Commercial Invoice Generator: Field-by-Field Guide for US Customs

Three documents, one form

The invoice generator produces the three documents that move a US-bound shipment:

• Commercial invoice (CI) — the customs document. It declares the transaction to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and drives duty assessment.
• Proforma invoice (PI) — the pre-sale version: same layout, used for quotes, LC applications and import permits before a transaction exists.
• Packing slip (PS) — the warehouse document: what's physically in the cartons.

Switch document type at the top of the form (deep links /invoice?type=PI and ?type=PS jump straight to the right tab). The left side is the form; the right side is a live A4 preview that always shows exactly what prints.

Start from a calculation (skip retyping)

If you've just run a landed-cost estimate, the calculator can carry the line straight into the invoice — quantity, unit price, description and HTS arrive pre-filled in the first row. That's the intended loop: calculate duty → generate the invoice → ship. Everything autosaves to your browser's local storage as you type; nothing is uploaded, and closing the tab loses nothing.

The fields US customs actually reads

The generator validates the minimum defensible field set for a US commercial invoice and warns you what's missing:

Field	Rule	Why customs cares
Exporter	Name + full address	Who's declaring the shipment
Consignee	Name + full address	Who's receiving; for formal entries, the importer of record
Importer No. (EIN)	US importer number when available	CBP matches entries to importers by it
Invoice No. + Date	Non-empty, unique per shipment	The document's identity — brokers file by it
Incoterms 2020	One of the 11 rules (EXW → DDP)	Allocates cost and risk; drives what the value must include
Line: Description	Specific English description	Vague goods are the #1 hold trigger
Line: HTS code	6 digits minimum; 8–10 recommended	Duty assessment happens on the code
Line: Origin	Country of manufacture, per line	301/232 exposure and UFLPA enforcement live here
Line: Qty + Unit	Positive quantity with a unit (PCS, KG, SET…)	Valuation and inspection counts
Line: Unit price USD	Actual transaction price	Undervaluation is a penalty case, not a style issue

The completeness check runs live under the form: fill a field, watch the warning disappear. A line only counts as complete when description, 6+ digit HTS, origin, quantity and unit price are all present — partial lines are what gets a shipment questioned.

The rejection reasons this checklist prevents

Customs holds and broker queries overwhelmingly trace back to six defects, and the generator's required-field set exists to block each one:

1. Vague descriptions — "parts", "accessories", "gift", "sample". Write what the object is: "knitted cotton T-shirts", "stainless steel screws". If a description could describe a thousand products, it describes none of them.
2. Missing or wrong country of origin — origin is where the goods were manufactured, not where you bought or shipped them from. It's per line because a mixed carton has mixed origins.
3. Missing or too-short HTS code — six digits is the floor for line completeness; give the full 8–10 digits your broker will file under. Not sure of the code? Find it first, then come back.
4. No Incoterm — without EXW/FOB/CIF/DDP, CBP can't tell whether the declared value includes freight and insurance, which is exactly how valuation disputes start.
5. Quantity/price inconsistencies — a unit price that doesn't reconcile with the line amount invites a valuation query. The form totals lines automatically, so let it.
6. Missing consignee details or importer number — formal entries need someone for CBP to address; an invoice with a trading name and no address isn't deliverable paperwork.

Export, print, and what happens to your data

Export PDF rasterizes the A4 sheet in your browser and downloads the file — no server round-trip. Print hands the same sheet to the browser's print dialog (@media print styling hides everything but the paper). The form autosaves locally about half a second after you stop typing; use clear in the form if you're starting a genuinely new shipment on a shared machine.

Limits: up to 50 lines per document — beyond that, split by purchase order or carton. Units cover the common trade set (PCS, KG, SET, CTN…), and the paper carries ports of loading/discharge, carrier, net weight totals and a notes field for marks, license numbers or "I declare" statements your broker asks for.

From invoice to duty check

If the HTS and origin are already on the invoice, the reverse trip is one paste: drop the code and value into the tariff calculator for the stacked-duty estimate, or the batch calculator for a whole spreadsheet of SKUs. The paper and the numbers ship together — that's the point.