Export-only commercial invoice fields a VAT invoice does not carry

When goods cross a border, the invoice does more than bill the buyer: customs authorities read it to clear the shipment and set the duty. A commercial (export) invoice therefore carries fields that a purely domestic UK VAT invoice never needs. The annotated exhibit above labels each export-only field on a worked UK-to-India example so an exporter can check a template against what a customs broker actually needs.

Four fields are the additions. First, an EORI number for both parties: the Economic Operators Registration and Identification number that HMRC uses to track the movement. A UK exporter cannot make a customs declaration without a GB EORI. Second, the country of origin, which is where the goods were made, not where they were shipped from. Third, the Incoterms 2020 rule with a named place (for example CIP Pune), which fixes who pays carriage, insurance, and risk. Fourth, a per-line HS code: the Harmonised System commodity code that classifies each item for duty, one code per description line. Export supplies of goods are also normally zero-rated for VAT^[1], evidenced by the export.

The load-bearing point for the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is what the invoice does not do. A preferential tariff is not granted by getting the invoice fields right. It is claimed on a separate origin declaration made out by the exporter, declaring the goods meet the agreement's rules of origin. The invoice proves the transaction; the origin declaration proves the goods qualify for the lower tariff. Two separate documents, two separate jobs.

That split is where exporters most often trip. A perfectly formatted commercial invoice with country of origin marked "United Kingdom" does not, by itself, secure the preferential rate at the Indian border. The importer needs the origin declaration to claim preference, and the goods must actually satisfy the origin rules for the declaration to be valid. Treat the invoice as the customs and commercial record, and the origin declaration as the tariff-preference instrument. The HS codes, Incoterms, and declaration wording shown here are illustrative; confirm the correct commodity classification and the exact origin-declaration text^[3] against current HMRC and CETA guidance before shipping.