# 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.

### 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.