{
  "id": "BRD-053",
  "slug": "brd-053",
  "title": "Tax-exempt status must be verified against the IRS registers",
  "statement": "A NON_PROFIT registration must be backed by an EIN that appears in the IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Search.",
  "rationale": "The non-profit classification and the charity use case both rest on a status the IRS publishes and anyone can check, so the claim is verified rather than accepted. Organisations that operate not for profit but never completed a 501(c) application — community groups, mutual associations, clubs — are outside the register and are refused for a status they never actually held, which is a difficult conversation to have after launch.",
  "layer": "BRAND",
  "layerSlug": "brand",
  "object": "brand.ein",
  "severity": "HIGH",
  "detectability": [
    "EXTERNAL_DATA"
  ],
  "failureClass": "TERMINAL_EXTERNAL",
  "authorities": [
    "Twilio",
    "Plivo",
    "HighLevel"
  ],
  "codes": [
    {
      "provider": "Twilio",
      "code": "30798",
      "remediable": true
    }
  ],
  "applicability": {
    "entityTypes": [
      "NON_PROFIT"
    ]
  },
  "applicabilityText": "Applies when the brand is a non-profit.",
  "universal": false,
  "remediation": "Search the IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Search for the EIN before submitting, and register as PRIVATE_PROFIT if it does not appear. Where the exemption is genuine but the register is out of date, expect to attach the determination letter to an appeal.",
  "notes": "Absorbs BRD-061, which is the same lookup used to establish a TCPA exemption rather than an entity type. We hold no IRS data, so the user runs the search themselves — it is free and public — and should do it before choosing the entity type rather than after the rejection, because switching entity type re-runs verification (BRD-044).",
  "catalogIds": [
    "BRD-061"
  ],
  "phase": "approval",
  "automated": false,
  "attestation": {
    "question": "Does this EIN appear in the IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Search?",
    "howToCheck": [
      "Search the EIN at the IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Search. It is free and public.",
      "If it does not appear, register as PRIVATE_PROFIT — and do it before submitting, because changing entity type afterwards re-runs verification and charges the fee again.",
      "Genuinely exempt but absent from the register: expect to attach the determination letter to an appeal."
    ],
    "failureLooksLike": "A community group, mutual association or club that operates not for profit but never completed a 501(c) application is refused for a status it never actually held — a hard conversation to have after launch."
  },
  "url": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-053/",
  "markdown": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-053.md",
  "registry": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/",
  "updated": "2026-07-25",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}