Skip to content
calculatorpro

Proforma Invoice Generator

A proforma invoice asks for payment before the goods or services are supplied — a deposit, an advance, a new customer paying up front. It looks like an invoice and is not one, and this builder prints that sentence on the document rather than leaving it in a help page. Same lines, same tax, same total; a different promise.

  • Free
  • No account needed
  • Nothing leaves your browser

Your business

Logo (optional)

Stays on this device. It is never uploaded anywhere.

Bill to

Document

Terms:

The date is printed with a named month — 25 Sep 2026, never 25/09/2026, which is a different day to half the world.

Items

VAT, discount, delivery and deposits

Your rate, not a rate we look up. Change what it is called in the settings chip in the header — VAT, GST, sales tax.

Taken off before VAT and split across the lines, so a document with two rates still charges the right tax on each.

Whether delivery is taxed, and at what rate, depends on where you trade and what you are sending. You decide it; nothing here assumes.

Comes off the total and leaves a balance due.

Put it on the document rather than in the covering email — the email is the thing most likely to be lost.

Saved on this device as you type. Nothing is uploaded.

PROFORMA INVOICE

Proforma no.
not set
Date
no date

FROM

Your business name

BILL TO

Your customer's name

DESCRIPTIONQTYUNIT PRICEAMOUNT
Website design1£2,400.00£2,400.00
Copywriting8£95.00£760.00
Printed leaflets, A5500£0.42£210.00
Amount payable
£3,370.00

This is a proforma invoice — a request for payment before the goods or services are supplied. It is not a tax invoice, and tax shown on it cannot be reclaimed. A tax invoice follows once payment is received.

Prepared with calculatorpro.co

Show the working
  • Website design: 1 × £2,400.00 = £2,400.00
  • Copywriting: 8 × £95.00 = £760.00
  • Printed leaflets, A5: 500 × £0.42 = £210.00
  • Subtotal: £3,370.00
  • VAT at 0% on £3,370.00 = £0.00
  • Total: £3,370.00

Check this before you rely on it. A free everyday calculator, provided as a guide — not tax, accounting, financial or legal advice. The working is shown above so you can verify it against your own figures. See our terms of use.

How it works

STEP 1

List what you are about to supply

The lines are the order, not the work done: what the customer is paying in advance for. Describe them the way the purchase order does, because this is the document their accounts team will match against it.

STEP 2

Show the tax, and say what it is not

Show the tax you will charge so the customer knows the real amount, at your rate and under your own name for it. The document states on its face that it is not a tax invoice, which is what stops the recipient filing it as one.

STEP 3

Send it, take the payment, then invoice

Download the PDF and send it. Once they pay, switch to the invoice builder — the same lines come with you — and issue the real invoice. That is the document that goes in both sets of books.

What this doesn't cover

Knowing where a calculator stops is what makes the rest of it trustworthy.

  • It is not a tax invoiceA proforma does not entitle your customer to reclaim the tax shown on it, and it does not belong in your sales records as a sale. Both of those wait for the real invoice. This is the single most common mistake made with the document, and it surfaces at an inspection rather than at the time.
  • It does not create a debtNothing on a proforma is owed yet. It is a request for payment in advance rather than a demand for something already supplied, so it is not a receivable in your accounts and it is not a debt you can chase in the way an unpaid invoice is.
  • It is not a customs document by itselfProformas are often used in international trade to declare a shipment’s value, and the requirements there — incoterms, commodity codes, country of origin, a signed declaration — are set by the destination and are outside what this builder produces. Add what your freight forwarder asks for in the notes, or use their form.
  • It does not take the paymentThere is no payment link and no card processing. Put your bank details or your payment instructions in the “how to pay” box and they print on the document, which is where a customer looks for them.
The guideHow to write an invoice, a proforma and a quotationAn invoice needs the word "invoice", a unique number, the date, both businesses’ names and addresses, a line for each item with its price, the tax charged, and the total due with a date to pay it by. Everything else on the page is convention.Read it

Common questions

What is a proforma invoice?

A request for payment sent before the goods or services are supplied. It sets out exactly what the customer will receive and what it will cost, in the same layout as an invoice, so they can approve it, arrange payment or raise a purchase order against it. What it is not is a demand for a debt already owed — nothing on it has been supplied yet.

What is the difference between a proforma invoice and an invoice?

Timing and status. A proforma comes before supply and is a request for payment in advance; an invoice comes after supply and is a demand for payment of a debt. The proforma does not go into your sales records, does not create a receivable, and does not let the customer reclaim the tax shown on it. When the proforma is paid you issue a real invoice for the same amount — and that one does all three.

Can a customer reclaim VAT from a proforma invoice?

No. Tax shown on a proforma cannot be reclaimed, because a proforma is not a tax invoice — it is a quotation-like document in an invoice’s clothing. A registered customer who files one as though it were a tax invoice has reclaimed tax on a document that never entitled them to, and it is the sort of error that is found later rather than sooner. Send the real invoice once payment is received.

When should I send a proforma invoice instead of an invoice?

Whenever you want the money before you supply: a deposit on a large job, a first order from a customer you have no history with, an export shipment that has to be paid before it moves, or an order the customer needs approved internally before they can commit. In each case the proforma gives them a document to act on without you having to claim you have already supplied something you have not.

Does a proforma invoice need a number?

It needs a reference so both sides can talk about it, but it should not take a number from your invoice sequence — that sequence has to be unbroken and every number in it has to be a real invoice. Number your proformas in their own series, which is what this builder does: PRO-0001 onwards, counted separately from your invoices and your quotations.

Is a proforma invoice legally binding?

Not in the way an invoice is. It does not create a debt and the customer is not obliged to pay it, since nothing has been supplied. What it does do is set out the terms clearly enough that accepting it and paying it forms the agreement — so treat the prices and the description on it as an offer you will have to honour.

Should the proforma and the final invoice show the same total?

Yes, if nothing has changed. If the order moved after the proforma was paid — a quantity changed, delivery was added, a rate was different — the real invoice shows the actual figures and the payment already made comes off as a deposit, leaving a balance either way. Put the amount already paid in the “already paid” field and the invoice does that arithmetic and prints the balance due.

Related calculators

Invoice Generator

Build an invoice, proforma or quotation and download it as a PDF.

VAT Calculator

Add or remove VAT at 20%, 5% or a rate you set.

Cost of Goods Sold Calculator

The whole statement — opening stock down to gross profit, line by line.