Free Wisconsin Independent Contractor Agreement Template

A Wisconsin independent contractor agreement is a written contract between a business and a self-employed worker. It records the scope, the fee, and the payment basis.

Wisconsin runs two separate classification tests, and they set different bars. Passing one does not carry you through the other.

Both tests are administered by the Department of Workforce Development. Which one applies depends on whether the question is unemployment insurance or workers’ compensation.

Unemployment Insurance: Two Parts

Where a worker performs services for pay, the law presumes employment. Section 108.02(12)(bm) then asks two questions in sequence.

First, is the worker free of your control or direction? Someone under your control is an employee, and the analysis stops there. Second, does the worker satisfy at least six of nine listed conditions?

Both parts must hold. Clearing one alone leaves the presumption intact.

Workers’ Compensation: All Nine

Section 102.07(8) sets a stricter bar. A worker must meet and maintain all nine of its conditions, so a single gap makes them an employee for coverage purposes.

Those conditions include maintaining a separate business and holding a federal employer identification number. Others cover operating under specific contracts, bearing the main expenses, and being paid per contract, per job, by commission, or by competitive bid.

Risk drives the remaining conditions. The contractor must face profit or loss, carry recurring business obligations, and succeed or fail on the balance of receipts against expenditure.

Because the thresholds differ, a Wisconsin independent contractor agreement can satisfy the unemployment test while the coverage test still fails.

No, and the department is unusually blunt about it. A person is not an independent contractor for workers’ compensation purposes just because they say so, because the contractor above them says so, or because both of them agree.

Other regulators carry no weight either. The department says plainly that a determination by the federal government or another state agency does not settle the Wisconsin question.

Two practical details follow. A federal employer identification number is required, and a Social Security number cannot stand in for one.

Licences also count for less than you might expect. When the division weighs the separate business and specific contract conditions, it may not admit operating authority documents or licences into evidence at all.

So the paperwork that satisfies one regulator may be irrelevant here.

Neither test involves filing anything. Your signature makes the contract binding, and the surrounding paperwork carries the argument later.

1. Work through both tests before you draft anything.
2. Set payment per job, by commission, or by competitive bid rather than hourly.
3. Both parties sign and date the agreement.
4. Ask for the contractor’s federal employer identification number.
5. Keep the signed contract, invoices, and expense records together.

Two of the nine conditions speak directly to drafting, so write with them in mind. Cover:

• Specific scope — the exact services and amount, not an open engagement
• Payment basis — per job, commission, or competitive bid
• Expenses — confirming the contractor bears the main costs
• Performance — the contractor’s liability for failing to complete
• Control — leaving the means of performing the work to them

Write each one specifically rather than in general terms. A vague Wisconsin independent contractor agreement gives the department nothing to weigh in your favour.

For borderline arrangements, a Wisconsin attorney can run both tests against your facts. Draft your Wisconsin agreement now and download it in PDF or Word.