{
  "id": "BRD-010",
  "slug": "brd-010",
  "title": "Take the legal name from the CP-575 or 147C, never a W-2 or W-9",
  "statement": "The legal name must come from the IRS CP-575 confirmation letter or a 147C letter — the name on a W-2 or W-9 is not authoritative for this purpose.",
  "rationale": "A W-9 is the document a business has to hand and fills in itself, so the name on it is whatever someone typed; the CP-575 is what the IRS actually issued. They differ more often than people expect — abbreviations, a dropped \"The\", a payroll-system truncation — and vetting matches against the issued record. The business is not being careless here; it is using the tax document it was asked for last time.",
  "layer": "BRAND",
  "layerSlug": "brand",
  "object": "brand.company_name",
  "severity": "HIGH",
  "detectability": [
    "HUMAN"
  ],
  "failureClass": "TERMINAL_EVIDENCE",
  "authorities": [
    "Twilio",
    "HighLevel"
  ],
  "applicabilityText": "Applies to every 10DLC registration.",
  "universal": true,
  "remediation": "Find the CP-575 issued when the EIN was assigned and copy the name from it. If it has been lost, call the IRS Business & Specialty Tax Line and request a 147C letter — it is free, and it is the same authoritative name. Done when the field matches the letter, not the W-9.",
  "example": "company_name: Acme Coffee Co, LLC — as printed on the CP-575, not as typed on last year's W-9",
  "notes": "Off-platform: we cannot see which document the name came from. Surfaced as the question the user has to answer themselves — \"which piece of paper is this name on?\" — before submitting, because it is far cheaper to check now than after a failed vet. A 147C request takes one phone call and the IRS will read the name back.",
  "phase": "approval",
  "automated": false,
  "attestation": {
    "question": "Which piece of paper did this legal name come from — a CP-575 or 147C, or a W-2 or W-9?",
    "howToCheck": [
      "Ask whoever supplied the name which document they read it off.",
      "If the answer is a W-9, a W-2, an invoice or a bank record, go back to the CP-575 — the W-9 is a form the business filled in itself, so the name on it is whatever someone typed.",
      "No CP-575 on file: request a 147C from the IRS, which reads the issued name back to you."
    ],
    "failureLooksLike": "The name on the W-9 has been shortened by a payroll system or lost a leading \"The\", the business has used it for years, and vetting matches against the issued record instead."
  },
  "url": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-010/",
  "markdown": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-010.md",
  "registry": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/",
  "updated": "2026-07-25",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}