# BRD-010 — Take the legal name from the CP-575 or 147C, never a W-2 or W-9

> 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.

- **Rule ID:** BRD-010
- **Layer:** Brand (`BRAND`)
- **Checks:** `brand.company_name`
- **Severity:** HIGH — Rejected by at least one carrier or provider, and a common cause of failure at the rest.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** Human check — only someone holding the document can settle it
- **Fix type:** Supply evidence only you hold
- **Required by:** Twilio, HighLevel
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-010/

## Why this rule exists

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.

## How to fix it

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 of a compliant value

```text
company_name: Acme Coffee Co, LLC — as printed on the CP-575, not as typed on last year's W-9
```

## Check this yourself

**Which piece of paper did this legal name come from — a CP-575 or 147C, or a W-2 or W-9?**

1. Ask whoever supplied the name which document they read it off.
2. 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.
3. No CP-575 on file: request a 147C from the IRS, which reads the issued name back to you.

*What wrong looks like:* 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.

## 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.