Commercial invoice maker
Fill the shipper and consignee blocks, the line items with HS codes per line and country of origin, the weights, the container details, and the Incoterm. The tool generates a customs-ready commercial invoice PDF in the Sourzi format.
Why the commercial invoice is the customs document
Customs at both ends works from three primary documents: the commercial invoice, the bill of lading, and the packing list. The commercial invoice is the document that names the cargo, the parties, the price, and the country of origin; customs assesses duty and statistical classification against the values it carries. Errors on the commercial invoice propagate downstream into the customs declaration and into the import duty bill. A 1 USD-per-tonne understatement times 25 tonnes is 25 USD of underpaid duty, multiplied by the audit-trigger factor; a misclassified HS code can shift the duty rate by 5 to 25 percentage points.
The shipper field on the commercial invoice should be the official registered company name on the supplier business licence. For Chinese suppliers, this is the Chinese name; the marketing English name is for the website, not for customs. USCC on the invoice ties the shipper to the SAMR registry record. A USCC field that does not validate (run it through the GB 32100-2015 check digit at /tools/china-trade/uscc-validator) is a red flag that the supplier copy-pasted a wrong number, or worse.
Country of origin per line item matters because tariff schedules levy different duty rates depending on origin. A finished chemical that was fully manufactured in China is China-origin; one that was re-packaged in China after being made in Taiwan is Taiwan-origin. The "substantially transformed in China" test applies to mixed-origin cargo and feeds into the tariff classification. Get this wrong and the cargo can be detained or re-classified at the import side, with duty paid to the higher rate.
Gross and net weight need to match the BL and the packing list to the kilogram. Gross weight is the cargo plus all packaging (drums, IBCs, pallets, dunnage); net weight is the cargo only. The two fields appear on the SOLAS verified gross mass (VGM) declaration as well; the VGM has to match the bill-of-lading-equipment record, which has to match the commercial invoice, which has to match the packing list. Discrepancies surface as customs queries that hold the cargo for two to seven business days.
Worked example. The HS-code reclass at LA
The booking. A US buyer imports 25 tonnes of citric acid monohydrate from a Shanghai supplier. The supplier issues a commercial invoice listing HS code 2918.14.00 (citric acid), 25,000 kg net, 25,500 kg gross, 1,420 USD per tonne FOB Shanghai. Total invoice 35,500 USD. Looks fine on paper.
The failure. US Customs flags the entry for HS review. Citric acid is sometimes classified as 2918.14.00 (citric acid, free acid form) at one duty rate, and as 2918.15.00 (salts and esters of citric acid) at a different duty rate; a customs officer at LA ports decides the cargo is the monohydrate which is technically a hydrate not a salt, but the classification is contested. Cargo sits in customs hold for 5 working days while the broker submits supporting docs (the SDS, the CoA, the original spec sheet from the factory). Demurrage runs at 200 USD per day on the container; total D&D bill is 1,000 USD. The invoice was technically correct but the description was thin; "citric acid monohydrate" with the supporting CAS 5949-29-1 on the invoice line would have closed the question at first review.
The fix. On the next shipment the buyer asks the supplier to put the full description on each invoice line: "Citric acid monohydrate, CAS 5949-29-1, FCC grade, 25 kg paper bag, country of origin China". The HS code and the CAS together let the customs officer make a fast classification call without needing the SDS. The cargo clears in 1 working day, no D&D, no broker scramble. The 30 seconds spent expanding the description on the invoice saves 1,000 USD per shipment in D&D and, more usefully, the buyer customer schedule.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a commercial invoice and a proforma invoice?
A commercial invoice is the post-shipment invoice issued by the seller to the buyer once cargo has been loaded; it accompanies the cargo through customs at both ends and is a customs document. A proforma invoice (PI) is the pre-shipment quote-confirmation document issued before cargo loads. The commercial invoice is the legal record of the sale; customs at both ends matches the declaration to the commercial invoice and the BL.
What must appear on a commercial invoice for customs?
Eleven core items: shipper (seller) name and address; consignee (buyer) name and address; commercial invoice number and date; PO reference; description of goods (one row per HS code); HS code; country of origin per line; quantity in shipping units; unit price; total per line; currency; Incoterm and named port; gross weight; net weight; container number(s); marks and numbers; signature. Missing items trigger customs queries and delay clearance.
Why include the HS code if the customs broker will reclassify anyway?
The HS code on the commercial invoice is the seller declared classification, not the broker import classification. They should match in most cases; differences are flagged for review at the import side. Pre-stating the HS code on the invoice gives the broker a starting point and makes the cargo easier to clear; a blank HS field invites the broker to guess from the description, and guesses sometimes land at higher-duty classifications.
Is the commercial invoice the same as the customs invoice in the US?
For US imports under USD 2,500, the commercial invoice usually doubles as the customs invoice. For higher-value imports, US Customs sometimes asks for a separate Customs Invoice (CF-7501) with additional fields (manufacturer ID, related-party indicator, dutiable value breakdown). The commercial invoice generated by this tool covers the standard Incoterms 2020 commercial-invoice fields; if you need the CF-7501 specifically, your broker can build it from the commercial invoice plus the BL plus the packing list.
Should the commercial invoice be in the buyer or seller currency?
Whichever the contract specifies. Most chemical exports out of China are invoiced in USD regardless of buyer geography. The currency on the commercial invoice must match the currency on the PO and on the LC if the payment terms include an LC; a mismatch breaks the LC document check.
What about the country of origin field on each line?
Country of origin is required for tariff classification at import. For Chinese goods the field is China (or "CN" / "CHN" depending on the customs system). Goods that have been finished or substantially transformed in China are Chinese-origin even if the raw materials came from elsewhere; goods that were merely re-packaged in China are not Chinese-origin. For ChAFTA, RCEP, or ACFTA Form E preference, the origin determination is more rigorous; see the corresponding origin calculator tools.
Related tools
- PO · pdf-libLive
Purchase order maker
Branded PDF purchase order with buyer / seller blocks, line items (HS, CAS, qty, price), Incoterm-and-port shipping terms, payment terms with split-and-trigger, generated against the Sourzi PDF theme.
Open tool →
- Packing listLive
Packing list generator
Branded PDF packing list paired with the commercial invoice. Dynamic line items with package count, dimensions, net + gross weight per row, auto-totalled. Customs-ready.
Open tool →
- SI for forwarderLive
Shipping instructions generator
PDF for the freight forwarder. Shipper / consignee / notify, BL type (express / telex / original), freight payment, cargo description verbatim, routing, special LC clauses.
Open tool →