How to fill out a commercial invoice
A commercial invoice is the document customs uses to decide what your shipment is worth, and therefore what duty is owed on it. It is not your accounting invoice, and the differences matter: customs wants the transaction value of the goods, the terms they were sold on, and enough detail to classify them. Get those three right and the rest is administration.
The 25 fields on a commercial invoice
Taken from the document itself, in the order it prints them.
- Document No.
Your own reference, and it must be unique. Customs, your bank and your freight forwarder will all quote this number back at you, and a duplicate makes it impossible to tell which shipment they mean.
- Date
- PO Reference
- Incoterms
The single field that decides who pays for freight and insurance, and therefore what the invoice total should include. Always write the three-letter code with the named place after it — FOB Yantian, CIF Hamburg. An Incoterm without a place is incomplete and customs may query it.
- Payment Terms
- Currency
The currency the goods were actually sold in, not your home currency. Customs converts it themselves at their own published rate. Converting it for them, or quoting two currencies, invites a valuation query.
- Shipper / Exporter
The legal entity selling the goods, with the address it trades under. A trading name with no registered address is a common reason for rejection, because customs cannot verify who the seller is.
- Consignee
Who takes delivery, and in most countries who is liable for the duty. If the buyer and the delivery address differ, this is the buyer — use the notify party for the warehouse.
- Notify Party
Who the carrier contacts on arrival. Usually the customs broker rather than the consignee. Leaving it blank means the arrival notice goes to the consignee, who may not be the one clearing the goods.
- Method of Dispatch
- Vessel / Voyage
- Port of Loading
- Port of Discharge
- Country of Origin
Where the goods were made, not where they were shipped from. Those are different for anything transhipped, and stating the port country instead of the manufacturing country is the mistake that costs a preferential duty rate.
- Country of Destination
- Discount
- Freight
Show it as a separate line rather than folding it into the unit price. Under CIF and CIP customs adds freight to the dutiable value; under FOB it does not. A hidden freight cost either overpays duty or looks like undervaluation.
- Insurance
Same rule as freight: separate line, and only dutiable on the terms that include it. If the shipment is uninsured, say so rather than leaving the box empty.
- Other Charges
- Bank Details
Needed when payment is by transfer or letter of credit. Under a letter of credit these details must match the credit exactly, down to the account name — banks reject on a mismatched character.
- Notes
- Name
- Title
- Place
- Date
The line-item columns
One row per product. Columns can be hidden, renamed or added in the generator.
- Item #
- Description
What the thing is, in plain words, not your internal part number. “Ceramic floor tile, glazed, 600x600mm” clears. “Item 4471-B” does not, because nobody at the border can classify it.
- HS Code
The tariff classification, and the field that decides the duty rate. The first six digits are the same worldwide; the digits after that are national. Give at least six, and use the destination's full code where you know it.
- Qty
- Unit
- Unit Price
The price actually paid or payable per unit. If the goods are free of charge — samples, replacements, warranty stock — you still state a value for customs and mark it as such. A zero invoice is not acceptable to most customs authorities.
- Amount
- Net Wt
- Gross Wt
- Origin
Per line, because a mixed consignment can have several origins. Where every line shares one origin the header field carries it and these can be left alone.
A working commercial invoice, prefilled with a sample shipment. Every field above is editable here, and it downloads as a PDF.
| Item # | Description | HS Code | Qty | Unit | Unit Price (USD) | Amount (USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
We hereby certify that this invoice is true and correct, that the goods described are of origin, and that the prices stated are the actual prices paid or payable.
Your entries are kept as you move between documents: the parties, ports, container and line items all carry across.
The four things that get an invoice queried
A vague goods description, a missing or too-short HS code, an Incoterm with no named place, and a total that does not reconcile with the packing list. Customs officers see thousands of these; the ones they stop are the ones where the numbers do not agree with each other. Before sending, check that the invoice total matches the sum of the lines, and that the gross weight matches the packing list for the same shipment.
Commercial invoice against proforma invoice
A proforma is issued before the sale is final: it is a quotation in invoice form, used to open a letter of credit or apply for an import licence. A commercial invoice records a sale that has happened. They carry almost the same fields, which is why people send the wrong one — and a proforma presented at the border is not evidence of transaction value.
Does it need a signature
Not in most jurisdictions, and an unsigned invoice is routinely accepted. Some destinations still ask for one, and some letters of credit require it, so a signature block costs nothing and removes an argument. Where a country requires consular legalisation, the signature is the thing being legalised.
+Is a commercial invoice required for every international shipment?
For commercial goods, effectively yes. Gifts and personal effects below a value threshold can travel on a simpler declaration, but anything sold across a border needs one.
+Can I use my normal sales invoice?
Only if it carries everything customs needs: HS codes, country of origin, Incoterms with a named place, gross and net weights, and a full goods description. Most accounting systems produce none of those, which is why a separate document exists.
+What if the goods are free of charge?
State a value for customs purposes anyway and mark the invoice “value for customs only, goods supplied free of charge”. Duty is assessed on what the goods are worth, not on what was paid.
+How many copies do I need?
Three is the usual working answer: one travelling with the goods, one to the consignee ahead of arrival, one for your own file. Some destinations ask for more, and a letter of credit will state exactly how many it wants.
Judge it by the document, not the feature list.
Everything above is already on the form. Fill it in and download the PDF — no account needed.
Open the commercial invoice generator