Submit the US EIN hyphenated
The requirementstatement
A US EIN must be submitted in the hyphenated XX-XXXXXXX form.
- 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
- TwilioTelnyxSinch
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies to every 10DLC registration.
Why this rule existsrationale
Several providers match the EIN as a string rather than as a number, so an unhyphenated one misses a record that is sitting right there — and the rejection says the business could not be verified, which sends people off to check their address and their name. The hyphen is free to add and every provider that does not require it accepts it anyway.
How to fix itremediation
Reformat the EIN as two digits, a hyphen, then seven digits. Done when the value reads 12-3456789 rather than 123456789.
A compliant exampleexample
ein: 12-3456789
Notesnotes
Three providers require the hyphen and the rest accept it, so this is authored universally rather than provider-tagged: the strict-superset form costs nothing and a tag here would silently drop the requirement for the providers that do enforce it. Distinct from BRD-019, which checks there are nine digits at all — the catalog says explicitly not to merge them.
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-017A tax ID is required for every entity but a sole proprietorBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-019EIN must be nine digitsBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-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-020 is one of 196 brand rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.