商业发票和形式发票的区别

The difference between commercial invoice and proforma invoice

商业发票（COMMERCIAL INVOICE）是出口方向进口方开列发货价目清单，是买卖双方记账的依据，也是进出口报关交税的总说明。商业发票是一笔业务的全面反映，内容包括商品的名称、规格、价格、数量、金额、包装等，同时也是进口商办理进口报关不可缺少的文件，因此商业发票是全套出口单据的核心，在单据制作过程中，其余单据均需参照商业发票缮制。

COMMERCIAL INVOICE is the list of shipping prices made by the exporter to the importer, the basis on which the buyer and the seller keep accounts, and the general description of import and export declaration and tax payment. Commercial invoice is a comprehensive reflection of the business, including the name of the commodity, specifications, price, quantity, amount, packing and so on, at the same time also is indispensable to importers handle import customs clearance documents, commercial invoice is the core of the full set of export documents, therefore, in the process of documents making, all needs to refer to commercial invoice made out the rest of the documents.

形式发票(PROFORMA INVOICE)是一种非正式发票，是卖方对潜在的买方报价的一种形式。买方常常需要形式发票，以作为申请进口和批准外汇之用。

A PROFORMA INVOICE is an informal INVOICE that is a form of a seller's offer to a potential buyer. Buyers often need proforma invoices for import applications and foreign exchange approvals.

形式发票又叫预示发票。卖方凭此预先让买方知晓如果双方将来以某数量成交之后，卖方要开给买方的商业发票大致的形式及内容,是一种试算性质的货运清单。出口商有时应进口商的要求，发出一份列有出售货物的名称、规格、单价等非正式参考性发票，供进口商向其本国贸易管理当局或外汇管理当局申请进口许可证或批准给予外汇等之用，这种发票叫做形式发票。形式发票不是一种正式发票，不能用于托收和议付，它所列的单价等，也仅仅是进口商根据当时情况所作的估计，对双方都无最终的约束力，所以说形式发票只是一种估价单，正式成交还要另外重新缮制商业发票。

形式发票的主要作用如下：（1）作为数量化的报价；（2）作为销售确认；（3）让买方凭此申请：进口许可证，外汇许可，开立信用证。