A tax-exempt organisation must not order a political vet
The requirementstatement
A political vet must not be requested or imported for a brand that already holds 501(c)(3), (4), (5) or (6) status.
- 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.tax_exempt_status + the political vet order
- 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
- TCR
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies when the brand is a non-profit.
Why this rule existsrationale
The tax-exempt status is itself one of the three qualifying artefacts, so ordering a vet on top of it is disallowed rather than redundant — the request is refused. It is a natural mistake because the vet looks like the thorough option, and nothing in the ordering flow says the status you already hold has made you ineligible for it.
How to fix itremediation
Rely on the tax-exempt status you already hold and do not order or import a political vet. Make sure the status is recorded as an attribute on the brand rather than only claimed on the form — BRD-263 is the appeal route if the registry did not set it.
A compliant exampleexample
tax_exempt_status: 501(c)(4) with no political vet ordered — the status is the qualifying artefact
Provider rejection codescodes
The code you get back when this rule is what failed, and whether that provider lets you resubmit.
| Provider | Code | Resubmit |
|---|---|---|
| TCR | 541 | Yes |
Rules you will hit next
Other brand rules at the same severity. A registration is judged as a whole, not rule by rule.
BRD-001A legal company name is required for every entity but a sole proprietorBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-002Legal name must match the IRS record for the EINBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-003Legal name must carry its exact entity suffix as filedBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-008Legal name must not carry an appended personal name or roleBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-009The legal name field takes the legal name, not the trading nameBlockingBLOCKINGBRD-011A legal business name may back only one brand across the whole registryBlockingBLOCKING
BRD-242 is one of 196 brand rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.