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Most founders never sign a Form 8821. A non-US founder on an expedited EIN signs one at formation; everyone else does not, because doola obtains the EIN without it. Occasionally that route fails, and a signed Form 8821 (Tax Information Authorization) is what lets doola retrieve the EIN from the IRS directly. When that happens doola raises FORMATION_SIGNATURE_FORM8821_REQUIRED on the company. You are told by the signature_form8821_required webhook. See Required actions for the payload, the status model, and how to read actions back.
This action is not resolved through the resolution endpoint. It closes by itself when the signature completes. Posting a resolution for it returns 422 E_REQUIRED_ACTION_NOT_RESOLVABLE.

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When it fires

Only when a doola operator asks for it; there is no automatic trigger. By then the formation itself is usually complete, and doola’s attempt to obtain the EIN on the founder’s behalf has failed in a way a Form 8821 fixes. It can apply to any founder, US or non-US, and to a company that already signed a Form 8821 at formation: in that case the earlier signature is voided and the requirement returns to PENDING.

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What changes on the company

While the action is open, the company’s signatureRequirements carries a FORM8821 entry with status: "PENDING", including for a US founder whose array is otherwise empty. Read the company and you see the ask; you do not need the webhook to have arrived.
Once signed, the entry flips to COMPLETED and stays on the company.

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Resolving it

Exactly as a Form 8821 is signed at formation: create a signature session with documentType: "FORM8821" and present the link to your founder, as described in Non-US founders. The session endpoint accepts the request while the action is open, whatever the founder’s residency. Without an open action a US company still receives 422 E_FORMATION_NOT_ELIGIBLE. That signature is the resolution: signature_form8821_completed and document_form8821_uploaded fire as usual, and the action lands on resolved.
The reminder cadence starts when you create the first signing session, so signature_form8821_reminder_due arrives on day 1, 3 and 7 after that while the document is unsigned. It does not start from this webhook: a founder you never present the link to is never reminded, so treat the action itself as the thing to track.

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When doola closes it without a signature

doola may obtain the EIN another way while the action is open. When that happens an operator closes the action by hand and it lands on resolved with no signature having been given. Treat resolved as “nothing more is needed from you”, not as “the founder signed”; read signatureRequirements if you need to know which.

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What to show your user

The reason says it in one sentence: doola could not obtain the company’s EIN online, and a signed Form 8821 authorizes doola to retrieve it from the IRS directly. The form does not change the company and the founder is not redoing anything. It is an authorization, and presenting it that way answers the question of why a formed company still has paperwork.