Commercial invoice specifications
"Fatura Comercial", Portuguese for Commercial Invoice, is a mandatory document to be presented to authorities in order to obtain customs clearance. Know more about the specifications of it here in this article.
The Fatura Comercial (Commercial Invoice) is a mandatory document of legal nature and submitted to international law, containing information on a foreign trade transaction between importers and exporters. It includes information on the contracted goods, quantities, unit prices, amounts, trading terms, forms of payment, and other details pertaining to the safe transport of goods to the importer’s country.
The Commercial Invoice is, along with Conhecimento Aéreo Internacional (Air Waybill), one of the main documents required by the Brazilian customs authorities to release shipments once they arrive in the country. The document is the basis of all export procedures and customs declarations during export and import customs clearance.
It is also a major document certifying valid sales when negotiating with financial institutions, and it serves as a reference when applying for insurance. The foreign exporter may issue multiple copies of the commercial invoice depending on the requirements of a particular export transaction and the shipping conditions.
Any goods imported in Brazil must always be accompanied by the Commercial Invoice originally signed by the supplier to the destination address. The commercial invoice’s first page contains both header and item information. Subsequent pages contain only item information, the invoice number, the invoice date, and the page number. The validity of the Commercial Invoice starts when the goods leave the territory of origin and it is essential to disentangle the goods imported in Brazil as we mentioned above.
Commercial Invoice specifications
The commercial invoice must contain the following information, according to the Federal Revenue Service:
- The complete name and address of the exporter
- The complete name and address of the importer
- Specification of goods in Portuguese or in any official language from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (English, French and Spanish). If in another language, must be accompanied by a translation in English
- Brand, and numbering, and if there is any, the reference number of the volumes
- Amount and kind of packages
- Gross weight of the volumes
- Net weight of the commodity thus considered free of any envelope;
- Country of origin (the place where the goods were produced or where occurred the last substantial transformation)
- Country of purchase (the place where the goods were purchased to be exported to Brazil)
- Country of provenance, thus considered that one where the goods were at the time of their acquisition
- Unit price and total amount of each type of goods shipped, and if the amount and nature of rebates and discounts granted to the importer;
- Freight and other costs related to the goods specified in the invoice
- Conditions and currency of the payment
- Terms of trade (INCOTERM)
The amendments, qualifications or lines made on the invoice must be certified by the exporter.
Important:
The failure by the importer of the obligation to submit the invoice to customs supervision, when required is applicable of penalties such as:
The arbitration in the price of goods for purposes of determining the basis of calculation, according to the criteria defined by law
Cumulative application of fines: 5% of the customs value of imported goods, 100% of the difference between the declared price and the price actually charged on imports or between the declared price and the price arbitrated.