Proforma invoices.
Proforma invoice: what it is and when to use one.
A proforma is the bill before the bill: what you intend to charge, sent for approval or a deposit before any work or goods change hands. It is not a tax invoice. Here is how it works in the UK, and how a DocMason quote does the job.
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What a proforma invoice is
An invoice-shaped document that is not yet an invoice
A proforma invoice looks like an invoice and reads like a quotation. It sets out what you will supply and what you will charge for it, with the VAT shown, before the goods leave or the work begins. The customer uses it to approve the spend, raise a purchase order or release a deposit; a freight forwarder uses it to declare the value of a shipment at customs.
What it is not is a tax document. HMRC does not treat a proforma as a VAT invoice: the customer cannot reclaim VAT from it, you do not record it as a sale, and it does not belong in your VAT return. Businesses often print This is not a tax invoice on it for exactly that reason. The real invoice follows once the supply has happened, or once a payment arrives, because a payment creates a tax point whatever the paperwork says.
Three situations account for most proformas in the UK: a customer who needs an approval before a real invoice can be raised, a deposit you want paid before ordering materials, and an export where the value has to be declared before the goods travel. In all three the document does the job of a quote with a bit more formality, which is the clue to how a small business should handle it.
Proforma, quote or invoice
Three documents, one question each
Which one you send depends on where the job is: before the yes, before the money, or after the work. UK rules, kept factual.
| Proforma invoice | Quote | Invoice | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | A preview of the invoice to come, for approval, a deposit request or customs paperwork | A priced offer the customer accepts before the work starts | The request for payment for work done or goods supplied |
| Legally a tax document? | No. HMRC does not treat it as a VAT invoice, and nobody can reclaim VAT from it | No | Yes, when it carries everything HMRC requires |
| Has a due date? | Usually a validity date rather than a due date | A valid-until date | Yes, the payment terms |
| Can the customer pay against it? | They can pay a deposit on the strength of it, but the VAT record of that payment is the invoice or receipt that follows | Acceptance first; a deposit by arrangement | Yes, that is what it is for |
| Converts to an invoice? | Reissued as the real invoice once the goods or work are supplied | In DocMason, one click | It is the invoice |
What to put on one
The checklist
A proforma carries everything the final invoice will, minus the things that make an invoice an invoice: the sequential number and the demand for payment.
- The word Proforma, clearly, so nobody books it as a sale
- Your business name, address and contact details
- The customer's name and address
- Each item or service on its own line, with quantity and price
- The total, showing VAT separately if you are registered
- How long the prices hold: a validity date
- How to pay any deposit you are asking for
- The line: This is not a tax invoice
How to do it in DocMason
Send a quote. Convert it when they say yes.
DocMason documents are headed Quote or Invoice; there is no Proforma heading, and this page will not pretend otherwise. For the job a UK small business reaches for a proforma to do, the quote is the right tool: it is a dated, priced document with every line, the VAT shown separately and a valid-until date printed, and it goes out with an accept link so the customer can approve it in one tap.
When the customer confirms, or the deposit lands, turn the quote into the invoice in one click: the lines, customer and design carry over and the invoice takes the next number in your sequence. The quote stays on file, linked to the invoice it became.
Need a deposit on the strength of it? Say so in the quote's notes with your bank details, and record the payment on the invoice when it comes.
Instant professional templates
Send something that looks like you charge properly
A quote that looks thrown together gets treated like one. Pick from 26 designs - these are the real ones, not pictures of them - and switch at any point, before or after you have written it. Your logo and colours go on top.
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Why your accountant can relax
The AI writes. It does not count.
Language models are good with words and unreliable with arithmetic, so DocMason only lets them do the first part. Every figure on a document you send is worked out by ordinary code, in exact pence, the same way every time.
It is the difference between a tool you check afterwards and one you can send without reading twice.
- VAT, discounts and totals calculated in code, never by the AI
- Money held in exact pence, so rounding cannot drift
- Every email sent on your behalf is stored in full, so you can read exactly what went out and to whom
- Your data hosted in the EU, never used to train AI models
FAQs
Proforma questions, answered straight
Whether it binds, what VAT it carries, how to number it, and what DocMason does and does not print.
Something else on your mind? Ask a human.
Is a proforma invoice legally binding?
No. A proforma is a statement of what you intend to charge, not a demand for payment and not a contract on its own. The binding agreement is formed when the customer accepts your offer; the proforma just documents the terms of it.
Can I charge VAT on a proforma invoice?
You show the VAT that will apply, but a proforma is not a VAT invoice: it cannot be used to reclaim VAT and it does not go in your VAT records. The VAT is accounted for on the real invoice, or on receipt of a deposit, whichever comes first.
Should a proforma have an invoice number?
Give it a reference so you can find it, but keep it out of your invoice number sequence. Sequential invoice numbers are for real invoices; a proforma numbered INV-1042 that never becomes a sale leaves a gap you will have to explain.
Can a customer pay a proforma?
They can pay a deposit or the full amount on the strength of it, and many do, especially overseas customers who pay before shipping. When the money arrives you issue the proper invoice or a VAT receipt, because the payment creates a tax point.
Does DocMason make proforma invoices?
DocMason documents are headed Quote or Invoice; there is no proforma heading. For the job a UK small business uses a proforma for - a priced, dated document for approval or a deposit - send a DocMason quote: it shows the lines, VAT and total, carries a valid-until date and an accept link, and becomes the real invoice in one click.
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