Create Legal Entity

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Prior to creating new Sub-merchants, a PayFac (Payment Facilitator) must establish the Legal Entity. The Legal Entity is the business or taxable entity (for example, corporation, or LLC) controlling the Sub-merchant within the system. You create the Legal Entity using the legalEntityCreateRequest message.

To create a Legal Entity, use an HTTP POST method to submit the legalEntityCreateRequest message.

Resource information

Example: Create Legal Entity Request

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
     <legalEntityCreateRequest xmlns="http://psp.litle.com/api/merchant/onboard">
          <legalEntityName>Legal Entity Name</legalEntityName>
          <legalEntityType>CORPORATION</legalEntityType>
          <doingBusinessAs>Alternate Business Name</doingBusinessAs>
          <taxId>12345</taxId>
          <contactPhone>7817659800</contactPhone>
          <annualCreditCardSalesVolume>80000000</annualCreditCardSalesVolume>
          <hasAcceptedCreditCards>true</hasAcceptedCreditCards>
          <address>
               <streetAddress1>Street Address 1</streetAddress1>
               <streetAddress2>Street Address 2</streetAddress2>
               <city>City</city>
               <stateProvince>MA</stateProvince>
               <postalCode>01730</postalCode>
               <countryCode>USA</countryCode>
          </address>
          <yearsInBusiness>12</yearsInBusiness>
          <principal>
               <title>Chief Financial Officer</title>
               <firstName>p first</firstName>
               <lastName>p last</lastName>
               <emailAddress>emailAddress</emailAddress>
               <ssn>123459876</ssn>
               <contactPhone>7817659800</contactPhone>
               <dateOfBirth>1980-10-12</dateOfBirth>
               <driversLicense>892327409832</driversLicense>
               <driversLicenseState>MA</driversLicenseState>
               <address>
                    <streetAddress1>p street address 1</streetAddress1>
                    <streetAddress2>p street address 2</streetAddress2>
                    <city>Boston</city>
                    <stateProvince>MA</stateProvince>
                    <postalCode>01890</postalCode>
                    <countryCode>USA</countryCode>
               </address>
          </principal>
     </legalEntityCreateRequest>

The structure for the response to a Create Legal Entity message varies slightly depending upon if is an original request, a duplicate request with all data matching (true duplicate), or a duplicate with data that does not entirely match, as well as the state of the original request, if the new request is a duplicate. The response message has the following structure with exceptions as noted:

Example: Create Legal Entity Response - for original and dupe with all matching data

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
     <legalEntityResponse xmlns="http://psp.litle.com/api/merchant/onboard">
          <transactionId>82820200338801014</transactionId>
          <legalEntityId>8</legalEntityId>
          <responseCode>10</responseCode>
          <responseDescription>Approved</responseDescription>
          <principals>
               <principal>
                    <principalId>1</principalId>
                    <firstName>p first</firstName>
                    <lastName>p last</lastName>
               </principal>
          </principals>
          <backgroundCheckResults>
               <business>
                    <verificationResults>
                         <overallScore>
                              <score>Overall results for Business</score>
                              <description>Text Description of Score</description>
                         </overallScore>
                         <nameAddressTaxIdAssociation>
                              <code>Name_Address_TIN_info</code>
                              <description>Text Description of Code</description>
                         </nameAddressTaxIdAssociation>
                         <nameAddressPhoneAssociation>
                              <code>Name_Address_Phone_info</code>
                              <description>Text Description of Code</description>
                         </nameAddressPhoneAssociation>
                         <verificationIndicators>
                              <nameVerified>true or false</nameVerified>
                              <addressVerified>true or false</addressVerified>
                              <cityVerified>true or false</cityVerified>
                              <zipVerified>true or false</zipVerified>
                              <phoneVerified>true or false</phoneVerified>
                              <taxIdVerified>true or false</taxIdVerified>
                         </verificationIndicators>
                         <riskIndicators>
                              <riskIndicator>
                                   <code>Risk Indicator Info</code>
                                   <description>Text Description of Code</description>
                              </riskIndicator>
                         </riskIndicators>
                    </verificationResults>
               </business>
          <principal>
     <verificationResults>
     <overallScore>
          <score>Overall Results for Principal</score>
          <description>Text Description of Score</description>
     </overallScore>
     <nameAddressSsnAssociation>
          <code>Name_Address_SSN_info</code>
          <description>Text Description of Code</description>
     </nameAddressSsnAssociation>
     <nameAddressPhoneAssociation>
          <code>Name_Address_Phone_info</code>
          <description>Text Description of Code</description>
     </nameAddressPhoneAssociation>
     <verificationIndicators>
          <nameVerified>true or false</nameVerified>
          <addressVerified>true or false</addressVerified>
          <phoneVerified>true or false</phoneVerified>
          <ssnVerified>true or false</ssnVerified>
          <dobVerified>true or false</dobVerified>
     </verificationIndicators>
     <riskIndicators>
          <riskIndicator>
               <code>Risk Indicator results</code>
               <description>Text Description of Code</description>
          </riskIndicator>
     </riskIndicators>
</verificationResults>
</principal>
     <businessToPrincipalAssociation>
     <score>Business_To_Principal_info</score>
     <description>Text Description of Score</description>
     </businessToPrincipalAssociation>
     <backgroundCheckDecisionNotes>Additional Info About Decision</backgroundCheckDecisionNotes>
     <bankruptcyData>
          <bankruptcyType>Sub-category of bankruptcy</bankruptcyType>
          <bankruptcyCount>1</bankruptcyCount>
          <companyName>Company Name</companyName>
          <streetAddress1>100 Main Street</streetAddress1>
          <streetAddress2>Suite 2</streetAddress2>
          <city>Boston</city>
          <state>MA</state>
          <zip>01150</zip>
          <zip4>2202</zip4>
          <filingDate>2011-05-13</filingDate>
     </bankruptcyData>
     <lienResult>
          <lienyType>Subtype of Lien</lienyType>
          <releasedCount>2</releasedCount>
          <unreleasedCount>1</unreleasedCount>
          <companyName>Company Name</companyName>
          <streetAddress1>100 Main Street</streetAddress1>
          <streetAddress2>Suite 2</streetAddress2>
          <city>Boston</city>
          <state>MA</state>
          <zip>01150</zip>
          <zip4>2202</zip4>
          <filingDate>2011-05-13</filingDate>
     </lienResult>
     </backgroundCheckResults>
</legalEntityResponse>

See Status Codes and Error Messages

Next: Update legal entity