# Entities

#### Entities are legal entities that own accounts. They are usually people or corporations, but can be other types of organizations, too.

---

Every [Account](/documentation/api/accounts) in Increase must be associated with an [Entity](/documentation/api/entities). Depending on the terms and conditions of your Account, the Entity could be the legal owner of the Account or a beneficiary of an interest in a for-benefit-of Account. When you onboard a new customer, you create an Entity to represent them, and then create Accounts for that Entity.

## Entity structures

Increase supports several Entity structures:

| Structure              | Description                                                                                                       |
| ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `corporation`          | Any type of business. Requires information about the business and its beneficial owners.                          |
| `natural_person`       | An individual person. Requires personal identifying information such as name, date of birth, address, and tax ID. |
| `joint`                | Multiple individual people with shared ownership. Requires information about each individual.                     |
| `trust`                | A legal arrangement where a trustee holds assets for beneficiaries. Can be revocable or irrevocable.              |
| `government_authority` | A government organization such as a municipality, school district, or other public entity.                        |

## Entity Lifecycle

### Creating an Entity

To create an Entity, use the [Create an Entity](/documentation/api/entities#create-an-entity) endpoint. The required fields depend on the structure.

### Updating an Entity

Entities can change over time: for example, address updates are very common. Submit any new data via the [Update an Entity API](/documentation/api/entities#update-an-entity). To delete an Entity, use the [Archive an Entity API](/documentation/api/entities#archive-an-entity). You have to close an Entity's Accounts before you can archive it.

## Corporation Entities

Entities of type `corporation` refer to _any business_. (For example, nonprofit organizations and partnerships should be registered as `corporation`.) You'll submit information about the business and its beneficial owners.

### Beneficial owners

For `corporation` Entities, you must submit information about beneficial owners. A beneficial owner is always a human being, never another company. These are individuals who:

- **Control the corporation** by managing, directing, or having significant control (the `control` prong), or
- **Own 25% or more** of the corporation (the `ownership` prong)

Every company will have 1 `control` prong beneficial owner. Not every company has an `ownership` prong beneficial owner. You could have up to 4 `ownership` prong beneficial owners, for a total of 5. Frequently, the `control` prong person is the same as `ownership`. You can submit both values in the `prongs` array.

For business with complicated structures, determine `ownership` prong beneficial owners by looking through any intermediate companies, trusts, or other organizations that own the corporation and identify the individual human owners. Multiply their ownership percentages down the chain to determine whether they meet the 25% threshold.

### Managing beneficial owners

After creating a corporation Entity, you can [add](/documentation/api/beneficial-owners#create-a-beneficial-owner), [update](/documentation/api/beneficial-owners#update-a-beneficial-owner), or [archive](/documentation/api/beneficial-owners#archive-a-beneficial-owner) beneficial owners as their details change. It's very common for an owner to leave a business, or for their addresses or names to change independently of the company.

There is a complete collection of [APIs for Beneficial Owners](/documentation/api/beneficial-owners#beneficial-owners).

## Supplemental documents

You can attach additional documentation to Entities using supplemental documents. This is useful for storing identity verification results from third-party providers, identity documents, or other compliance-related files.

First, upload the document using the [Files API](/documentation/api/files), then attach it to the Entity:

```curl
curl -X POST \
  --url "https://api.increase.com/entity_supplemental_documents" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${INCREASE_API_KEY}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "entity_id": "entity_n8y8tnk2p9339ti393yi",
    "file_id": "file_makxrc67oh9l6sg7w9yc"
  }'
```

## Webhooks

Increase sends webhooks when Entities are created or updated:

- `entity.created` - Sent when a new entity is created
- `entity.updated` - Sent when an entity's details change

See [Webhooks](/documentation/webhooks) for information on receiving and handling webhooks.