What is a proforma invoice?
A proforma invoice is a quote that looks like an invoice. You send it before the sale is final: before the goods ship, before the work starts, or to ask for a deposit. It shows the buyer what they will pay, with the lines and totals of the invoice to come.
This tool treats a proforma as a quote, never as a tax invoice. Every file it makes says "PROFORMA — not a tax invoice" at the top: the PDF, the Word file and the Excel file. None of them takes a number from an invoice sequence.
Proforma invoice vs invoice
In the EU, an invoice carries "a sequential number, based on one or more series, which uniquely identifies the invoice" (Directive 2006/112/EC, art. 226(2), EUR-Lex, last verified 23 October 2026). Keep your proformas out of that sequence: give each one your own reference instead.
| Proforma invoice (this tool) | Invoice | |
|---|---|---|
| When you send it | Before the sale is final | When your country's rules say |
| Its number | Your own reference, if you want one | In the EU, the next number of a sequence (art. 226(2)) |
| What it is for | The buyer sees and approves the price | The sale, with its VAT, in both sides' books |
| If the price changes | Send a new proforma | Your country's rules say how to correct an invoice |
When to send a proforma invoice
- A quote your buyer can approve. Purchasing teams often want the price on a document that looks like the invoice to come.
- A deposit or a payment in advance. The proforma says what the buyer pays now, and for what.
- A buyer that needs a document before it pays. For example, to open a purchase order.
What the template puts on it
- your company and your customer: name, address, country and VAT number,
- the date, an optional "valid until" date and your own reference,
- one line per product or service: quantity, unit price, VAT rate, net amount, VAT and total,
- the VAT per rate and the totals,
- your notes, for example payment terms or bank details.
You choose the VAT rate of each line. The tool multiplies and adds; it does not decide which rate applies. Leave the rate at 0 if you do not charge VAT.
InvoiceCow does not store what you type. Each file is made once and goes straight to your browser.
After the proforma: the invoice
When to issue the invoice depends on the country and the sale. In the EU, the VAT Directive sets one time limit itself: for intra-EU supplies of goods and for reverse-charge services, "an invoice shall be issued no later than on the fifteenth day of the month following that in which the chargeable event occurs" (Directive 2006/112/EC, art. 222, EUR-Lex, last verified 23 October 2026). "For other supplies of goods or services Member States may impose time limits", so check your own country's rule. You can make the invoice with the VAT invoice template. If the payment comes through Stripe, connect Stripe to InvoiceCow and every payment becomes an invoice in your company's name, which your buyer downloads with their own company details.