Invoice
Also known as: commercial invoice, handelsfactuur
The commercial invoice is the leading document for the import declaration. You take the goods code, the customs value and the origin from it. Without an invoice or an equivalent statement of value you cannot declare in DMS.
Why is the commercial invoice leading for the import declaration?
Customs charges duty on the transaction value: the price paid or payable for the goods, adjusted with the costs that belong up to the external border of the Union. That price sits on the commercial invoice. The packing list has no price. The bill of lading has no price. A proforma has no payment obligation. That is why the invoice is the document the declaration rests on, and the document that is laid down first in a control. Leading does not mean you copy the invoice blindly. You check whether the description is classifiable, whether the Incoterm explains what is and is not in the price, whether origin is stated, and whether the parties match the power of attorney. An invoice with parts, USD 12,000, FOB, without origin, is an invoice you cannot declare on. In DMS, the Dutch declaration system, the invoice lines feed the item lines of the IMA. One invoice line can become several items if you split on goods code. Several lines can become one item if code, origin and Incoterm are the same. The invoice remains the source, the declaration the translation.
Which fields from the invoice go into the declaration?
Per line: the goods description (as the basis for classification), the quantity and the unit, the unit price, the line value, and the net weight. At header level: seller, buyer, invoice number, invoice date, currency, Incoterm with place, country of origin or an origin statement, and the references to the shipment. The importer's EORI comes from the master data, but the name and address on the invoice must belong to that EORI. The goods code itself is often not on the invoice, or there is a shipper's code that you do not take over. Classification is the declarant's responsibility. What you need from the invoice is a description specific enough to classify: material, function, condition (new, used), and for textiles or machines the characteristics the nomenclature asks for. Description of goods is not a description. The currency goes into the declaration as on the invoice, and DMS converts at the exchange rate of the date of acceptance. Converting yourself to euro while the invoice is in dollars is an error. Customs wants the invoice currency, not your calculation.
Incoterms, currency and what belongs in the customs value
The Incoterm on the invoice determines whether freight and insurance are already in the price. Under EXW or FCA the main carriage is not in, and you must add the costs to the external border of the EU. Under CIF or CIP to a Union port that part is already in, and the transport after the external border may come off if you can show it separately. Without an Incoterm you cannot make that sum. An invoice without an Incoterm is unusable for the customs value. The place with the Incoterm belongs there. FOB Shanghai is something other than FOB Rotterdam. FOB without a place is not an Incoterm, it is a label. Put the place in the declaration as it stands on the invoice, and bring the freight invoice if you have to add or deduct. Surcharges on the invoice (packing, sorting, commission, assists) often belong in the customs value, discounts sometimes not, depending on whether they belong to the sale and whether they are fixed at import. A credit note after import on an agreed price reduction can lead to a revision. A credit note on damage after arrival usually does not.
Several invoices, credit notes and splits
One shipment, several invoices, is normal: several suppliers in one container, or one supplier who invoices per purchase order. Each invoice becomes a set of item lines under the same header, with the same transport document. You allocate the gross weight of the B/L or CMR across the invoices via the packing list, not equally. Without a split on the packing list you cannot defend the weights. You treat a credit note as a correction of the invoice it refers to. If it belongs to the shipment you are declaring now, you process it in the customs value. If it belongs to an earlier shipment, it belongs with a revision of that declaration, not as a discount on this one. A credit note without an invoice number is an amount without a hook. Splitting (part to warehouse, part to free circulation, or two consignees in one container) is only possible if you can point to value, packages and weight per part. The invoice alone is rarely enough. You need the packing list, and often a split statement from the shipper. Without that statement two declarations cannot be traced back to the sheet.
Invoice, packing list, proforma and bill of sale: what is what?
The commercial invoice is the payment obligation of a sale and the leading piece for the declaration. The packing list is the physical specification without a price. The proforma invoice is a statement of value without a payment duty, for shipments without a sale. The bill of sale is, in the vehicle trade, proof of purchase of a specific vehicle, often next to or instead of a classic commercial invoice, and serves mainly to support the customs value and the VIN chain. Do not confuse the commercial invoice with an invoice declaration. An invoice declaration is an origin statement on the invoice, not a document type. Only the manufacturer can truly prove origin. A sentence on the invoice is a statement, not a certificate. The pages on origin and invoice declaration cover when that sentence is enough. If you receive in one email a commercial invoice, a packing list and a proforma for the same shipment, you choose. If there is a sale, the commercial invoice is leading and the proforma is surplus to the declaration. If there is no sale, the proforma is leading. In both cases the packing list is the sheet for packages and weight.
What Customs recalculates in a control of the invoice
First whether the parties match: is the buyer on the invoice the importer in the declaration, or a related party whose price may have been influenced by the relationship? Related parties do not automatically make the transaction value unusable, but Customs may ask whether the relationship influenced the price. An internal transfer-price sheet without support then does not stand. Then the arithmetic: do the lines add up to the total, is the currency correct, is the Incoterm usable, have freight and insurance to the external border been processed, and do weight and quantity match packing list and transport document. An invoice whose lines do not add up is an invoice whose customs value is not established. Do that sum yourself before DMS has accepted the declaration. Finally classification and origin. A vague description plus a missing origin leads to a tariff query, and on preference to the full rate because the track is not supported. The invoice need not carry the goods code. It must carry the facts with which you can defend the code and the origin. If those facts are missing, the file is incomplete.