About the template

A proforma invoice is a priced offer sent to a buyer before goods are shipped and before any payment is due. It is not a demand for payment and it does not go into your sales ledger. Its job is to tell the buyer, and usually the buyer's bank and customs broker, exactly what is being sold, what it will cost, how it will travel and what it weighs, so that an import licence can be applied for, a letter of credit can be opened, or an internal purchase order can be approved.

A contract proforma goes one step further than a plain quotation, because the terms it states are the terms the eventual sale will be made on.

This template is the export version of that document. Alongside the usual billing and item details, it carries a shipment information block covering the purchase order, the letter of credit reference, the currency, the payment terms, the mode of transport, the Incoterm, the number of packages, the gross and net weights, the carrier and the estimated ship date. Those are the fields a freight forwarder or a bank will look for, and a proforma missing them tends to come back with questions rather than an approval.

What this contract proforma invoice includes

A seller block for your company name, address, website, email and phone. Separate Bill To and Ship To blocks, because on an export sale the buyer and the delivery point are often different companies in different cities. A reference panel with the page number, the date, the date of expiry, the estimate number and your customer identifier. A shipment information band covering the purchase order number and date, the letter of credit reference, the currency, the payment terms, the estimated ship date, the mode of transport, the transportation terms, the number of packages, the estimated gross and net weights and the carrier. An item table with the item code, a description, the unit, the quantity, the unit price, a taxable marker and a line total that calculates itself. A totals ladder running from subtotal through the discounted subtotal, the amount subject to sales tax, the tax rate, the total tax, shipping and handling, insurance and two free lines for anything else, ending in the quote total. A notes area for the terms of sale, and a signed declaration at the foot.

How to create contract proforma invoice

Start with your own details and the buyer, then fill in the Ship To block if the goods are going somewhere other than the billing address.
Set the date and, importantly, the date of expiry, since a proforma is an offer and your prices should not be open forever.
Work through the shipment block next, because that is the part the buyer's bank and broker will read first.
Then add one row per product, giving the item code, description, unit, quantity and unit price, and marking each row Y or N for whether it attracts sales tax.
The line totals and the subtotal are calculated for you. Enter the discounted subtotal, the amount subject to tax and your tax rate, then add freight, insurance and any other charges. The quote total adds those to the discounted subtotal.
Write the terms of sale into the notes area, add the name of whoever is signing.
Download the workbook, print it and sign the declaration before it travels with the shipping documents.

Who this contract proforma invoice is for

Exporters and manufacturers selling across borders, who need a document a buyer can take to a bank. Trading companies and distributors quoting for a container load. Small businesses shipping internationally for the first time, who have been asked for a proforma and are not sure what it has to contain. Freight forwarders and customs brokers preparing paperwork on a client's behalf.

It suits any sale where the buyer needs a priced document before the goods move, which covers most international trade and a good deal of large domestic contract work too.

Note
A proforma invoice is not a tax invoice and should not be used to claim or reclaim tax. Once the goods ship, issue a commercial invoice quoting this proforma's estimate number so the two can be matched. Weights and ship dates are estimates by definition, so say so in your terms of sale and confirm them on the commercial invoice. Where the sale is zero rated for export, enter 0 in both the amount subject to sales tax and the tax rate.

#letter of credit invoice templates

Contract Proforma Invoice Template in Excel