# 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. If multiple existing accounts share the same legal entity details, only the one that was created first appears as an option.

## 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.

### Pre-filled country

If you pre-fill [country](https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/object.md#account_object-country), new connected accounts can only reuse legal entities based in the pre-filled country.

### Synchronized fields

The following fields are copied during onboarding and remain synchronized across all accounts that share the same legal entity. Updating one of these fields on any account also updates it on all synchronized accounts.

For these fields, source account values override values pre-filled by the platform. If the source account field has a value, Stripe ignores any pre-filled value for that field.

- [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

The following fields are copied only during initial onboarding. Updating them on one account doesn’t affect any synchronized accounts.

For these fields, values that the platform pre-fills override values on the source account. If the platform pre-fills a field, Stripe ignores the source account’s value for that field.

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