Flex FAQ: moonlighting, tax, payouts and status

Flex is a pool of vetted QA professionals who take short, scoped tasks from companies. Tasks run 3-4 hours a day for one to eight weeks, remote, and are paid hourly or per project. There are seven task types, from exploratory test cycles to security tests. You pick the tasks. PassRidge handles the client, the paperwork and the payment.

No. PassRidge is paid by the client, never by you. There is no sign-up fee, test fee or placement fee. If someone using our name asks you for money, an ID scan before an offer or a deposit for equipment, it is not us. Check the sender with the recruiter verifier.

Published pay bands run from $15 to $110 per hour depending on the task type, and every task shows its own rate before you apply. A two-week test-cycle task at 4 hours a day is 40 hours: at $30 an hour that is $1,200 before your own taxes. Senior automation, accessibility and security tasks pay more.

You must be 18 or older, have the right to work as an independent contractor where you live, and have at least one year of hands-on testing experience. Game playtests and AI evaluation also accept strong juniors with a portfolio. You need a laptop, stable internet and written English at about B2 level. Students are welcome if their university rules allow paid work.

No. We ask for evidence of skill, not a certificate. The skills test, the trial task and your past bug reports tell us more than a diploma does.

You can join from most countries in North America, the UK and Europe, Latin America and Asia where we can pay a contractor legally. The apply form lists the supported payout countries. We cannot work with people in sanctioned jurisdictions, and in a few places we hold back until contractor rules are clear.

Often yes, but not always, and the check is yours to make. Read your employment contract for clauses on outside work, exclusivity and IP assignment. If it allows side work, tasks that run outside your working hours fit well: most windows are 3-4 hours and many are evenings in Europe. If it forbids it, ask your employer or skip Flex.

At onboarding you tell us your employer's name and industry. That is all. We never ask for anything confidential. We do not assign tasks for your employer, its direct competitors or its clients, and we do not assign tasks that touch the product you work on. We keep this detail only for matching.

It depends on your country and your contract. In most US states an employer can restrict outside work only through a contract. In the UK it is a matter of your contract and the duty of fidelity. In Germany and several EU countries you may need to notify your employer or get consent. The EU Working Time Directive caps the average week at 48 hours, and our 20-hour weekly Flex cap is set with that in mind. This is not legal advice.

No. We do not contact your employer, run checks on it or share your Flex activity. We also cannot hide it for you. Your contract may require you to disclose side work, and that duty stays with you.

No. Use your own equipment and accounts, outside your employer's working hours. Never bring in code, test data, tools or documents from your day job. Doing so can breach your contract and the client's NDA at once.

Either hourly, from a weekly timesheet, or as a fixed project price split into milestones. The card for each task shows which. You log hours by day, submit by Monday 12:00 UTC, the client approves, and we pay on Friday of that week.

Approved hours are paid on Friday whatever the client's own payment terms are. If the client has not approved within five working days, we pay the undisputed hours anyway and take it up with the client. If part of a timesheet is disputed, you are paid for the rest on time.

We pay in USD, GBP or EUR by bank transfer: ACH, Faster Payments, SEPA or SWIFT depending on your country. PassRidge pays the transfer fee. Your own bank may charge an intermediary or conversion fee, so choose the payout currency that matches your account if you can.

No. You are an independent contractor, so you report your income and pay income tax and social contributions yourself. We collect a W-9 or W-8BEN, or a tax-residency self-certification, at onboarding, and issue tax forms such as a 1099-NEC where the law requires. This is not tax advice: talk to an accountant in your country.

In most countries you can start as an individual or sole trader. In some, you must register as self-employed before you can invoice. We flag this during onboarding. If you are VAT-registered, add your number and we will treat invoices accordingly.

Flex pay follows the task, not your address. Each task shows one rate, set by the task type and the level the client needs. The market reference rates on the rates page do differ by country, because they come from local pay data.

No. Approved hours are paid every Friday, even if the total is small.

Neither. You work as an independent contractor on a defined task. You choose when to work inside the window, you use your own equipment, you can decline any task, and you may work for others. The client sets what must be delivered, not how you do it. The terms are in our contractor terms.

IR35 depends on the end client and the real working practice, so we assess each task type and share the result. Flex tasks are built around outcomes, own equipment and a right to decline. If an assessment comes out as inside IR35, the task is paid through payroll with tax deducted, and the task card says so before you accept. This is not legal advice.

California applies the ABC test, and some other US states have similar rules. For residents of those states we only offer tasks where the test can be met, and we may decline others. Check the eligibility line on each task card.

Germany polices false self-employment, and the EU Platform Work Directive has to be in national law by the end of 2026. We track both. If a rule reclassifies Flex work in a country, we will move that country to an employed or employer-of-record model and tell you first.

Only with our written approval. A substitute has to pass the same vetting and sign the same NDA before they see client material. You stay responsible for the delivery.

Each task fixes 3 or 4 hours a day inside a window of one to eight weeks. You can hold up to two tasks at once, and the total across all Flex tasks is capped at 20 hours a week so it stays side income.

A Windows, macOS or Linux laptop, stable broadband and a headset. The client gives you accounts for Jira, TestRail or similar tools. Mobile tasks list the devices needed, and some clients provide device-lab access. Accessibility tasks need NVDA or VoiceOver, which are free. Some NDA tasks require a client VPN or virtual desktop.

Every task states its overlap. Most need two or three hours of overlap with a client core window such as 14:00-18:00 UTC, and the rest of your hours are yours to place. Evenings in Europe and mornings in the Americas fit best. AI evaluation and some playtests need no fixed overlap.

Message your coordinator before the window starts. Time off is unpaid and not penalised. If you cannot continue, we hand the task to someone else and you are paid for the hours already approved. Repeated no-shows lower your matching priority.

New tasks appear on the tasks page, and matched members get a weekly email and an invitation for tasks that fit their role, rate and time zone. You accept or decline in your Flex account.

Five steps: a profile review, a 30-45 minute skills test for your task type, an identity and right-to-work check, a conflict check, and a paid trial task scoped to 12 hours or less. Only then do you get matched. The Vetted badge on your profile means you passed all five.

You get written feedback and can retake it after 30 days. The question set rotates, so memorising answers does not help.

Yes. You sign a master confidentiality agreement at onboarding. Tasks marked NDA add a task-specific agreement before you see any client material. Client data stays on client systems, and you may not copy it, screenshot it outside the agreed tools or reuse it.

The client owns the deliverables once they are paid for. Tools, scripts and methods you built before the task remain yours, and the client gets a licence to use any that are embedded in the deliverable.

Your first name, role, level, test result and task history. They do not see your CV, your employer or your contact details, and all communication runs through the task workspace.

No. Flex is for adults only. Students aged 18 and over are welcome.

Not to take a Flex task. PassRidge holds professional indemnity and cyber cover for the services it sells to clients, and the details are in each task agreement. You may want your own cover if you also freelance outside Flex.

Yes. Contract and permanent offers are common after a good task. We never block you from accepting one, and you never pay a fee. Any conversion fee is between PassRidge and the client.

Write to [email protected]. A Flex coordinator replies within one working day, and payment questions are looked at first. You can also reach your coordinator through the task workspace.