{
  "id": "BRD-021",
  "slug": "brd-021",
  "title": "An SSN is not a business registration number",
  "statement": "A Social Security Number must not be submitted in the business registration number field.",
  "rationale": "A sole proprietor with no EIN reaches for the number they do have, and the field accepts nine digits without complaint. It fails verification — an SSN is not in any business register — and in the meantime a government identifier has been sent to a registry that had no business receiving it. The correct route for that user is the sole-proprietor tier, which asks for no tax ID at all.",
  "layer": "BRAND",
  "layerSlug": "brand",
  "object": "brand.ein",
  "severity": "BLOCKING",
  "detectability": [
    "DETERMINISTIC"
  ],
  "failureClass": "RETRY_FIELD",
  "authorities": [
    "TCR",
    "AWS"
  ],
  "applicabilityText": "Applies to every 10DLC registration.",
  "universal": true,
  "remediation": "Remove the SSN. If the business has an EIN, use it; if it does not, register on the sole-proprietor tier, which verifies by mobile OTP instead. Done when the field holds an EIN or is empty on a sole-proprietor brand.",
  "example": "ein: 12-3456789 (an EIN) — never 123-45-6789 (an SSN)",
  "pitfalls": [
    "Applying for an EIN is free and takes minutes on the IRS site, so the sole-proprietor tier is a choice rather than the only option — but it is the right one below the volume threshold."
  ],
  "phase": "approval",
  "automated": true,
  "url": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-021/",
  "markdown": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-021.md",
  "registry": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/",
  "updated": "2026-07-25",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}