Free Independent Contractor Agreement Template: Fill & Sign Online
An independent contractor agreement sets out work a self-employed person will do for you, what they will be paid, and, critically, that they are not your employee. Get that last part wrong and the IRS, a state labour board, or the contractor themselves can reclassify the relationship, which means back taxes, unpaid overtime and penalties.
The document does not decide classification on its own; the actual working relationship does. But a clear agreement is the first thing an auditor reads, and a vague one is the first thing they use against you.
Self-signing is free, local & private, never uploaded. Sending for signature needs a free account (just your email).
Clauses that decide whether this holds up
- Scope of work: describe the result you are buying, not the hours. "Deliver a five-page marketing site by 30 June" reads as a contract; "work Tuesdays and Thursdays" reads as a job.
- Control: state plainly that the contractor decides how, when and where the work is done. This is the single biggest factor in every classification test.
- Payment: a fixed fee or a per-project rate, with invoice terms. Hourly is allowed but weakens the case; a salary-shaped payment schedule weakens it further.
- Tools and expenses: contractors normally supply their own equipment. If you provide a laptop and a desk, say why, because someone will ask.
- No benefits: spell out that there is no health cover, no paid leave, no pension, and that the contractor pays their own taxes.
- Intellectual property: without an assignment clause the contractor owns what they made, even though you paid for it. This surprises people every single week.
- Termination: notice period on both sides, and what happens to work in progress and to the final invoice.
Mistakes that get a contractor reclassified
- Setting fixed working hours or requiring attendance at internal meetings. Both say "employee" louder than any clause in the contract says otherwise.
- Rolling one-month contracts renewed for three years. Indefinite duration with a single client is a classic reclassification trigger.
- Forgetting the IP assignment. Paying an invoice does not transfer copyright in most jurisdictions, the contract has to say so.
- Copying a US template for a contractor in the UK, EU or Australia. Each has its own test, and IR35, the EU Platform Work Directive and the Australian sham-contracting rules are not interchangeable.
Common questions
Is an electronically signed contractor agreement valid?
Yes. Electronic signatures carry the same legal weight as ink under the US ESIGN Act and UETA, eIDAS in the EU and UK, and equivalent statutes elsewhere. FairSign seals each completed document with an audit trail recording who signed, when, and from where.
Should I use a contractor agreement or an employment contract?
If you control how and when the work is done, you have an employee, and calling the document something else will not change that. Use a contractor agreement when you are buying a defined result from someone who runs their own business and serves other clients.
Do I need a separate NDA?
Not if the agreement already has a confidentiality clause covering what the contractor will see. A separate NDA makes sense when you need protection before the contract exists — during the pitch conversation, for instance.
This page is general information for small businesses, not legal advice. For your specific situation, talk to a licensed attorney in your state.