Contract template for virtual assistants

A virtual assistant often has more access than anyone else outside the business: email, calendars, bank portals, customer data, passwords. That makes confidentiality and data handling the core of the contract. Spell out what you can access, how you store credentials, and what happens to access and copies of data when the work stops.

The everyday disputes are smaller but frequent: a client unhappy with a slow reply sent outside your hours, a purchase made on your judgment that they did not expect, or a disagreement over whether rolled-over hours expired. Put the response times, spending limits and rollover rules in the contract so they are not renegotiated every month.

Clauses specific to virtual assistants

• Confidentiality. The assistant keeps all client information confidential, during the engagement and after it ends, and uses it only to perform the agreed tasks.
• Access and credentials. The client grants access through individual user accounts where possible. Shared passwords are kept in a password manager. All access is removed or handed back when the engagement ends.
• Data handling. The assistant does not keep copies of client data after the engagement ends, except where needed to support an unpaid invoice, and then only for that purpose.
• Purchases. Purchases are made on the client's payment method. Any single purchase above the limit set by the client needs the client's prior written approval.
• Availability. The assistant works during the hours and time zone in the quote and replies within the stated response time. Work outside those hours is billed at the rush rate if the client requests it.
• Unused hours. Unused hours roll over as set out in the quote and expire at the end of the following month. Expired hours are not refunded.

The clauses every freelance contract needs

• Parties. Who the agreement is between: your legal name or business, the client's legal entity, and the addresses of both.
• Scope of work. What you will deliver, in what form, and what is explicitly not included. Refer to the quote or proposal by number if it lists the details.
• Fees and payment terms. The total fee or rate, the currency, any deposit, when invoices are issued and how many days the client has to pay.
• Late payment. What happens when an invoice is late: interest or a fixed fee if you want one, and your right to pause work until the account is settled.
• Changes and revisions. How many revision rounds are included, what counts as a change of scope, and how extra work is priced and approved.
• Timeline and client delays. Key dates, and that deadlines move when the client is late with feedback, content or approvals.
• Ownership and licence. Who owns the finished work and when (usually on full payment), what the client may use it for, and what you keep, such as your tools, templates and know-how.
• Confidentiality. Both sides keep the other's non-public information private, during the project and after it.
• Cancellation. How either side can end the agreement, the notice required, and payment for work done up to that point.
• Liability. A cap on what either side can claim, often the fees paid under the agreement, and no liability for indirect losses.
• Governing law. Which country's law applies and where disputes are heard. Usually where you are based.

A plain-language sample

Copy it, fill in the brackets, and cut what doesn't apply. Shorter is fine as long as the scope, the money and the rights are clear.

Questions virtual assistants ask

Also for virtual assistants: invoice template and quote template. Contract templates for related trades: social media managers, business consultants, content writers, translators. Or browse all contract templates.