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TCPA compliance checklist for texts and calls

27 items in 4 partsRules read 2026-10-22Runs in your browser

Tick what your business does, from marketing texts to ringless voicemail, and the checklist builds itself: the consent you need, the do-not-call scrub, the calling window, opt-out handling, records and vendor setup, each row tied to the rule paragraph it comes from. Tick what you have, and the record sheet counts what is still open. Nothing you pick or tick leaves this page.

What your business does (tick all that apply)

Offers, promotions, sale alerts, anything that encourages a purchase.

Appointment reminders, order and delivery updates, account alerts.

A person dials and talks; outbound calls that pitch a product or service.

Recorded messages, text-to-speech and AI voices, sales or informational.

A dialer places the calls to mobile numbers (predictive or other system dialing).

A recorded message dropped straight into a mobile voicemail box.

Tick each item you already have in place. Pre-filled for a business that texts offers and reminders and makes sales calls; change the boxes above and the list rebuilds.

Progress

0 of 25 done (0%)

Consent0 of 6 done

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(2), (a)(3), (f)(9)

    Marketing texts, and sales calls placed with an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice to a cell phone, need prior express written consent: “an agreement, in writing, bearing the signature of the person called” that names the number. An e-signature counts. A prerecorded sales message to a home line needs it too, and the FCC ruled in 2022 (FCC 22-85) that ringless voicemail is a prerecorded-voice call that needs consent.

    Prior express written consent

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(f)(9)(i)

    The agreement must clearly and conspicuously say that signing authorizes the seller to deliver “telemarketing calls using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice”, and that the person “is not required to sign the agreement (directly or indirectly), or agree to enter into such an agreement as a condition of purchasing any property, goods, or services”.

    TCPA consent form

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(1)(iii), (a)(3)(iii)

    Reminders, delivery updates and account alerts sent by text, autodialer or prerecorded voice to a cell phone need the person's prior express consent; no signature is required. An informational prerecorded call to a home line needs none for up to three calls in any 30 days, as long as opt-outs are honoured.

    TCPA rules for text messages

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2)(ii), (f)(5)

    A hand-dialed sales call needs no consent of its own, but a number on the National Do Not Call Registry is off limits unless the person signed a written agreement to be called by you that includes the number, or you have an established business relationship: a purchase in the last 18 months or an inquiry in the last 3 months. A do-not-call request to you ends that relationship.

    TCPA exemptions

  • Carrier rule / CTIA Messaging Principles § 5.1.2.1

    Carriers expect the first message after an opt-in to carry “(1) the program name or product description; (2) customer care contact information … (3) how to opt-out; (4) a disclosure that the messages are recurring and the frequency of the messaging; and (5) clear and conspicuous language about any associated fees or charges and how those charges will be billed”.

    SMS opt-in language builder

  • Carrier rule / CTIA Messaging Principles §§ 5.1.2.2, 5.1.4

    “A Consumer opt-in should apply only to the campaign(s) and specific Message Sender for which it was intended or obtained”, and senders “should not use opt-in lists that have been rented, sold, or shared”.

    CTIA messaging guidelines

Sending and calling0 of 9 done

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2)(i)(D), (e)

    Use a version of the national registry obtained from its administrator “no more than 31 days prior to the date any call is made”. The rule reaches marketing texts to cell phones as well as calls (paragraph (e)), and a registration is honoured indefinitely. A signed written agreement to be contacted by you is the exception.

    DNC scrubbing software

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(d)(3), (d)(6)

    Record each request when it is made and honour it within a reasonable time: “This period may not exceed ten (10) business days from the receipt of such request.” “A do-not-call request must be honored for 5 years from the time the request is made.”

    Do-not-call rules for business

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(1)

    No telephone solicitation “before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. (local time at the called party's location)”. Florida, Oklahoma, Maryland, Washington and Connecticut end at 8 p.m.; Connecticut, Minnesota and Texas start at 9 a.m.; Texas starts at noon on Sunday. One window that clears every listed state: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the recipient's time zone, Monday to Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

    Quiet hours checker

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(10)

    A person may revoke “by using any reasonable method”. A reply of “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel,” or “unsubscribe” counts per se, other words count “if a reasonable person would understand those words to have conveyed a request to revoke consent”, and every request “must be honored within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days from receipt”. Today the rule text also bars designating an exclusive opt-out method.

    TCPA rules for text messages

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(12); CTIA § 5.1.3

    A one-time confirmation that carries no marketing is allowed: “If the confirmation text is sent within five minutes of receipt, it will be presumed to fall within the consumer's prior express consent.” Carriers ask for “one final opt-out confirmation message per campaign”, and plain-language replies (“please opt me out”) “should also be read and acted upon”.

    SMS opt-out keywords

  • Delayed / FCC DA 26-12; FCC 26-67

    Not in force yet: the requirement to treat an opt-out from one type of informational message as covering all future robocalls and robotexts from that caller on unrelated matters, extended to “January 31, 2027” (DA 26-12). FCC 26-67, adopted 30 September 2026, would let callers designate an exclusive revocation method and replace that delayed part; it takes effect 30 days after Federal Register publication, which had not happened on 2026-10-22. Decide how your system scopes an opt-out across message types now.

    TCPA rules for text messages

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1601(e); 16 CFR § 310.4(a)(8)

    Anyone who engages in telemarketing “must transmit caller identification information”. The FTC's rule asks for the number and, when the carrier makes it available, the telemarketer's name; the seller's name and a customer service number “answered during regular business hours” may be shown instead.

    Branded caller ID providers

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(d)(4)

    Each telemarketing call must give “the name of the individual caller, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made, and a telephone number or address at which the person or entity may be contacted”.

    TCPA training quiz

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(m)

    The FCC's safe harbor needs three proofs: you obtained consent, you checked the database “prior to calling the number to verify that the number had not been permanently disconnected, or reassigned, after the date the caller obtained consent”, and the database returned a “no” that was wrong. Providers wait at least 45 days before reassigning a disconnected number.

    Reassigned Numbers Database

Records0 of 5 done

  • In force / CTIA § 5.1.2; 16 CFR § 310.5(a)(8)

    Carriers ask for the timestamp, the consent medium, the language or experience shown, the campaign, the IP address, the phone number and the person's identity. For telemarketing, the FTC's rule lists a complete consent record: name and number, a copy of the request as it was presented, the purpose, a copy of the consent and the date.

    Records: consent, logs and proof

  • In force / CTIA § 5.1.5; 47 CFR § 64.1200(d)(6); 16 CFR § 310.5(a)(10)

    Senders “should retain and maintain all opt-in and opt-out requests in their records to ensure that future messages are not attempted”. A do-not-call request is honoured for 5 years, and the FTC's rule keeps, for each one, the name, the number, the seller, the telemarketer that called, the date and what was being sold.

    Do-not-call rules for business

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2)(i)(D)

    The do-not-call safe harbor needs a scrub process with a registry copy no more than 31 days old “and maintains records documenting this process”: the download date, the lists scrubbed and the numbers removed.

    DNC scrubbing software compared

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(d)(1), (d)(2), (c)(2)(i)

    Callers “must have a written policy, available upon demand, for maintaining a do-not-call list”, and everyone engaged in telemarketing “must be informed and trained in the existence and use of the do-not-call list”. Written procedures and training are also the first two elements of the registry safe harbor.

    TCPA training quiz

  • In force / 16 CFR § 310.5(a)(1), (a)(2)

    The FTC's rule keeps, for 5 years, a copy of each substantially different script and each unique prerecorded message, and a record of each telemarketing call: calling and called number, date, time, duration, the caller ID shown and the outcome. For calls a person places by entering one number by hand, the number, date, time, duration and outcome fields are not required.

    Telemarketing Sales Rule vs TCPA

Registration and vendors0 of 5 done

  • Carrier rule / Carrier registration (no TCPA paragraph)

    Carriers and your texting provider ask for this, not the TCPA. The brand, campaign, sample-message and opt-in steps are a checklist of their own; work them there and tick this row when the campaign is approved.

    10DLC registration checklist

  • State law / Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §§ 302.001(7), 302.101; Fla. Stat. § 501.059(1)(j)

    Texas bars a telephone solicitation “to a purchaser located in this state” without a registration certificate unless an exemption applies, and since 1 September 2025 its definition includes “a transmission of a text or graphic message”. Florida's FTSA counts “a telephone call, text message, or voicemail transmission” as a telephonic sales call.

    Mini-TCPA state laws

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(d)(3)

    “If such requests are recorded or maintained by a party other than the person or entity on whose behalf the call is made, the person or entity on whose behalf the call is made will be liable for any failures to honor the do-not-call request.” Every platform, dialer and agency that hears a STOP feeds the same list.

    TCPA compliance software

  • In force / 47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2)(i)(E)

    The safe harbor asks that the seller “purchases access to the relevant do-not-call data from the administrator of the national database and does not participate in any arrangement to share the cost of accessing the national database”, and uses the data only for compliance.

    Do-not-call rules for business

  • In force / 16 CFR § 310.5(a)(9)

    For each service provider that delivers outbound calls for you, the FTC's rule keeps “the contract for the service provided, the date the contract was signed, and the time period the contract is in effect”, for 5 years after the contract expires.

    TCPA-compliant auto dialers

What the checklist covers

Four parts, in the order a program is built: consent before the first message, the rules for each send or call, the records that prove both, and the registration and vendor setup around them. The federal rows come from the FCC's rules at 47 CFR § 64.1200 and the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule; the carrier rows come from the CTIA Messaging Principles, which texting providers enforce on top of the law. A row only appears when one of your activities needs it, which is why a reminder-only sender sees 10 rows and a business doing all six sees 27.

It is a working list, not a primer. For what the TCPA is, who it binds and how the consent tiers fit together, read what TCPA compliance means. Carrier registration gets one row here and its own step-by-step list in the 10DLC registration checklist (brand, campaign, sample messages, opt-in proof).

Why it matters: the statute allows $500 per call or text, up to three times that ($1,500) if the court finds the violation willful or knowing (47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3)), and a list of a few thousand numbers multiplies fast. The penalty estimator runs the arithmetic for a campaign. This checklist is a compliance aid, not legal advice.

Caution

The revocation rules are mid-change. The rule in force today is any reasonable method, seven reply words and ten business days (§ 64.1200(a)(10), effective 2025-04-11). The “revoke all” part is extended to 2027-01-31, and FCC 26-67, adopted 2026-09-30, is not in effect until 30 days after Federal Register publication, which had not happened on 2026-10-22. The checklist marks that row “Delayed”; see TCPA rules for text messages for the detail.

How to use it

  1. Tick everything your business does on the phone. A shop that texts offers and sends reminders ticks both text boxes.
  2. Read each row that appears. The line under its title says whether it is federal law in force, a carrier rule, a state law or a rule that is not in force yet, and links the paragraph.
  3. Tick a row only when the thing exists and you could show it: the signed form, the scrub log, the written policy.
  4. Copy or print the record. The open items are your work list; the row links go to the tool or guide that does each job.

Worked example: five businesses, five checklists

The same rules land very differently depending on what a business does. The counts below are computed by the checklist itself with nothing ticked. A property manager that only sends maintenance notices needs consent, opt-out handling, records and number registration; a roofing contractor that texts offers and makes sales calls also picks up the registry scrub, the calling window, the written policy and the vendor rows.

Five businesses and how many checklist items each one gets, by part
BusinessWhat it doesConsentSending and callingRecordsRegistration and vendorsItems
Property managerInformational texts342110
Dental practiceInformational texts, Marketing texts574420
Roofing contractorMarketing texts, Sales calls595524
Car dealershipMarketing texts, Sales calls, Ringless voicemail5105525
Insurance agencyInformational texts, Sales calls, Prerecorded calls, Autodialed calls6115527

What each activity needs before the first send

The consent tier is set by the technology and the purpose together. A hand-dialed sales call needs no consent of its own but runs into the do-not-call registry; an informational text needs consent but is not a telephone solicitation, so the registry and the federal calling window do not reach it. Whether a dialer is an “autodialer” turns on the random or sequential number generator test (what is an autodialer), and prerecorded or artificial voices need consent whatever dials them, ringless voicemail included (ringless voicemail software compared).

Keep the proof for each tier in one place: the checklist's records rows list every field to keep, and the TCPA consent form builder writes the form those records point back to.

What each calling or texting activity needs before the first send
ActivityConsent before the first sendNational DNC scrub8 a.m. to 9 p.m. windowRuleChecklist items
Marketing textsPrior express written consentYes, unless the person signed a written agreement to hear from youYes47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(2), (c), (e)19
Informational textsPrior express consent (no signature needed)No: not a telephone solicitationNo federal window: not a solicitation47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(1)(iii), (f)(15)10
Live sales callsNone for a hand-dialed call; a registered number needs signed permission or an established business relationshipYesYes47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(1), (c)(2), (f)(5)15
Prerecorded or artificial-voice callsWritten consent for sales messages; express consent for informational calls to a cell; none for up to three informational calls in 30 days to a home lineYes for sales messagesYes for sales messages47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(1)–(3), (b)20
Autodialed calls to cell phonesWritten consent for sales calls, express consent otherwise; a system counts as an autodialer only if it can store or produce numbers with a random or sequential number generatorYes for sales callsYes for sales calls47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(1)(iii), (a)(2); Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid21
Ringless voicemailConsent, as a prerecorded-voice call (FCC 22-85); written consent when it sellsYes for sales messagesYes for sales messagesFCC 22-85; 47 CFR § 64.1200(a)(2), (b)19

State notes

Several states set tighter hours than the federal 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and some cap sales calls at three per person in 24 hours. The quiet hours checker runs a send time against each of these; state consent and registration rules are covered in mini-TCPA state laws.

Stricter than federal

  • FL
  • OK
  • MD
  • WA
  • CT
  • TX
  • MN

Same hours as federal

  • VA
  • SC
  • FLFlorida8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; no more than three calls in 24 hours on the same subject Fla. Stat. § 501.616(6)
  • OKOklahoma8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; three in 24 hours; an Oklahoma area code is presumed a resident 15 O.S. § 775C.4(A)
  • MDMaryland8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; three in 24 hours; area-code presumption Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-4502(c)
  • WAWashington8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; the statute's text speaks of voice calls RCW 80.36.390(8)
  • CTConnecticut9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; reaches Connecticut area codes and names text messages Conn. Gen. Stat. § 42-288a(c)
  • TXTexas9 a.m. to 9 p.m., noon to 9 p.m. on Sunday Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 301.051(b)(2)
  • MNMinnesota9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Minn. Stat. § 325E.30
Caution

A state missing from these chips is not a state without rules: these are the windows read on each state's own statute site. Florida's 8 p.m. section speaks of phone calls; whether it reaches texts is a question for counsel, and most texting platforms apply it to texts.

Sources

Every rule the checklist cites, with the date it was read. A compliance aid, not legal advice.

  1. 47 CFR § 64.1200, FCC telemarketing and robocall rules: consent, revocation, calling window, do-not-call, records, reassigned numbers (eCFR, current as of 2026-10-20)fetched 2026-10-22
  2. 47 CFR § 64.1601(e), caller ID on telemarketing calls (eCFR)fetched 2026-10-22
  3. 16 CFR § 310.4(a)(8), Telemarketing Sales Rule: caller ID (eCFR)fetched 2026-10-22
  4. 16 CFR § 310.5, Telemarketing Sales Rule: recordkeeping (eCFR)fetched 2026-10-22
  5. 47 U.S.C. § 227, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (govinfo)fetched 2026-10-22
  6. FCC 22-85, All About the Message, LLC: ringless voicemail is a call that needs consent (Nov. 2022)fetched 2026-10-22
  7. FCC DA 26-12: the "revoke all" part of § 64.1200(a)(10) extended to January 31, 2027fetched 2026-10-22
  8. FCC 26-67: revocation order adopted 30 September 2026, effective 30 days after Federal Register publicationfetched 2026-10-22
  9. FCC, Reassigned Numbers Databasefetched 2026-10-22
  10. CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices (May 2023)fetched 2026-10-22
  11. Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, No. 19-511 (U.S. Apr. 1, 2021)fetched 2026-10-22
  12. Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 302, telephone solicitation registration (§§ 302.001(7), 302.101)fetched 2026-10-22
  13. Fla. Stat. § 501.059, Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA)fetched 2026-10-22
  14. Fla. Stat. § 501.616, Florida commercial telephone solicitation hoursfetched 2026-10-22
  15. 15 O.S. § 775C.4, Oklahoma calling hoursfetched 2026-10-22
  16. Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-4502, Maryland calling hoursfetched 2026-10-22
  17. RCW 80.36.390, Washington telephone solicitationfetched 2026-10-22
  18. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 42-288a, Connecticut telephonic sales callsfetched 2026-10-22
  19. Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 301.051, Texas calling hoursfetched 2026-10-22
  20. Minn. Stat. § 325E.30, Minnesota calling hoursfetched 2026-10-22
  21. Va. Code § 59.1-511, Virginia calling hoursfetched 2026-10-22
  22. S.C. Code § 37-21-30, South Carolina calling hoursfetched 2026-10-22