payment processing - Stripe: getting "You cannot request any capability other than `transfers`" when only requesting transfers

Question

I'm setting up a test connect account through Stripe, but for some reason during the onboarding I get:

You cannot request any capability other than transfers for accounts that are under the recipient service agreement.

even though I set the capabilities only to transfers.requested: true.

Full details:

1. I created a connect account

Request:

POST https://api.stripe.com/v1/accounts
x-www-form-urlencoded body:
tos_acceptance[service_agreement]: recipient
capabilities[transfers][requested]: true
country: AT
type: express

Response:

{
    "id": "acct_1IEKs6Q5kVIyiDKZ",
    "object": "account",
    "business_profile": {
        "mcc": null,
        "name": null,
        "product_description": null,
        "support_address": null,
        "support_email": null,
        "support_phone": null,
        "support_url": null,
        "url": null
    },
    "business_type": null,
    "capabilities": {
        "transfers": "inactive"
    },
    "charges_enabled": false,
    "country": "AT",
    "created": 1611780255,
    "default_currency": "eur",
    "details_submitted": false,
    "email": null,
    "external_accounts": {
        "object": "list",
        "data": [],
        "has_more": false,
        "total_count": 0,
        "url": "/v1/accounts/acct_1IEKs6Q5kVIyiDKZ/external_accounts"
    },
    "login_links": {
        "object": "list",
        "total_count": 0,
        "has_more": false,
        "url": "/v1/accounts/acct_1IEKs6Q5kVIyiDKZ/login_links",
        "data": []
    },
    "metadata": {},
    "payouts_enabled": false,
    "requirements": {
        "current_deadline": null,
        "currently_due": [
            "business_type",
            "external_account",
            "tos_acceptance.date",
            "tos_acceptance.ip"
        ],
        "disabled_reason": "requirements.past_due",
        "errors": [],
        "eventually_due": [
            "business_type",
            "external_account",
            "tos_acceptance.date",
            "tos_acceptance.ip"
        ],
        "past_due": [
            "business_type",
            "external_account",
            "tos_acceptance.date",
            "tos_acceptance.ip"
        ],
        "pending_verification": []
    },
    "settings": {
        "bacs_debit_payments": {},
        "branding": {
            "icon": null,
            "logo": null,
            "primary_color": null,
            "secondary_color": null
        },
        "card_payments": {
            "decline_on": {
                "avs_failure": false,
                "cvc_failure": false
            },
            "statement_descriptor_prefix": null
        },
        "dashboard": {
            "display_name": "Some business LLC",
            "timezone": "Etc/UTC"
        },
        "payments": {
            "statement_descriptor": null,
            "statement_descriptor_kana": null,
            "statement_descriptor_kanji": null
        },
        "payouts": {
            "debit_negative_balances": false,
            "schedule": {
                "delay_days": 7,
                "interval": "daily"
            },
            "statement_descriptor": null
        },
        "sepa_debit_payments": {}
    },
    "tos_acceptance": {
        "date": null,
        "ip": null,
        "service_agreement": "recipient",
        "user_agent": null
    },
    "type": "express"
}

2. Got the onboarding link:

Request:

POST https://api.stripe.com/v1/accounts
x-www-form-urlencoded body:
account: acct_1IEKs6Q5kVIyiDKZ
refresh_url: https://example.com/reauth
return_url: https://example.com/return
type: account_onboarding

Response:

{
    "object": "account_link",
    "created": 1611780861,
    "expires_at": 1611781161,
    "url": "https://connect.stripe.com/express/onboarding/<some string>"
}

3. Went to the onboarding link

I got an error after pressing Next on the Tell us about your business section.

You cannot request any capability other than transfers for accounts that are under the recipient service agreement. For more information on recipient service agreements, see https://stripe.com/docs/connect/service-agreement-types#recipient.

Why does stripe think I'm requesting capabilities other than transfers?

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65927424/stripe-getting-you-cannot-request-any-capability-other-than-transfers-when

Answer 1

Stripe got back to me:

The error is a bit cryptic but it is likely due to the way you configured Connect Onboarding in your settings in the Dashboard. This error happens because we try to request the card_payments capability for this account but it's not supported because you use the recipient agreement type. The reason we ask for that capability comes from the fact that you configured Connect to require that capability for European accounts. You can change this default behaviour in your dashboard settings in Test mode here: https://dashboard.stripe.com/test/settings/applications/express (and you would do the same for Live mode). With your flow you want only Transfers as a capability.

The suggestion worked:

Incorrect Settings:

Correct Settings:

It's strange because I used to be able to create accounts from these requests. So the settings must have changed at some point. But to my knowledge I never went and changed them.