New Legal Entity Types – Sole Proprietorship and Trust
This article explains how Sole Proprietorship and Trust legal entity types are supported during onboarding, including availability by country and the information required for each type.
Overview
Zenoti now supports additional legal entity (LE) types - Sole Proprietorship and Trust - during onboarding, based on the business location. This article explains where these options appear, what information is collected, and how the onboarding flow differs by legal entity type.
Legal Entity Type selection
The Legal entity type of your business field appears under the Company Details section.
Available options (dropdown): Company, Sole proprietorship, Trust
Default selection: Company
Once you onboard with one legal entity, you cannot edit it. You will need to create a new merchant account with the new legal entity type.
Availability by country:
Australia (AU) and New Zealand (NZ): Company, Sole proprietorship, Trust
United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK): Company, Sole proprietorship
All other countries: Company only
The options shown depend on the business location you select.
Here’s how you navigate, to update the legal entity of your business:
Configuration > Payments > Payment processor onboarding > Process payments > Zenoti Payments.
Click Start setup and start creating the merchant account with the preferred legal entity type.
Trust (Supported in AU and NZ Only)
Selecting Trust indicates that the business operates through a trust structure. To identify all parties associated with the trust, additional information is collected during onboarding.
You are asked to provide:
Trust details, including the country of establishment, addresses, trust agreement information, and the trust deed or instrument
Trust members, covering all parties associated with the trust contract
You must add details for all settlors, trustees, protectors, and defined beneficiaries. Members can be either natural persons or business entities, and multiple roles can be assigned where applicable.
Important validation rules
At least one settlor, one defined beneficiary, and one protector are required.
A person or business can be a defined beneficiary, protector, and trustee at the same time, but cannot also be a settlor.
A person or business can be a settlor, protector, and trustee at the same time.
If a natural person is added only as a settlor, additional information is required to describe the settlor.
Sole Proprietorship
Selecting Sole Proprietorship indicates that the business is owned and operated by an individual. Onboarding collects both business and personal information, along with bank account details.
Required information
You are asked to provide:
Business details, such as the legal name, business address, and registration or tax information
Personal details of the individual owner, such as name, date of birth, contact information, and address
Bank account details for payouts
Note
The exact fields shown depend on your business location. You will see only the information required for your country during onboarding. The country of residence is defaulted based on the selected business location.
Bank account validation
The account holder name must match either the legal business name or the individual owner’s name.
Term | Description |
Sole Proprietorship | A legal entity type where the business is owned and operated by one individual. |
Trust | A legal arrangement where assets are held and managed by trustees for beneficiaries. |
Settlor | The natural person that created the trust. Also known as a grantor or founder. |
Trustee | The natural person or corporate entity that manages the assets of the trust in accordance with the trust deed. |
Protector | The natural person appointed to direct or oversee the trustees’ administration of the trust. |
Defined Beneficiary | A natural person or corporate entity in whose interest the trust operates. |