# Networked onboarding

Simplify onboarding for connected account users who already have a Stripe account by sharing business information.

Networked onboarding lets connected account owners reuse their verified account information when creating new accounts. This helps to reduce friction during onboarding and eliminate redundant Know Your Customer (KYC) verification.

When creating a new connected account, eligible users can choose an existing legal entity. A legal entity represents the core identity data of a connected account, such as business type and company details.

Certain shared information remains synchronized. When you update one account, the changes automatically propagate to all accounts that share the same legal entity.

## Platform configuration

Networked onboarding is enabled by default. Platforms can manage this feature in the [Dashboard](https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/connect/onboarding-options/networked-onboarding).

Disabling networked onboarding only affects new account creation. Existing accounts with shared information remain unchanged.

## Connected account onboarding

During onboarding, Stripe offers the option to reuse information if the authenticated account owner has any existing eligible accounts. The owner can select an existing account to share information with the new account, or they can choose to set up the new account from the beginning.

## Eligibility

Synchronizing and copying fields during onboarding are supported when:

- Stripe must be responsible for collecting requirements (the account’s [controller.requirement_collection](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-controller-requirement_collection) is `stripe`)
- Connected accounts are authenticated through [Stripe-hosted onboarding](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/hosted-onboarding.md) or [user authenticated embedded onboarding](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/get-started-connect-embedded-components.md?platform=web#user-authentication-in-connect-embedded-components).
- For accounts created through the API, the platform uses [API version](https://docs.stripe.com/upgrades.md#api-versions) `2019-02-19` or later. Older API versions automatically create a representative during account creation, which disqualifies the account from legal entity sharing.

### Synchronized fields

These fields remain synchronized across all accounts that share the same legal entity:

- [business_type](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-business_type)
- [country](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-country)
- [company](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-company)
- [individual](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-individual)

### Fields copied during onboarding

These fields are copied during initial onboarding only, and subsequent updates don’t propagate:

- [external_accounts](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-external_accounts)
- 
- [settings.payments.statement_descriptor](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-settings-payments-statement_descriptor)
- [settings.card_payments.statement_descriptor_prefix](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-settings-card_payments-statement_descriptor_prefix)
- [settings.branding](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-settings-branding)

## Limitations

Networked onboarding isn’t supported for:

- Unauthenticated embedded onboarding (when [disable_stripe_user_authentication](https://docs.stripe.com/api/account_sessions/create.md#create_account_session-components-account_onboarding-features-disable_stripe_user_authentication) is `true`)
- API-based onboarding

### Pre-filled account data

By pre-filling a connected account’s data through the [Accounts API](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/create.md), you skip the option to reuse existing legal entities if you provide any of the following fields:

**Address information:**

- [company.address](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-company-address) (pre-filling only `country` won’t skip the option)
- [individual.address](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-individual-address) (pre-filling only `country` won’t skip the option)

**People and relationships:**

- Any [individual](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-individual) object fields
- [company.owners_provided](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-company-owners_provided) set to `true`
- [company.additional_directors](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-company-additional_directors)
- [company.directors_provided](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-company-directors_provided) set to `true`
- [company.executives_provided](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-company-executives_provided) set to `true`
- Any [person](https://docs.stripe.com/api/persons.md) created for the account through the Persons API

**External accounts:**

- [external_accounts](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-external_accounts)