A blank commercial invoice for cross-border shipments: exporter and importer blocks, the air waybill or bill of lading number, Incoterms and country of origin, HS code and origin columns on every item line, and a separate freight & insurance line above the total. Download it, fill it in, ship.
commercial-invoice-template.pdf Print-ready blank form with ruled fill-in lines. Opens in any browser or PDF reader — print it and complete it by hand, or keep it in your shipping file as the master copy.
Download PDFcommercial-invoice-template.docx Editable Word document (tested in Microsoft Word). Type straight into it, add your logo, add item rows, then print or export to PDF.
Download Word fileFree for personal and commercial use. No signup, no email, no attribution required.
Both files were generated on from a single source layout, so the PDF and the Word file carry exactly the same fields — and whenever that layout is revised, every format is regenerated together rather than edited by hand. There is no spreadsheet version of this template: on a customs invoice the freight and insurance figure is entered from your carrier's charge, not calculated. If you want the arithmetic done for you, use the generator below.
The Commercial Invoice Generator gives you per-line HS code and country-of-origin columns, an Incoterms field, a reason-for-export selector, automatic totals and a live preview, then downloads a completed PDF. Free, and no signup there either; its PDFs carry a one-line credit that one checkbox turns off.
Both formats are A4 and carry the same blank fields, in this order:
Nothing is pre-filled — no rates, no example values, no logo. Every figure on the finished document is one you entered.
The blank file prints its fields top to bottom in this order. Each row says what to write and, where a rule exists, which one. The references are the United States list in 19 CFR 141.86(a); other destinations set their own requirements, so check the country you ship to.
| Field on the template | What to write |
|---|---|
| COMMERCIAL INVOICE (title) | Names the document, so the broker, the carrier and customs can see it is the invoice for the sale, not a quote or a proforma. Keep it. |
| Invoice no. · Date issued | Your own reference and the date of sale. The US rule asks for the time when and the place where the goods were sold (19 CFR 141.86(a)(2)). |
| AWB / B-L no. | The air waybill or bill of lading number, which ties this invoice to one shipment. Apart from installment shipments, a US invoice may not cover more than one distinct shipment by one consignor to one consignee (19 CFR 141.81). |
| Exporter (seller) | Name, address and country of the seller, plus a contact or tax reference. 19 CFR 141.86(a)(2) asks for the person by whom the goods are sold; 141.86(j) also asks you to name a responsible employee of the exporter who knows the transaction, which fits on the last line. |
| Importer (buyer) | Name and address of the buyer (the person to whom the goods are sold, 141.86(a)(2)). If the goods go to a different address, write the ship-to party in Notes. |
| Incoterms & country of origin | The delivery term written as the rule, the named place and the edition, for example "FCA Rotterdam Incoterms® 2020", and, if the whole shipment has one origin, that country (141.86(a)(10)). The ORIGIN column carries the origin of each line. |
| DESCRIPTION | A detailed description of each item: the name it is known by, grade or quality, and the marks and numbers of the packages (141.86(a)(3)). |
| HS CODE | The Harmonized System code of that line’s goods. How many digits to write depends on the destination; the HS code guide linked below explains it. |
| ORIGIN | The country where that line’s goods were produced (141.86(a)(10)). Fill it on every line, even when all lines share one origin. |
| QTY | The quantity in the weights and measures of the country of shipment or of the United States (141.86(a)(4)). Add the unit (pcs, kg, dozen) after the number. |
| UNIT PRICE · AMOUNT | The purchase price of each item in the currency of the purchase (141.86(a)(5)). Goods sent without a sale (samples, gifts, replacements) still need a value (141.86(a)(6)). |
| Notes | Anything the other fields have no room for: the reason for export, what each package contains (141.86(e)), the port of entry (141.86(a)(1)), licence or permit numbers, payment terms. |
| Subtotal · Freight & insurance · TOTAL | The goods value, then freight, insurance and similar charges itemized by name and amount (141.86(a)(8)), then the total. Write the currency code (USD, EUR, GBP) next to the figures. |
A commercial invoice is the document that travels with goods across a border. Customs authorities use it to see what is being shipped, who is selling and who is buying, and what the goods are worth — which is the basis for assessing duty and import tax. It records a sale that has actually happened, which is what separates it from a proforma invoice, issued before the sale is final.
You generally need one for any cross-border shipment of goods, and carriers normally ask for it alongside the air waybill. Goods moving between EU member states are an exception: they stay inside the same customs territory and are not cleared through customs, so nothing has to be declared for that leg — you still issue an invoice for VAT and accounting purposes.
The details are where shipments actually stall: HS classification, the Incoterms® rule you agreed, how to value samples and replacements, and keeping declared values consistent with the rest of the shipping paperwork. Those belong in one place, not scattered through a template page — read the Commercial Invoice Guide for the full treatment.
Yes. Both files download directly with no signup, no email address, and no attribution requirement. You can use them for personal and commercial work, including for clients, and you can change the layout however you need.
There is no single worldwide layout. What matters is the data: who sells and who buys, a detailed description of each item, quantity, unit price and value in a stated currency, the country of origin, the delivery term (Incoterms rule and named place) and the freight and insurance charges. For goods entering the United States, 19 CFR 141.86(a) lists what each invoice must set forth. The "Commercial invoice format: what goes where" section on this page walks through the blank file field by field.
We have not tested that: we open-tested the DOCX in Microsoft Word only. It is a plain Word document with one six-column item table and no macros, so if you open it in Google Docs or LibreOffice Writer, check the layout and the table borders before you send it. Add rows to the item table if you have more than seven lines, then print it or export it to PDF.
In the item table: every line has its own HS CODE column and ORIGIN column, next to DESCRIPTION, in both the PDF and the Word file. The printed reminder at the bottom of the form asks for both on every line. The "Incoterms & country of origin" box can also state the origin once when the whole shipment has one. The online commercial invoice generator has the same per-line HS Code and Origin fields. How many HS code digits a destination expects is explained in our HS code guide, linked in the format section above.
Not legal, tax, or customs advice. A template cannot know your commodity, your destination country, or your carrier's requirements — check the finished document against your customs broker or the destination authority before you ship.