A legal authority is a governing legal body that operates within a jurisdiction. The legal authority is responsible for enforcing legislation, collecting fees and taxes, and making financial appropriations within a given physical area for a type of law. For example, the Internal Revenue Service is the legal authority for income tax law in the US..

When a legal entity registers under a given jurisdiction, it may be related to a legal authority that is governing in that jurisdiction. Legal authority information is used on legal reports and financial statements in some countries and is determined by the legislation of the jurisdiction. Defining a legal authority is not required for a legal entity to transact and therefore, is not required to create a registration.

A legal authority is associated with a jurisdiction because it has authority over the legal entities that are registered with the jurisdiction. The relationship between the legal authority and the jurisdiction is formed when you create a legal entity registration. Each registration is made to a jurisdiction and each registration can identify an issuing legal authority.

In some countries, the legal authority has executive responsibility over several legislative categories. All of these legislative categories can be assigned to the legal authority. Legal authorities are defined according to your company's preferences. For example, you can create one authority per office or one authority for multiple offices.