{
  "id": "BRD-067",
  "slug": "brd-067",
  "title": "A business trading under a DBA belongs on the standard tier",
  "statement": "A sole-proprietor registration that declares a DBA must be re-filed as a standard brand.",
  "rationale": "The sole-proprietor tier is for an individual with no business registration at all. A DBA is a business registration — it is filed with a county or state — so declaring one is evidence the applicant qualifies for, and therefore must use, the standard tier. The tiers are not interchangeable: the sole-proprietor path caps throughput hard and verifies by text message, which is a worse deal than the applicant is entitled to.",
  "layer": "BRAND",
  "layerSlug": "brand",
  "object": "brand.dba + brand.entity_type",
  "severity": "HIGH",
  "detectability": [
    "AI_FORM"
  ],
  "failureClass": "RETRY_FIELD",
  "authorities": [
    "Twilio"
  ],
  "codes": [
    {
      "provider": "Twilio",
      "code": "30914",
      "remediable": true
    },
    {
      "provider": "Twilio",
      "code": "30918",
      "remediable": true
    }
  ],
  "applicability": {
    "entityTypes": [
      "SOLE_PROPRIETOR"
    ]
  },
  "applicabilityText": "Applies when the brand is a sole proprietor.",
  "universal": false,
  "remediation": "Apply for an EIN — it is free and issued immediately online — and register as a standard brand with the DBA in its own field. If you would rather stay on the sole-proprietor tier, clear the DBA and register under your own name only. Done when the tier and the presence of a DBA agree.",
  "example": "entity_type: PRIVATE_PROFIT · company_name: Jane Doe Bodywork, LLC · dba: Jane Doe Bodywork — rather than the sole-proprietor tier with a DBA attached",
  "pitfalls": [
    "Waiting for a new EIN to propagate is BRD-027 and costs up to 90 days, so apply for it before you need the brand rather than after this rejection."
  ],
  "notes": "A different disqualifier from BRD-065 (an EIN present on a sole-proprietor brand) with a different fix, which is why the catalog keeps them apart.",
  "phase": "approval",
  "automated": true,
  "url": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-067/",
  "markdown": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-067.md",
  "registry": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/",
  "updated": "2026-07-25",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}