determine the amount of tax withheld for each allowance.
Here are the withholdings for the range $[/tex][820, 840)[tex]$:
- $[/tex]0[tex]$ allowances: \$[/tex]95
- [tex]$1$[/tex] allowance: \[tex]$77
- $[/tex]2[tex]$ allowances: \$[/tex]59
- [tex]$3$[/tex] allowances: \[tex]$40
- $[/tex]4[tex]$ allowances: \$[/tex]24
- [tex]$5$[/tex] allowances: \[tex]$11
3. Understand the impact of claiming one more withholding allowance.
According to the problem, by claiming one additional allowance, Molly's take-home pay would increase by \$[/tex]16. This means that the tax withheld decreased by \[tex]$16.
4. Compare the given tax amounts to find the difference closest to \$[/tex]16.
We look for two consecutive tax amounts that differ by \[tex]$16:
- \(77 - 59 = 18 \quad (\text{not 16})\)
- \(59 - 40 = 19 \quad (\text{not 16})\)
- \(40 - 24 = 16 \quad (\text{16!})\)
- \(24 - 11 = 13 \quad (\text{not 16})\)
The difference of \$[/tex]16 occurs between the withholdings for 3 and 4 allowances. Therefore, she must currently be at 3 withholding allowances.
5. Conclude the answer based on the analysis.
Molly obviously currently claims 3 withholding allowances, because when she claims an additional allowance (4), her tax withholding decreases by \[tex]$16, increasing her take-home pay by \$[/tex]16.
Thus, the correct answer is:
[tex]\[ \boxed{3} \][/tex]
