A tax ID is required for every entity but a sole proprietor
The requirementstatement
A tax ID or business registration number must be supplied for every entity type except sole proprietor.
- Severityseverity
- BlockingBLOCKINGBreaking this rule gets the submission rejected. There is no partial credit.
- When it bitesphase
- Gates approvalapprovalGet this wrong and the brand or campaign is refused at registration.
- What is checkedobject
- brand.ein
- Where it liveslayer
- BrandBRAND
- How Ekas settles itdetectability
- DeterministicDETERMINISTIC
- Settled in code from the values you submitted. No model involved, no judgement call, same answer every time.
- What the fix involvesfailureClass
- Fix the fieldRETRY_FIELD
- A better value in the form fixes it. Ekas can rewrite it and re-check.
- Who requires itauthorities
- TCRAWSBandwidth
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies to every 10DLC registration.
Why this rule existsrationale
The tax ID is the identifier the brand is actually verified against, so without it there is nothing to check the name and address into — the registration cannot be approved, only held. Sole proprietors are the deliberate exception because they are verified by mobile OTP instead, which is the whole point of that tier.
How to fix itremediation
Enter the nine-digit EIN from your CP-575 or 147C letter. Non-US entities supply the registration number their home country issues. Done when the identifier is present and matches the document it came from.
A compliant exampleexample
ein: 12-3456789
Common mistakespitfalls
- A brand-new EIN can be present and still fail verification because the IRS has not published it yet — that is BRD-027, and the fix is to wait rather than to change the number.
Rules you will hit next
6 other rules read brand.ein. Fixing one field to satisfy a single rule is how a resubmission trades one rejection for another, so read these before you change anything.
BRD-019EIN must be nine digitsBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-020Submit the US EIN hyphenatedBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-021An SSN is not a business registration numberBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-022A DUNS number is not a US business registration numberBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-032Submit the identifier in the form the issuing country requiresBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-065Sole proprietor must have no EINBlockingBLOCKING
BRD-017 is one of 196 brand rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.