Commercial Invoice Document

The Commercial Invoice Document is a form that you must provide as a customs declaration for items that you are exporting across international borders. The form must contain specific and required information about the seller, buyer, and goods and services. It is typically used to calculate tariffs.

In Distribution SX.e, you can create a Commercial Invoice Document. Use the Sales Commercial Invoice Print Report function to print the Commercial Invoice Document. You can print the report for a range of orders, customers, or warehouses, or for a specific list of order. Running this report does not affect the stage of the order.

The report generates an XML file that can be imported by a printing solution, such as unForms or NowDocs. Optionally, as part of enabling the Commercial Invoice Document, you can specify the script command to email the document to the printing solution. In SA Administrator Options-System-Options, specify the script command in the E-mail Command field. Typically, the script command is xmlprint.sh, or xmlprint.bat for Windows Server.

The same data contained in the XML file is also contained in an Infor Invoice BOD. The BOD can be passed to external applications using the ION infrastructure. For example, you can contract with an external company to print the Commercial Invoice Document.

You can include specific and required information on the document. For example:

  • Country of origin: Defines where the item was manufactured. Specify the country of origin in the Country field in Product Setup to print it on the Commercial Invoice Document.
  • Harmonized System (HS) tariff code: The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System is a classification for commodity groups. If you have defined and specified an HS tariff code, it is included on the Commercial Invoice Document.
  • Incoterms: Defines a term of sale for the charges included in the total value on the invoice. If you have defined and specified an Incoterm, it is included on the Commercial Invoice Document.
  • ECCN - The Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) is used to determine whether an export license is required by the U.S. Department of Commerce. If you have defined and specified an ECCN code, it is included on the Commercial Invoice Document.
  • MSDS: To identify products that are considered hazardous and require special handling, the Hazardous designation is displayed in multiple functions and prints on multiple documents. The hazardous information that is specified in Product Hazardous Info Setup is available in the generated XML file.
  • Name and address of shipper, or seller, as shown on the address label, including a contact person and telephone number.
  • Name and address of consignee, or ship to, including destination country and postal code, as shown on the address label. To help ensure prompt delivery, a contact person and telephone number must be included.
  • Parties to the transaction are related or not related. Typically, this would be a true or false disclosure regarding whether the parties are related. Relationships can be professional, for example, an officer in the company, or familial, for example, a sibling.
  • Invoice date
  • Purchase order or invoice number, if applicable
  • Name and address of purchaser, or importer, if different from the consignee, including a contact name and telephone number.
  • Complete description of each item being shipped, including what the item is made of and what it is used for.
  • Number of units, unit value, and total value of each item. For samples or articles with no commercial value, a nominal or fair-market value must be stated for customs purposes.
  • Transportation and declared value or insurance charges
  • Total value of the shipment, including currency of settlement
  • Reason for export. For example, sale, repair, inter-company.
  • Number of packages and total weight of packages.

Ensure that all information that you want to print on Commercial Invoice Document has been set up and assigned correctly. Undefined and unassigned information does not print on the document. For example, Country of origin, Incoterms, ECCN code must be set up in SA Table Value Setup and assigned to customer, vendor, and product records. Confirm that the content of customer, vendor, and product records that prints on the document meets the spirit and intent of the declaration. For example, if customs needs to know what the product is made of, include that information in the item description.

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