Proforma invoice for export

Last reviewed: October 2026

What an export proforma adds

What a proforma invoice is, how advances against it are taxed and how it converts into the final invoice are on the main proforma invoice page. For an export, the proforma does more work, because the buyer's government and bank rely on it before you ship:

• The importer's licence or foreign-exchange approval may be issued on the proforma's value, HS codes and quantities.
• The importer's bank remits the advance, or opens a letter of credit, on the proforma's amount, currency, goods description and Incoterm.
• Your freight forwarder and customs broker plan the shipment from its ports, weights and packages.

So whatever you write on the export proforma has to survive unchanged into the commercial invoice, the packing list, the shipping bill and, if there is one, the letter of credit.

How to fill in this export proforma

1. Exporter and buyerEnter your business with its GSTIN and put the IEC in the notes. Add the buyer with the full overseas address and country.
2. Goods with HS codesOne line per product with the HS code in the description, quantity, unit and price. The editor drafts in rupees for an Indian seller; quote dollar prices in the notes if the order is in USD.
3. Supply type and IGSTIn the details, set Supply type to "Export under LUT (zero-rated)" and the IGST stays at nil. For "Export with IGST paid", set each line to the goods' GST rate.
4. Shipping and payment termsIn the terms, write the Incoterms 2020 rule and named place, payment terms, shipment period and validity. In the notes, add origin, ports, packages and weights, and "not a commercial invoice".
5. Sign in to issue and convertCreating here is free. Signing in numbers the proforma in its own series, lets you send it and later convert it into the tax invoice at shipment; issuing and sending need the Sales module.

Example: a garment export from Tiruppur to Dubai

Noyyal Knit Exports in Tiruppur has agreed to sell 2,400 T-shirts and 1,200 polo shirts to a Dubai wholesaler. The buyer pays 30% in advance and the balance against shipping documents through the banks (D/P at sight). The goods go by sea from Chennai, FOB, and Noyyal exports under a letter of undertaking (LUT), so no IGST is charged.

1. Exporter with GSTIN and IEC (the 10-character Importer-Exporter Code, the same as the PAN).
2. Validity: prices and exchange risk hold until this date.
3. Incoterms 2020 rule and named place: it fixes what the price includes.
4. Payment terms: share in advance and how the balance is collected.
5. Buyer, country and port of discharge, exactly as the importer's bank and customs will show them.
6. HS code per line; the shipping bill uses the 8-digit Indian code under the same 6-digit heading.
7. Total and currency, labelled with the Incoterm, so nobody adds freight twice.
8. Origin, ports, packages and weights, the LUT status and "not a commercial invoice".

The same order in rupees, as the editor drafts it

Indian exporters may also invoice in rupees. The editor above drafts the proforma as an Indian document, so the two routes for GST on an export show as they will on the tax invoice. Under an LUT the IGST line is zero:

If Noyyal exported on payment of IGST instead, at the 5% rate for apparel priced up to ₹2,500 a piece, it would charge and pay the tax and then claim it back as a refund once the shipping bill is filed:

Export fields, and where each one goes next

India classifies goods in 8-digit ITC(HS) codes, aligned with the international Harmonized System at 6 digits. The first six digits are what the buyer's customs will recognise; the shipping bill needs the full 8-digit Indian code. Use the same heading on every document.

Choosing the Incoterms rule

The Incoterms rule decides what your price includes and where the risk passes to the buyer. Incoterms 2020, in force since 1 January 2020, is the current edition. Always write the rule, the named place and the edition: "FOB Chennai, Incoterms 2020".

• FOB, CFR and CIF are sea rules. For goods in containers handed over at an inland container depot or a terminal, FCA, CPT or CIP fit better, because your risk otherwise runs until the container is loaded on the ship, after you have lost control of it.
• DDP makes you the importer. You pay the buyer's import duties and taxes and may need to register in their country; avoid it unless you have done that.
• The price follows the rule. A CIF quote is the FOB price plus freight and insurance; label the total "Total CIF Jebel Ali" so the buyer's bank and customs read it correctly.

Payment terms and the RBI rules behind them

• Realisation period. Under the RBI's Master Direction on export of goods and services, the full value of goods exported must be realised and repatriated within nine months from the date of export. The limit was raised to fifteen months in November 2025 and brought back to nine months in June 2026.
• Advance payments. If you receive an advance against an export, the goods must be shipped within three years of receiving it (one year before November 2025).
• Currency. Export contracts and invoices may be in any freely convertible currency or in Indian rupees; rupee invoicing and settlement through special rupee vostro accounts has been allowed since July 2022.
• Tracking. Your authorised dealer bank reports shipping bills and inward remittances in the RBI's Export Data Processing and Monitoring System (EDPMS); each shipping bill stays open until the proceeds are matched to it. Give the bank the proforma or contract when the advance arrives so it can be tagged to your export.
• Credit insurance. For D/P, D/A and open account sales, ECGC (Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India) insures against the buyer's default and country risk.

For a letter of credit, the importer's bank copies the proforma's amount, goods description, Incoterm, shipment date and document list into the credit. Read the credit against your proforma as soon as it arrives and ask for amendments before you ship; the main proforma invoice page explains why the final presentation must use the commercial invoice, not the proforma.

GST on exports: LUT or IGST paid

Exports are zero-rated under section 16 of the IGST Act. The proforma has no GST effect of its own, but it should show which route you will use, so the buyer is not surprised by a tax line on the invoice.

• Under LUT: file a letter of undertaking in form GST RFD-11 before exporting (it covers a financial year), export without IGST, and claim refund of unused input tax credit if you want it.
• On payment of IGST: charge IGST on the tax invoice, pay it, and receive it back as a refund once the shipping bill and export are confirmed. A short list of notified goods cannot use this route.
• The tax invoice endorsement (rule 46 of the CGST Rules) reads "SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT/SUPPLY TO SEZ UNIT OR SEZ DEVELOPER FOR AUTHORISED OPERATIONS UNDER BOND OR LETTER OF UNDERTAKING WITHOUT PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX", or "ON PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX" for the second route. It goes on the tax invoice, not the proforma.
• Time limit under LUT (rule 96A): if the goods are not exported within three months of the tax invoice date, or a further period the Commissioner allows, IGST becomes payable with interest within fifteen days. Date the tax invoice at shipment, not when the proforma is accepted.
• Advance for goods: an advance received against an export proforma creates no GST liability for goods; the tax point is the invoice at supply.

From proforma to shipment: the documents that follow

The Foreign Trade Policy lists three mandatory export documents: the bill of lading or airway bill (or lorry, railway or postal receipt), the commercial invoice cum packing list, and the shipping bill or bill of export. The commercial invoice template and the export invoice format show those documents; each should repeat the proforma's description, HS code and Incoterm exactly.

United States: proforma invoices at customs

Searches for "proforma invoice for customs" come mostly from the US. US Customs enters goods on the commercial invoice, which under 19 CFR 141.86 must show, among other things, the port of entry, the seller and buyer, the time and place of sale, a detailed description with marks and numbers, quantities, the purchase price in the currency of the sale, and the charges included (freight, insurance, commissions, packing). When the commercial invoice is not available at entry, a pro forma invoice may be filed in its place under 19 CFR 141.85, with a bond to produce the commercial invoice later.

For small parcels, note that the $800 de minimis exemption has been suspended, so low-value shipments to the US now need a formal or informal entry with proper invoice values. Courier shipments of free samples still travel with a proforma invoice stating a realistic value for customs.

Mistakes to avoid on an export proforma

• An Incoterm without a named place or edition. "FOB" alone does not say which port.
• A different description or HS code on the commercial invoice. The LC, licence and customs entry were based on the proforma.
• FOB or CIF for containers handed over inland. Your risk runs until loading on the ship; use FCA, CPT or CIP.
• No validity date in a volatile currency. A 90-day-old dollar price can be a loss.
• Forgetting the LUT. Without one filed for the year, the export must go on payment of IGST.
• Leaving the advance unlinked. Ask your bank to tag the advance to the export so it can be matched in EDPMS.
• Shipping late under LUT. Goods not exported within three months of the tax invoice attract IGST with interest.

Key terms

IEC (Importer-Exporter Code)

The 10-character code DGFT issues to exporters and importers; it is the same as the PAN.

Incoterms 2020

The ICC rules that define delivery, costs and the transfer of risk between seller and buyer.

LUT (letter of undertaking)

The GST RFD-11 filing that lets an exporter ship without paying IGST.

D/P and D/A

Documents against payment and documents against acceptance: collections through banks under URC 522.

Shipping bill

The export declaration filed with Indian Customs on ICEGATE.

EDPMS

The RBI system in which banks match export shipping bills with the payments received.

Questions people ask