A pro forma invoice is the priced offer a seller issues before the goods ship: the lines, the quantities, the discount, the tax and the shipping totalled so the buyer can approve, arrange payment or clear customs before anything moves. It looks like an invoice and it is not one; it creates no receivable, it goes on no statement, and the real invoice follows when the goods go. This page is about what the pro forma carries, when a wholesaler or distributor issues one, how it turns into the invoice on the account, and the mistakes that come from treating it as the invoice. The free proforma invoice tool on this site totals one from the seller's own lines.
What the pro forma carries
The seller and the buyer, a date and a validity period, the lines with quantities and unit prices, any discount, the tax on the goods, the shipping, the total, the terms the sale will be on, and a clear label that it is a pro forma. The figure the buyer needs is the total they will owe if they say yes, and the figure the seller needs is the same total carried forward unchanged to the invoice when the goods ship.
When to issue one
Before a first sale to a new account, when the buyer needs a figure to raise their own purchase order, when payment in advance is a condition of shipping, and for exports where customs wants the value declared before the goods arrive. It is a commitment to a price for a period, not a demand for money, and the validity date is what stops an old pro forma being paid at last season's prices.
From pro forma to invoice on the account
When the goods ship the invoice is issued with the same lines and total, its own number, its issue date and its due date under the agreed terms, and it is the invoice that goes on the customer's account, the statement and the tracker. If the buyer paid against the pro forma in advance, the payment is applied against the invoice the day it is issued so the account shows it settled. The pro forma itself is filed with the order and never appears on the statement.
What a pro forma must not do
It must not be paid from as if it were the invoice, because then the account carries a payment with no invoice to apply it to; it must not be used as the tax invoice, because it is not one; and it must not be issued without a validity date, because prices move. Keep it as the priced offer it is and the account stays clean.
Questions people ask about pro forma invoice
What is a pro forma invoice?
A priced offer issued before the goods ship, totalling the lines, discount, tax and shipping so the buyer can approve or pay in advance. It creates no receivable; the real invoice follows at shipment.
Is a pro forma invoice a legal invoice?
No. It is not a tax invoice and does not go on the customer's account. The invoice issued when the goods ship is the document the account records.
What happens if a customer pays against a pro forma?
Apply the payment against the invoice on the day the invoice is issued, so the account shows the invoice settled rather than an unexplained payment.
Is there a free pro forma invoice tool?
Yes. The proforma invoice on this site totals the lines, discount, tax and shipping from your own figures with no account. The paid record keeps every pro forma and invoice against the customer.