US Customs Commercial Invoice: 11 Data Elements and Dutiable Value

A commercial invoice presented to U.S. Customs and Border Protection must carry the eleven data elements listed in 19 CFR 141.86, and meeting those U.S. customs commercial invoice requirements is your responsibility as the importer because CBP does not publish an official invoice form. The agency dictates content, not layout. You build the document yourself, or you use a carrier or broker template, and you make sure every required element is present, accurate, and legible before the goods ship.1eCFR. 19 CFR 141.86 – Contents of Invoices and General Requirements

The Eleven Data Elements CBP Requires

Written in plain language, an entry invoice must show:

  • The U.S. port of entry where the goods will arrive.
  • The parties and the timing: who sold the merchandise, who bought it, and where and when the sale took place. If there is no purchase behind the shipment, name the shipper, the receiver, and the place of shipment instead.
  • A detailed description of each item, including the name used in trade, the grade or quality, and any marks or numbers assigned by the seller or manufacturer. Labels like “parts” or “samples” get flagged.
  • Quantities in weights and measures, stated either in the exporting country’s system or in U.S. units.
  • The purchase price of each item in the currency of the sale. If the goods were not purchased, state the value or the price the seller would have accepted in normal wholesale trade.
  • The kind of currency, whether gold, silver, or paper.
  • Every charge attached to the shipment, itemized by name and amount: freight, insurance, commissions, containers, packing, and any cost of moving the goods from alongside the vessel at the foreign port to alongside the vessel at the first U.S. port.
  • Any rebate, drawback, or bounty the exporting country grants on the merchandise.
  • The country of origin, meaning where the goods were manufactured or produced.
  • Any assists the buyer furnished for production, such as dies, molds, tools, or engineering work, when their value is not already reflected in the invoice price.

That last item catches first-time importers off guard. If your company supplied tooling to a foreign factory to produce the goods, the tooling value belongs on the invoice even though you paid for it separately.

How CBP Calculates Dutiable Value

The dollar figure CBP applies duty rates to is the transaction value: the price actually paid or payable for the goods when sold for export to the United States. That price is adjusted upward by certain additions and is not reduced by certain costs that may appear elsewhere on your invoice.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1401a – Value

What Gets Added to the Price

Even when they do not appear on the invoice, CBP adds these amounts to the transaction value if the buyer incurred them:

  • Packing costs paid by the buyer.
  • Selling commissions paid by the buyer to an agent of the seller.
  • Assists such as tools, molds, or engineering work furnished for production.
  • Royalties or license fees the buyer must pay as a condition of the sale.

    • li>Resale proceeds that flow back to the seller after importation.

Leaving any of these out of your declared value is undervaluation, and undervaluation carries penalties.

FOB, Not CIF

Importers who deal with other national customs systems get this wrong. Many countries assess duties on the CIF value (cost, insurance, and freight combined). The United States does not. International shipping and insurance are excluded from the dutiable value provided they are identified separately on the invoice.3U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Duty – Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF) Itemize freight and insurance as distinct line items so CBP can verify the deduction. If those charges get folded into the unit price with no breakout, CBP may treat the full amount as dutiable.

Currency Conversion

When the invoice is in a foreign currency, CBP converts to U.S. dollars using the Treasury Department’s published rate for the quarter in which the goods are exported. If no rate is published for that quarter, or if the published rate differs from the noon buying rate on the export date by 5 percent or more, CBP uses the noon buying rate.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5151 – Conversion of Currency of Foreign Countries CBP posts current and historical exchange rate tables on its website, so you can check the applicable rate before your goods ship.

Where the Template Comes From

Because CBP prescribes content rather than layout, importers pull their invoice format from one of three places:

  • Carrier templates. FedEx, UPS, and DHL each publish downloadable commercial invoice forms preformatted with fields for the CBP data elements. These work for straightforward shipments.
  • Customs broker software. A licensed broker’s trade management platform generates invoices that map directly to filing requirements in the Automated Commercial Environment. This is the safer option for high-value or complex entries.
  • Your own format. A spreadsheet or an ERP-generated invoice is acceptable as long as every required element appears.

Whatever template you choose, confirm it has room for ten-digit HTSUS classification codes, itemized charges, and a country-of-origin field on each line. Templates built for domestic sales almost always lack these fields.

Filling Out the Invoice

Give each distinct product its own line item. Different goods carry different HTSUS classifications and duty rates, and bundling them on one line forces a CBP officer to guess which rate applies. Each line should show the description, HTSUS code, quantity, unit price, and extended total.5International Trade Administration. Harmonized System (HS) Codes

Below the line items, break out every charge: inland freight to the foreign port, ocean or air freight, insurance, buying commissions, container costs, and packing. The regulation requires charges to be itemized by name and amount, though packing and inland freight can be built into the unit price if identified as included. Leaving charges unlisted does not make them invisible to CBP. It makes the entry look incomplete.

The bottom of the invoice should carry a declaration signed by the seller or shipper certifying that the prices and descriptions are accurate. An unsigned invoice can be rejected outright.

If the buyer and seller are related under customs law (same corporate family, one owns 5 percent or more of the other, an employer-employee relationship, and similar connections), disclose that relationship on the invoice. CBP uses the disclosure to test whether the relationship influenced the transaction value, and failing to declare it up front undermines a reasonable-care defense if the entry is later audited.6eCFR. 19 CFR 152.102 – Definitions

How the Invoice Reaches CBP

Nearly all import entries are filed electronically through the Automated Commercial Environment, CBP’s centralized processing system.7U.S. Customs and Border Protection. ACE: The Import and Export Processing System Data from your commercial invoice feeds into the entry filed through the Automated Broker Interface, the channel that connects licensed customs brokers to ACE.8U.S. Customs and Border Protection. ACE Automated Broker Interface (ABI) Most importers rely on a licensed broker for the electronic filing, though an importer of record with its own ABI connection can file directly.

Digital submission lets CBP screen a shipment before it arrives. If something looks off, the agency may issue a Request for Information on CBP Form 28, asking for supporting documents such as purchase orders, payment records, or lab reports.9U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Request for Information – CBP Form 28 Answer quickly. Unresolved Form 28 requests can lead to liquidated damages under your import bond and to storage fees at the terminal.

Physical copies of the invoice should still travel with the shipment, typically in a clear packing-list envelope on the outside of the container. Electronic filing is the primary channel, but port inspectors reference the paper documents during cargo examinations.

The $800 De Minimis Threshold Is Gone

Before August 2025, shipments valued at $800 or less could enter under Section 321 without formal customs documentation or duty payment. That exemption has been fully suspended. An executive order effective August 29, 2025, eliminated the de minimis threshold for all countries, all modes of transportation, and all methods of entry.10The White House. Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Countries Every commercial shipment now requires a proper entry filing in ACE, a commercial invoice meeting the 19 CFR 141.86 requirements, and payment of applicable duties. If you previously moved low-value goods without preparing a full invoice, you now need one for every shipment regardless of value.

When a Pro Forma Invoice Can Substitute

Some merchandise does not require a commercial invoice. Under 19 CFR 141.83, goods not intended for sale or commercial use, returned U.S. exports, merchandise shipped to a U.S. government agency, and goods entered temporarily under bond, among other categories, can enter on a pro forma (substitute) invoice.11eCFR. 19 CFR 141.83 – Type of Invoice Required The pro forma must still give CBP enough information to examine the goods and determine duties, but the full commercial-invoice formalities do not apply. If you are importing commercial goods for resale and the seller’s invoice simply has not arrived, a pro forma is not a workaround. The exceptions are narrow and category-specific.

What Errors on the Invoice Cost

A wrong invoice is not a paperwork inconvenience. Federal law imposes civil penalties on anyone who enters goods using a document that is materially false or contains a material omission. The penalty depends on the importer’s level of fault:12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1592 – Penalties for Fraud, Gross Negligence, and Negligence

  • Fraud: a civil penalty up to the full domestic value of the merchandise.
  • Gross negligence: a penalty up to the lesser of the domestic value or four times the duties that were or could have been lost. If the error did not affect duty assessment, the cap is 40 percent of the dutiable value.
  • Negligence: a penalty up to the lesser of the domestic value or two times the lost duties. Without a duty impact, the cap is 20 percent of dutiable value.

Most first-time errors land in the negligence tier. CBP can move up to gross negligence when the importer had reason to know better, such as repeating a classification mistake after a Form 28 correction on a prior entry. The fraud tier is reserved for intentional misstatements, like declaring Chinese-origin goods as Vietnamese to dodge antidumping duties.

Keep the Invoice for Five Years

Federal law requires you to keep every commercial invoice and related entry record for five years from the date of entry.13eCFR. 19 CFR Part 163 – Recordkeeping Related entry records include purchase orders, payment receipts, packing lists, correspondence about price or quantity, and any other document tied to the import transaction. CBP can demand production at any point during the five-year window, and the penalties for failing to produce are separate from the entry-error penalties above.

Willful failure to maintain records that CBP later demands carries a penalty of up to $100,000 or 75 percent of the appraised value of the merchandise, whichever is less, per release of goods. Negligent failure carries up to $10,000 or 40 percent of appraised value, whichever is less.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 19 USC 1509 – Examination of Books and Witnesses If the missing document relates to eligibility for a preferential duty rate, CBP can reliquidate the entry at the higher rate. A well-organized digital archive is cheap insurance.