Service agreement types (2024)

The connected account’s service agreement type determines what capabilities the account has access to, and which service agreement applies to the platform’s users.

Supported agreement types

Connected accounts can be under one of the following service agreement types: full or recipient. After the connected account’s service agreement is accepted, the type of service agreement can’t be modified.

Full service agreement

A full service agreement creates a service relationship between Stripe and the connected account holder. Connected accounts under the full service agreement can process card payments and request the card_payments capability.

For the legal language, see the Stripe Connected Account Agreement.

Recipient service agreement

A recipient service agreement clarifies that there is no service relationship between Stripe and the recipient, and that the recipient’s relationship is with the platform. Connected accounts under the recipient service agreement can’t process payments or request the card_payments capability.

Transfers to recipient accounts take an extra 24 hours to become available in the connected account’s balance. To learn more about pending balances, see the account balances page.

Cross-border payouts only work with accounts under the recipient service agreement. You must explicitly pass in the country code if it differs from the platform country.

Stripe isn’t responsible for providing direct support for accounts on the recipient service agreement. However, the platform can reach out to Stripe for support for these accounts.

For the legal language, see the Stripe Recipient Agreement.

Choosing the agreement type

You can specify the agreement type through the Accounts API.

Accounts API

To choose a recipient service agreement when creating an account, specify the agreement type with tos_acceptance[service_agreement]:

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/accounts \ -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:" \ -d country=US \ -d "controller[stripe_dashboard][type]"=none \ -d "controller[fees][payer]"=application \ -d "controller[losses][payments]"=application \ -d "controller[requirement_collection]"=application \ -d "capabilities[transfers][requested]"=true \ -d "tos_acceptance[service_agreement]"=recipient

The same principle applies when updating an account:

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/accounts/
{{CONNECTED_ACCOUNT_ID}}
 \ -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:" \ -d "tos_acceptance[service_agreement]"=recipient

Connect Configuration settings

To choose a recipient service agreement for connected accounts with access to the Express Dashboard, select the Transfers option with the Restricted Capability Access icon in the Configuration settings section of the Stripe Dashboard.

You can override the Configuration settings for an individual account by specifying its capabilities and service agreement type with the Accounts API.

Accepting the correct agreement

Stripe handles the service agreement acceptance if you use Stripe-hosted onboarding or Embedded onboarding. For API onboarding, the platform must attest that their user has seen and accepted the service agreement. See service agreement acceptance for more information.