Create Legal Entity

Create a legal_entity for an individual or a business. The required fields depend on the legal_entity_type you set. This page consolidates everything you need to build a valid request; see the linked pages for edge cases.

Required fields for individuals

Set "legal_entity_type": "individual" and include the following:

Required fields for businesses

Set "legal_entity_type": "business" and include the following:

Address fields

Each entry in addresses requires line1, locality, and country. region is required for addresses in the US and US territories (AS, GU, MP, PR, UM, VI) and is optional for other countries; postal_code is required for addresses in the US and is optional for other countries. country conforms to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (e.g. US). Businesses must also set address_types (e.g. ["business"], ["business_registered"]).

Identification fields

Each entry in identifications requires id_number and id_type. Include issuing_country (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2) unless the id_type already encodes the country (the first two letters of id_type are the ISO country code). For the full list of supported id_type values and their formats, see Identifications.

Where documents go

Document placement is determined by the documentable resource, not by legal_entity_type. The same rules apply to individual and business legal entities.

For an individual, a proof_of_address document can be a utility bill, bank statement, credit card statement, insurance document (liability, vehicle, home, or renters), NMLS listing, or W-9. It must show the individual's full legal name and residential address, and be dated within the last 3 months.

To add documents after creation, use POST /documents; entity-level documents use the legal entity's id as documentable_id.

Identity documents use documentable_type: "Identification" with the identification's id; POST /documents returns a 422 if an identity document type is tied to a LegalEntity.

Draft legal entities

Set "status": "draft" to create a legal entity that you fill in over several requests before submitting it. Omit status to create the legal entity as pending, which is the default. draft is the only accepted value.

While a legal entity is draft:

• It is returned by List Legal Entities and Get Legal Entity like any other legal entity. Filter for drafts with status=draft.
• It is not sent for processing, and the validation your connection requires runs only when the draft is submitted.
• Duplicate taxpayer identification checks ignore it.
• You can keep updating it with Update Legal Entity, including its taxpayer identification numbers.

When the legal entity is ready, submit it with Update Legal Entity.

Draft businesses

Every inline child_legal_entity in a draft business's legal_entity_associations is created as a draft too. Children take the parent's status and can't set their own status. Children added later to a draft business with Create Legal Entity Association and an inline child_legal_entity are also created as drafts. Existing legal entities linked by child_legal_entity_id keep their status, and a draft legal entity can only be the child of another draft.

{
  "legal_entity_type": "business",
  "status": "draft",
  "business_name": "Acme LLC",
  "legal_entity_associations": [
    {
      "relationship_types": ["beneficial_owner", "control_person"],
      "ownership_percentage": 50,
      "child_legal_entity": {
        "legal_entity_type": "individual",
        "first_name": "Jane",
        "last_name": "Doe"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Example requests

{
  "legal_entity_type": "individual",
  "first_name": "Jane",
  "last_name": "Doe",
  "date_of_birth": "1980-05-15",
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "phone_numbers": [
    { "phone_number": "+12125550100" }
  ],
  "addresses": [
    {
      "address_types": ["residential"],
      "line1": "123 Main Street",
      "locality": "New York",
      "region": "NY",
      "postal_code": "10001",
      "country": "US"
    }
  ],
  "identifications": [
    {
      "id_number": "489521234",
      "id_type": "us_ssn",
      "issuing_country": "US",
      "documents": [
        {
          "document_type": "identification_front",
          "file_data": "SGVsbG8=",
          "filename": "jane-doe-id-front.png"
        },
        {
          "document_type": "identification_back",
          "file_data": "SGVsbG8=",
          "filename": "jane-doe-id-back.png"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "document_type": "proof_of_address",
      "file_data": "SGVsbG8=",
      "filename": "jane-doe-proof-of-address.pdf"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "legal_entity_type": "business",
  "business_name": "Acme Technologies Inc.",
  "date_formed": "2015-03-01",
  "legal_structure": "corporation",
  "business_designation": "non_operating_business",
  "business_description": "Software development and consulting services.",
  "intended_use": "Receiving customer payments and paying vendors.",
  "expected_activity_volume": 500000,
  "addresses": [
    {
      "address_types": ["business"],
      "line1": "500 Market Street",
      "line2": "Suite 400",
      "locality": "San Francisco",
      "region": "CA",
      "postal_code": "94105",
      "country": "US"
    }
  ],
  "identifications": [
    {
      "id_number": "451234567",
      "id_type": "us_ein",
      "issuing_country": "US",
      "documents": [
        {
          "document_type": "ein_letter",
          "file_data": "SGVsbG8=",
          "filename": "acme-ein-letter.pdf"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "document_type": "articles_of_incorporation",
      "file_data": "SGVsbG8=",
      "filename": "acme-articles-of-incorporation.pdf"
    }
  ]
}

For more sample payloads, see Example Requests.