Warning from personal experience: be careful with subscription deductions! I tried deducting Netflix because I "watch it for inspiration for my design work" and got flagged for an audit. The IRS agent basically laughed at that justification. The difference with your Spotify situation seems to be that you have a much clearer connection to revenue. I couldn't really prove Netflix was "ordinary and necessary" for my graphic design business, but you can show how Spotify directly contributes to your creative process and final products. If you do deduct it, just make sure you can clearly demonstrate the business purpose. Maybe keep screenshots of playlists you create for work, notes about which songs inspired which projects, etc. Anything that shows a direct line between Spotify and your income-generating activities.

Based on your description, you have a really strong case for deducting your Spotify Premium subscription! The key is that you can clearly demonstrate it's "ordinary and necessary" for your specific business operations. What makes your situation particularly solid: 1. You have a documented creative process that directly relies on Spotify (finding lyrical inspiration) 2. You can show business growth tied to this process (increased client base from your lyric-art style) 3. You use it for marketing purposes (promoting playlists on business social media) 4. You can quantify the business use (20+ hours weekly for inspiration hunting) To protect yourself if questioned, I'd recommend: - Keep a simple log of projects inspired by songs you discovered on Spotify - Save screenshots of your business-related playlists - Document any client collaborations involving music features - Track the time spent using Spotify for business vs personal use Since you're using it almost exclusively for business purposes, you should be able to deduct the full subscription cost. Just make sure to maintain good records showing the direct connection between your Spotify use and your revenue-generating activities. The IRS looks for that clear business purpose, and yours is much stronger than someone who just says "music helps me focus while I work." You're actually using the platform as a research tool for your creative process.

Has anyone used the IRS Tax Tool for Education Credits to figure this out? I tried using it but got confused when it asked about "qualified expenses paid with tax-free educational assistance" versus "qualified expenses paid by me." Not sure how to split these up correctly.

I went through this exact situation with my daughter two years ago and it was definitely confusing at first! You're on the right track with your understanding. A few key points that helped me figure it out: 1. You're correct that the scholarship money covering room and board becomes taxable income that needs to be reported somewhere - either on your return or your daughter's. 2. For the American Opportunity Credit, you can still claim it for any qualified expenses you paid out-of-pocket. Since you mentioned paying $650 for textbooks, that alone could qualify you for a partial AOC (up to $650 credit in this case). 3. The decision between reporting the taxable scholarship on your return vs. having your daughter file her own really depends on your tax bracket vs. hers. If the taxable scholarship amount is under the standard deduction ($13,850 for 2025), having her file separately usually saves money. 4. Don't forget about Form 8863 - you'll need it if you're claiming the AOC, and it helps calculate exactly how much scholarship money is taxable vs. non-taxable. One thing that really helped me was getting all the documentation together first - the 1098-T from the school, all scholarship award letters, and receipts for what you paid out-of-pocket. Having everything organized made the whole process much clearer. You can definitely still claim her as a dependent regardless of which approach you take for the scholarship taxation!

OMG I feel your pain! 😫 I've been checking WMR and transcripts obsessively for weeks now with the same cycle code. The community wisdom here is that most of us 0605 people are getting bunched together for processing. Last year there was a huge batch of 0605 refunds that all got their 846 codes on the same Friday. Fingers crossed we're all in this week's batch! 🤞

I'm also cycle code 0605 and filed on January 31st! Reading through all these responses is really helpful - I had no idea about the Friday update schedule. I've been wasting so much time checking daily. Based on what everyone's saying, it sounds like we're all in the same boat waiting for that weekly batch processing. The fact that you have all your transcripts available without any hold codes is definitely encouraging. I'm going to try to be patient and just check Friday mornings from now on instead of obsessing over it daily. Hopefully we'll all see our 846 codes soon! 🤞

Think of IRS transcript updates like mail delivery - you get the big deliveries on weekdays, but maybe just a small package or two on Saturdays, and Sundays are usually quiet. I was watching my transcript like a hawk back in February. Nothing happened for 6 weeks, then suddenly on a Tuesday morning, everything updated at once and my refund was scheduled. The waiting game is painful, but it's like watching water boil - checking constantly doesn't make it happen faster!

I've been through this exact situation with my amended return last year. From what I observed, the IRS systems do technically run on Saturdays but with very limited processing compared to weekdays. I tracked my updates for about 8 weeks and found that Saturday updates were rare - maybe 1 in 10 weekends showed any movement, and when they did, it was usually minor status changes rather than major processing milestones. The bulk of the action definitely happens Tuesday through Thursday. My advice? Check Monday mornings since any weekend processing would show up then, but don't stress about checking daily on weekends. The waiting is tough, but amended returns just take time to work through their system regardless of when you check!

I tracked my transcript updates obsessively last year and noticed these patterns: • Main weekly updates: Thursday night/Friday morning (around 3-6am Eastern) • Secondary updates: Sometimes Tuesday morning for certain accounts • Account transcript updates first, then return transcript • WMR tool often lags 1-2 days behind transcript changes • The "N/A" for current year transcripts is totally normal early in processing Wow, I never realized how complex the IRS systems were until I went through this! My transcript went from nothing to fully processed in a single update.

Thanks for all the detailed information everyone! As someone who's been dealing with IRS transcripts for several years now, I can confirm that the Thursday night/Friday morning update schedule is pretty reliable. One thing I'd add is that if you're checking transcripts online, make sure you're looking at the right year - sometimes the dropdown defaults to the previous year and you might think nothing's updated when it actually has. Also, don't panic if your transcript shows codes like 150 or 806 - these are normal processing codes. The 150 code means your return was received and the 806 code indicates a refund freeze, which often gets released automatically within a few days. I've found that patience really is key with the IRS system - it's slow but generally reliable once you understand the timing patterns.