# BRD-067 — A business trading under a DBA belongs on the standard tier

> A sole-proprietor registration that declares a DBA must be re-filed as a standard brand.

- **Rule ID:** BRD-067
- **Layer:** Brand (`BRAND`)
- **Checks:** `brand.dba + brand.entity_type`
- **Severity:** HIGH — Rejected by at least one carrier or provider, and a common cause of failure at the rest.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** AI judgement over the submitted form
- **Fix type:** Fix the field — a better value in the form clears it
- **Required by:** Twilio
- **Applies:** Applies when the brand is a sole proprietor.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-067/

## Why this rule exists

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.

## How to fix it

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 of a compliant value

```text
entity_type: PRIVATE_PROFIT · company_name: Jane Doe Bodywork, LLC · dba: Jane Doe Bodywork — rather than the sole-proprietor tier with a DBA attached
```

## Common mistakes

- 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.

## Provider rejection codes

| Provider | Code | Resubmission allowed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Twilio | `30914` | yes |
| Twilio | `30918` | yes |

## 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.