Fillable shipping document
Free Commercial Invoice Template for International Shipping
Create an export commercial invoice with seller, buyer, HS codes, origin, quantities, values, Incoterms, freight, insurance and declarations.
A commercial invoice working document for customs clearance and buyer settlement. Destination-specific rules still apply.
Authority and use
The exporter is responsible for valuation, classification, origin and destination-specific declarations. Review with the broker or carrier before filing.
Commercial Invoice Line Items
Add one row per item, package group or container as appropriate.
Calculated row amount: 0 · calculated CBM: 0
Short answer
What a commercial invoice must contain
A commercial invoice is the customs and commercial record of a sale. It must identify the seller and buyer, the invoice number and date, a specific description of the goods with HS codes and country of origin, quantities and unit prices, the currency, the Incoterm with its named place, any freight and insurance charges, and the total. Customs uses it to establish value, classification and origin — the three things that determine duty.
- Specific goods description — not 'samples' or 'parts'
- HS code and country of origin per line
- Incoterm with named place and rules edition
- Currency stated as an ISO code
How to Fill Out a Commercial Invoice
- 1
Fill the shipment, party and reference details.
- 2
Add cargo lines; relevant totals and CBM update automatically.
- 3
Review required fields and download PDF, XLSX or DOCX.
Why the commercial invoice carries so much weight
Of all the documents in an international shipment, the commercial invoice is the one customs reads most closely, because it is the source of the three facts that determine duty: what the goods are, where they come from, and what they are worth. Every other document supports or corroborates; this one asserts.
It also carries commercial weight. Where payment runs through a documentary credit, the invoice must satisfy the credit's requirements exactly. Where the transaction is on open account, it is the demand for payment. And in a dispute, it is the clearest written record of what was sold on what terms.
Customs value: what actually goes into it
Most customs administrations apply the WTO Valuation Agreement, whose primary method is transaction value — the price actually paid or payable for the goods when sold for export, with prescribed additions and deductions. That is not simply the number at the bottom of your invoice.
Certain costs must be added if not already included: commissions and brokerage other than buying commissions, packing and container costs, the value of materials, tools or design work supplied free or at reduced cost by the buyer, and royalties or licence fees the buyer must pay as a condition of sale. Certain costs may be deducted if separately identified: transport and insurance after importation, construction or assembly after import, and duties and taxes of the destination.
- State the price actually paid or payable, in the invoice currency
- Show freight and insurance as separate lines, not folded into unit prices
- Disclose any assist — moulds, tooling, design work — supplied by the buyer
- Disclose royalties or licence fees payable as a condition of the sale
- Identify any discount, rebate or commission, and say what it relates to
- State whether the parties are related, since related-party pricing may be examined
Do not under-declare, and do not over-simplify
Understating value is a customs offence with penalties that extend well beyond the duty avoided. But a nominal or 'no commercial value' figure on samples is equally problematic — customs still needs a value, and a placeholder invites a valuation query. Where goods genuinely have no sale price, state the basis on which the declared value was determined.
Incoterms on the invoice
An Incoterm allocates cost and risk between seller and buyer, and it directly affects customs value — whether freight and insurance are inside or outside the price matters for duty in most jurisdictions. State the rule, the named place and the edition: 'FOB Nhava Sheva, Incoterms 2020' is complete; 'FOB' alone is not.
Two distinctions cause most of the trouble. First, the four maritime-only rules — FAS, FOB, CFR and CIF — are designed for goods handed over at a ship's rail or alongside, and are routinely misapplied to containerised cargo delivered to a terminal, where FCA, CPT or CIP are the correct choices. Second, EXW places almost every obligation on the buyer including export clearance, which the buyer frequently cannot legally perform in the seller's country.
| Rule | Mode | Risk transfers | Seller arranges carriage? |
|---|---|---|---|
| EXW — Ex Works | Any | At the seller's premises, before loading | No |
| FCA — Free Carrier | Any | On delivery to the named carrier or place | No |
| CPT — Carriage Paid To | Any | On handover to the first carrier | Yes, to the named destination |
| CIP — Carriage and Insurance Paid To | Any | On handover to the first carrier | Yes, plus insurance at the higher cover level |
| DAP — Delivered at Place | Any | At the named destination, ready for unloading | Yes |
| DPU — Delivered at Place Unloaded | Any | At the named destination, once unloaded | Yes |
| DDP — Delivered Duty Paid | Any | At the named destination, import cleared | Yes, including import duties |
| FAS — Free Alongside Ship | Sea and inland waterway | Alongside the vessel | No |
| FOB — Free On Board | Sea and inland waterway | When goods are on board | No |
| CFR — Cost and Freight | Sea and inland waterway | When goods are on board | Yes, freight only |
| CIF — Cost, Insurance and Freight | Sea and inland waterway | When goods are on board | Yes, freight plus minimum insurance |
Under CIF the seller need only provide minimum cover; under CIP the 2020 revision requires the higher institute-clauses level. Confirm the cover actually required by the sale contract rather than assuming the default.
Describing goods so customs does not stop them
The single most common cause of a customs query is a goods description that does not let an officer confirm the classification. 'Spare parts', 'samples', 'gifts', 'machinery' and 'textiles' are all descriptions that will generate a request for information — and that request arrives after the goods have landed and storage has started.
A usable description states what the article is, what it is made of, and what it is for. 'Cotton knitted T-shirts, men's, 180gsm, HS 6109.10' is a description. 'Garments' is not. Where a line covers several variants, either split it or describe the range specifically enough that the classification is unambiguous.
- Name the article in ordinary commercial terms, not an internal product code alone
- State the constituent material where classification depends on it, which is most of the time
- State the intended use where classification depends on it
- Give the HS code per line, at the length the destination requires
- State country of origin per line, not just per invoice — mixed-origin shipments are common
- Include SKU or part numbers as supporting reference, alongside the description rather than instead of it
- Keep the description consistent with the packing list and the transport document
Building the invoice section by section
- 1Enter the invoice number and date, and reference the purchase order or contract so the buyer's accounts payable can match it.
- 2Enter the seller, buyer and — where different — the ship-to consignee, using full legal names and registered addresses.
- 3State the Incoterm with its named place and the rules edition, and the payment terms.
- 4State the currency as an ISO code, and use one currency throughout.
- 5Enter each line with a specific description, HS code, origin, quantity, unit of measure, unit price and line amount.
- 6Add net and gross weight per line where the buyer or destination requires them, keeping them consistent with the packing list.
- 7Enter freight, insurance and other charges as separate lines rather than folding them into unit prices.
- 8Add any declaration the destination requires, and complete the authorised signature block where a signed invoice is needed.
- 9Reconcile the totals, the piece count and the weights against the packing list before issuing.
Reconcile before you send, not after they ask
Quantities, weights, party names and references should agree between the invoice, the packing list and the transport document. Nearly every downstream query — customs, bank or buyer — is a question about a difference between two of those three documents. Checking takes minutes; answering a customs query takes days of storage.
Documentary credits: stricter than customs
Where payment runs through a letter of credit, the invoice must comply with the credit's terms exactly, and banks examine documents on their face against those terms rather than against commercial reasonableness. A description that customs would accept without comment can be a discrepancy under a credit.
Common discrepancies are entirely mechanical: a goods description that does not correspond to the credit, an invoice made out to a party other than the applicant, an amount exceeding the credit value or drawn in the wrong currency, missing signature where the credit requires one, and quantities outside any tolerance the credit allows. Read the credit before the invoice is prepared, not after it is rejected.
Commercial Invoice Template FAQ
What shippers, forwarders and brokers most often ask when preparing a commercial invoice.
What must a commercial invoice include?
Seller and buyer details, invoice number and date, a specific description of the goods with HS codes and country of origin, quantity and unit of measure, unit price and line amount, the currency, the Incoterm with its named place and edition, any freight, insurance and other charges shown separately, the total, and any declaration or signature the destination requires. Package counts and weights are commonly included and should match the packing list.
What is the difference between a commercial invoice and a pro forma invoice?
A pro forma invoice is a quotation issued before the sale is concluded — used to obtain an import permit, open a letter of credit or secure advance payment. A commercial invoice records a concluded sale and is the document customs uses to establish value. A pro forma is not a demand for payment and should never be presented as the customs invoice for a shipment.
Does a commercial invoice need to be signed?
It depends on the destination and the transaction. Some customs administrations require a signed and sometimes stamped invoice; many accept electronic documents without signature. Where a documentary credit governs payment, the credit's own requirement controls and is often stricter than customs. Check both before printing, because adding a signature afterwards means reissuing the document.
Should freight and insurance appear on the invoice?
Yes, as separate lines, whenever they are part of the price under the agreed Incoterm. Customs value in most jurisdictions depends on whether these costs are inside or outside the price, and showing them separately allows the correct treatment. Folding freight into unit prices makes the declared value harder to defend and can result in duty being assessed on transport costs unnecessarily.
What currency should I invoice in?
The currency agreed in the sale contract, stated as a three-letter ISO code — USD, EUR, CNY — rather than a symbol, because '$' is ambiguous across at least a dozen currencies. Use one currency consistently throughout the invoice. Customs will convert at its own published rate for the entry date, so do not add your own conversion unless the destination requires it.
How specific does the goods description need to be?
Specific enough that a customs officer can confirm the classification without asking you. State what the article is, what it is made of and what it is for. 'Spare parts', 'samples', 'gifts' and 'general merchandise' will generate an information request, which arrives after the goods have landed and storage has begun. Include the HS code per line at the length the destination requires.
Do I need an HS code on the invoice?
It is not universally mandatory but it is strongly advisable, and some destinations require it. Providing the code speeds classification, reduces the chance of a query, and demonstrates reasonable care. Give the six-digit international heading at minimum; extend to the destination's national length where you know it. The importer remains legally responsible for the classification declared on the entry.
What Incoterm should I use for container shipments?
For containerised cargo delivered to a terminal, FCA, CPT or CIP are generally the correct choices. FAS, FOB, CFR and CIF are designed for goods handed over alongside or on board a vessel, and applying them to containers creates a gap between where risk actually transfers and where the rule says it does. This mismatch is one of the most common Incoterm errors in practice.
What is the difference between the invoice value and the customs value?
The invoice value is the price on the document. The customs value is determined under the destination's valuation rules — usually transaction value, being the price actually paid or payable with prescribed additions such as assists, royalties and certain commissions, and prescribed deductions such as post-importation transport. They are often the same figure but not always, and the difference is the importer's responsibility to identify.
Can I use one invoice for multiple shipments?
Generally not for customs purposes. Each entry needs an invoice covering the goods in that shipment. Where an order is split across several shipments, issue an invoice per shipment referencing the order, and make the partial nature explicit. A single invoice covering goods that arrived on different vessels or flights will not reconcile against any of the transport documents.
What are the most common commercial invoice discrepancies under a letter of credit?
A goods description that does not correspond to the credit wording, an invoice issued to a party other than the applicant, an amount exceeding the credit or drawn in the wrong currency, quantities outside the credit's tolerance, missing signature where required, and inconsistency with the transport document or packing list. Banks examine on the face of the documents against the credit terms, so read the credit before preparing the invoice.
Can GainingDocx check my invoice against the shipment documents?
Yes. Extracting a commercial invoice returns header fields and every line item — description, HS code, origin, quantity, unit price, amount, weights — as structured data with the arithmetic recomputed. Grouping it with the packing list, Bill of Lading and purchase order compares parties, references, quantities, weights and values across the set and reports the disagreements for review.
Which formats can I download for this Commercial Invoice?
You can complete the browser form and download a generated PDF. Editable XLSX and DOCX starter files are also available for offline work.
Are the details I enter uploaded?
The template form is designed to keep entries in the browser while you prepare the document. Review the finished file before sharing it with a carrier, customer, broker or authority.
Does this template replace carrier, customs or legal advice?
No. The exporter is responsible for valuation, classification, origin and destination-specific declarations. Review with the broker or carrier before filing.
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