What it is and what it is not
A proforma invoice is an offer shaped like an invoice. It looks exactly like a commercial invoice — same boxes, same breakdown — but it is not an accounting document: it is not booked, it does not create a receivable and it is not declared. It exists so the other side can do something with your offer.
And that “something” is what makes it matter. With your proforma, your customer applies for an import licence, requests foreign currency from their central bank, opens a letter of credit, justifies an advance payment to their finance director or files the deal for a subsidy. An email with a price is no use for any of that; a proforma is.
Hence the rule that governs everything else: the proforma must say exactly what the commercial invoice will say. If price, quantity, Incoterm or description change between the two, your customer has a problem with their bank or their customs, and you have a customer with a problem.
What it carries, field by field
This is the minimum content of a proforma that is good for anything. The order is the usual one, top to bottom.
- The title, literally
- It has to say “Proforma invoice”. Without that, somebody will book it by mistake.PROFORMA INVOICE
- Number and date
- Its own series, separate from your invoices. Keeping the two numberings apart removes half an audit problem.PRO-2026-0147 · 16/09/2026
- Seller
- Full legal name, address, VAT number and EORI number. The EORI is what identifies your company to any customs authority in the Union.Southern Oils Ltd · VAT ES12345678 · EORI ES12345678
- Buyer
- Legal name and registered address of whoever is buying. If the goods go elsewhere, that address goes separately.Nordic Foods AB · Kungsgatan 12, Stockholm
- ConsigneeOptional
- Who receives the goods, when that is not the buyer. It is the detail customs at destination uses to know who to go to.Nordic Foods Logistics AB, Gothenburg
- Description of the goods
- What it is, in language a customs officer understands. “Premium product” will not do; it has to be checkable against the tariff heading.Extra virgin olive oil, bottled in 500 ml glass
- Tariff heading
- The Harmonized System code, at least six digits. It is what the duty your customer pays hangs off.HS 1509.20
- Quantity and unit
- In the unit it is sold in, not the one that suits you. It has to match the packing list.4,800 bottles · 400 cases of 12
- Unit price and total
- Price per unit, line amount and total. With the currency written on every amount, not only in the header.€4.85/unit · €23,280.00
- Incoterm and place
- The rule and the place, always together and with the version. An Incoterm without a place says nothing: “FCA” is not a term, “FCA Seville, Spain (Incoterms 2020)” is.FCA Seville, Spain (Incoterms 2020)
- Gross and net weight
- Both, in kilos. Net is the goods; gross includes packaging and pallet.Net 3,360 kg · Gross 3,912 kg
- Origin of the goods
- The country where it was produced, which is not necessarily where you ship from. Tariff preference depends on this.Spain (European Union)
- Payment method and terms
- Which instrument and when. It is what your customer’s bank needs to read before it can process anything.30 % in advance, 70 % against copy of shipping documents
- Lead time
- From when it counts: from order confirmation or from receipt of the advance payment. That is the difference between meeting it and not.15 days from receipt of the advance payment
- Validity of the offer
- The date up to which you hold the price. Without it, a March quote chases you in October with a different freight cost and a different exchange rate.Valid until 15/10/2026
- Bank details
- IBAN and BIC of the account you want to be paid into. Check them: the IBAN-swap email fraud is the most common one in the industry.IBAN ES91 2100 0418 4502 0005 1332 · BIC CAIXESBB
The mistakes that make it useless
- Leaving out the Incoterm, or writing it without a placeWithout it the price means nothing: nobody knows whether it includes freight, insurance or clearance. And without the place, nobody knows where your risk ends either.
- A commercial description instead of a customs oneCustoms has to be able to match what the paper says against the heading declared. “Gourmet range” describes nothing classifiable and triggers a check.
- Not matching the packing list or the final invoiceIt is the number one cause of held cargo. All three documents are compared at destination and any difference in weight, packages or amount triggers an inspection.
- Omitting the validityFreight and exchange rates move. A proforma with no expiry date is an open-ended commitment to a price that no longer exists.
- Issuing it with no number, or on the same series as your invoicesIt ends up slipping into the books as if it were a sale, or leaving a gap in the numbering that has to be explained.