Commercial Invoice Generator

What is a commercial invoice, and how is it different from a regular invoice?

A commercial invoice is the customs-clearance document attached to any cross-border shipment of goods with commercial value. Customs authorities in the destination country use it to classify the goods, verify the declared value, and assess import duty and import VAT — it is not a request for payment and it does not itself carry sales tax or VAT. That is the opposite of a domestic sales invoice, which is a tax/payment document with no customs role. A commercial invoice needs details a normal invoice never carries: the reason for export, the Incoterms rule that fixes who pays freight/insurance/duty, a detailed goods description with an HS tariff code, and the country of origin — all information customs officers rely on rather than your own bookkeeping.

• Exporter (shipper) and importer (buyer) details, including tax ID / EORI / EIN
• Consignee (deliver-to), if different from the buyer
• Reason for export — sale, gift, sample, repair, replacement, etc.
• Incoterms 2020 rule and named place, e.g. "DAP Berlin"
• HS/tariff code and country of origin for every line item
• Declared value, currency, and a signed declaration of accuracy

Do I charge VAT or GST on a commercial invoice?

No. Exports of goods are zero-rated or exempt-with-credit in essentially every VAT/GST system in the world, under the destination principle — tax is charged where the goods are consumed, not where they are shipped from. In the EU this is Article 146 of the VAT Directive; in the UK it is VAT Notice 703; Australia, Canada, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia all zero-rate or exempt genuine export sales. This tool defaults the tax rate to 0% for every one of our 39 markets for that reason. Import duty and import VAT are a completely separate calculation, assessed by the destination country's customs authority off the value you declare here — this document does not, and cannot, calculate that for you.

HS codes and country of origin — the two fields that make this a customs document

Every line item needs an HS (Harmonized System) tariff code and a country of origin, because a multi-line shipment can genuinely mix products from different tariff headings and different origins on the same invoice — a shipment of cotton T-shirts from Portugal alongside ceramic mugs from a different country needs two different HS codes and two different origins on two different lines. The 6-digit HS code is the international baseline maintained by the World Customs Organization and is identical across all member economies; some destinations (notably the US, which requires the full 10-digit HTSUS) extend it with extra digits for duty-rate and statistical detail. If you don't know a product's HS code, use a dedicated HS code lookup tool before filling in the invoice — getting the classification wrong is a common cause of customs delays.