What goes on a commercial invoice

When you need one

Any shipment that crosses a border and is not a document needs a commercial invoice. It is not the packing list and it is not your sales invoice, even though it repeats much of both: it is the declaration customs uses to decide what the goods are, where they came from, what they are worth, and therefore what duty is owed. Domestic LTL and domestic parcel do not need one.

What it must contain

US regulation sets the invoice requirements for imports; the fields below are the ones that decide clearance in practice. 19 CFR 142.6

• Seller and buyer — Full legal names and addresses of both, plus the consignee if the goods go to someone other than the buyer.
• Invoice number and date — What ties this paper to your order, your shipment and your books.
• Detailed description, line by line — What the thing IS, in plain words a stranger can picture. "Parts", "samples" or "gift" is what gets a box opened.
• HTS code per line — The tariff classification. It decides the duty rate, so a wrong or missing one is not a formality.
• Country of origin per line — Where each item was MADE, not where it shipped from. One of the three fields most often left off — and one customs reads first.
• Quantity, unit price and total — Per line, in the currency actually agreed. A value invented to look small is a false statement, not a saving.
• Itemized charges — Freight, insurance, packing and commissions shown separately, not folded into the price. Folded in, they can be treated as part of the dutiable value.
• Assists — Anything the buyer supplied to the seller free or cheap — tooling, molds, materials, designs. Rarely declared, and the third of the three fields customs cares most about.
• Incoterm, currency and net weight — Who pays what and where responsibility changes hands, in which currency, and the weight of the goods themselves.

The same invoice, annotated

A minimal example. Each marker points at the field beside it, and the list underneath says what it is and why customs reads it.

1. Invoice number and date — ties this paper to the order, the shipment and your books.
2. Seller with full legal name, address and tax ID. Not a trade name.
3. Buyer — and note this is the importer of record, the one legally responsible for the classification.
4. Consignee, when the goods go somewhere other than the buyer’s address.
5. Description a stranger can picture. "Apparel" is what gets the box opened; "cotton knit t-shirts, men’s, short sleeve" is not.
6. HTS code per line, ten digits. The first six are international; the rest are the US reading of it.
7. Country of origin per line — where it was MADE. "CO" here is what makes the Colombia agreement claimable.
8. Unit price in the currency actually agreed, and the extended total.
9. Freight and insurance shown SEPARATELY, not folded into the unit price. Folded in, they can become part of the dutiable value.
10. The assist — artwork the buyer gave the seller for free. Almost nobody declares it; customs looks for it.
11. Incoterm, currency and net weight: who carries the risk and where, in what money, and the weight of the goods themselves.
12. A signed declaration that it is true. This is the sentence that makes an "adjusted" value a false statement rather than an error.

The three that get left off

Itemized charges, assists, and country of origin per line. Suppliers omit these three more than any others — and they are the three customs cares about most, because each one changes the dutiable value or the rate. Missing them is not a paperwork slip: it is the difference between the duty you declared and the duty you owe.

An incomplete or inaccurate invoice can mean a hold, a fine, and in the worst case seizure or refusal at the border. If the officer decides reasonable care was not taken, that judgment falls on the importer — not on the person who typed the form.

Where the HTS code comes from

The code is not invented — it is looked up in a schedule published by a US agency, and which schedule depends on the direction of the shipment.

• Coming INTO the US — the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTSUS), published by the US International Trade Commission and enforced by Customs. This is the one that decides the duty you pay. hts.usitc.gov
• Going OUT of the US — Schedule B, published by the US Census Bureau. It is for export statistics, not duty. census.gov
• How the number is built — ten digits. The first SIX are the international HS code, the same in every member country of the World Customs Organization. Digits seven and eight are the US subheading, which is where the duty rate lives. The last two are a statistical suffix. So the first six travel with the product worldwide; the last four are the United States talking to itself.
• When you are not sure — Customs publishes every classification decision it has ever issued, free and searchable, in CROSS. A ruling issued to another importer does not bind you, but it is strong evidence of how Customs reads that product. If the money is serious, you can request your own binding ruling, which does bind Customs at every port for that exact merchandise. rulings.cbp.gov

One thing worth being blunt about: the responsibility is yours. Under the Tariff Act, the importer of record must exercise reasonable care in classifying and valuing the goods, and that duty does not transfer to your customs broker or to whoever typed the invoice. This is why no honest tool will hand you a code — including this one.

Example: a product coming from Colombia

Colombia and the United States have a trade promotion agreement in force. Most Colombian goods already enter the US free of duty, and the agreement finishes phasing in by 2028. But duty-free is not automatic: the good has to actually originate in Colombia under the agreement’s rules of origin, and you have to claim it.

In practice that means three things on your paperwork: the HTS code for the product, "Colombia" as country of origin on that same line, and a certification of origin. That certification is not required for a commercial importation whose originating goods do not exceed US $2,500 — a threshold worth knowing, because most small shipments fall under it. Records supporting the claim are kept for five years.

The rules of origin themselves live in General Note 34 of the tariff schedule, and the regulation in 19 CFR Part 10, Subpart T.

CBP — Colombia TPA →19 CFR Part 10, Subpart T →

Why your LTL freight never asks for any of this

Because they are two different classifications answering two different questions, and confusing them is common.

• Freight class (NMFC) — a TRANSPORT classification. It asks how the freight rides: density, handling, stowability and liability. It sets what the carrier charges. Nobody at customs cares about it.
• HTS code — a CUSTOMS classification. It asks what the thing IS, so a government can decide the duty. It sets what you owe the state. No carrier prices anything with it.

A domestic LTL shipment never crosses a border, so there is no customs entry, so there is no HTS code to give — only a freight class. The moment that same pallet leaves the country, the freight class keeps deciding the transport price and the HTS code appears alongside it to decide the duty. They coexist; neither replaces the other.

What if the pallets themselves cross a border?

Then two things change, and both surprise people.

• LTL does not reach most of Latin America. FedEx Freight’s LTL network covers the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands — it is a trucking network, so it reaches where a truck can drive. There is no LTL lane from Colombia, Peru or Chile, because there is no truck route. Freight from South America moves by ocean or air, which is forwarding: a different mode, a different contract, a different document set, and usually a freight forwarder rather than a carrier you quote directly.
• Where LTL does cross a border, the BOL is not enough. A bill of lading is a contract between you and the carrier about moving the goods. It carries no authority with customs, which is a separate agency asking a separate question. A US–Canada LTL shipment needs the BOL plus a commercial invoice, and a certificate of origin if you are claiming USMCA treatment. A US–Mexico shipment adds the pedimento, the customs declaration filed by a Mexican broker. Incomplete documents are the leading cause of border delays on those lanes — not the freight itself.

So the honest summary: a domestic pallet needs a freight class and a BOL. A pallet crossing into Canada or Mexico needs those plus a customs file someone has to prepare. And a pallet coming up from South America was never an LTL shipment to begin with — it becomes one only after it lands, clears, and starts moving by truck inside the country.

Does the format change by country?

There is no single international invoice form. The six-digit HS code is universal, but everything around it is set by the customs authority of the country the goods are ENTERING — so the rules that matter are the destination’s, not yours.

What varies in practice: the language it must be written in, how many originals and copies, whether it has to be signed, whether it needs a specific caption, and whether some document must be legalized by a consulate or a chamber of commerce. Argentina, for example, requires the invoice in Spanish — one original and three copies, captioned "Original Invoice" — and its certificate of origin carries a chamber of commerce signature plus consular legalization. A neighbouring country will not necessarily ask for any of that.

That is why the honest answer is not a template but a source: the US government publishes a Country Commercial Guide per destination, with that country’s import documentation. Check it before the first shipment to a country you have not shipped to, not after the box is held.

Country Commercial Guides →Commercial invoice — trade.gov →

Where the paper actually goes

In the pouch on the outside of the box — the clear adhesive sleeve that holds the paperwork so customs can read it without opening anything. Put the invoice inside the box and you have guaranteed the box gets opened.

Those pouches, along with airbills and envelopes, are ordered from your own account at no cost and arrive in a few business days. Worth knowing before you order: the complimentary supplies are a FedEx Express benefit — Ground does not get all of them.

Order shipping supplies →

If your shipment is palletized instead

Then it is freight, not parcel, and the numbers that decide its price are different: freight class by density, linear feet, and the pallets themselves. That is what the calculator is for.

Start a freight quote →How to quote, step by step →

Sources

Everything above is checkable. These are the agencies that publish the rules, not someone else’s summary of them.

• Harmonized Tariff Schedule — US International Trade Commission
• Schedule B — US Census Bureau
• CROSS, customs rulings database — CBP
• 19 CFR 142.6, invoice requirements
• Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement — CBP
• 19 CFR Part 10, Subpart T — Colombia TPA regulation
• Country Commercial Guides — International Trade Administration

Disclaimer

This is general operational guidance, not customs, legal or tax advice. Classification and valuation depend on your goods and your transaction; a licensed customs broker is who advises on a specific entry. FedEx and FedEx Express are trademarks of their owners; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.