A pro forma invoice asks a customer to pay before you supply anything. This free UK template in Excel looks like an invoice and calculates VAT per line, but it carries the wording “This is not a VAT invoice”, as HMRC expects. Set how long the price holds and the valid-until date and total due work themselves out.
How a pro forma invoice works
The usual sequence is:
- You send the pro forma with the price, VAT and how to pay.
- The customer pays before the Valid Until date.
- You supply the goods or carry out the work.
- You issue a full VAT invoice for the sale (or a normal invoice if you are not VAT-registered).
Because a pro forma is not a tax document, do not record it as a sale in your books. The sale is recorded from the final invoice.
The VAT rules for pro forma invoices
HMRC’s VAT guide (VAT Notice 700) treats a pro forma as an offer, not a VAT invoice. It cannot support an input tax claim, it should be clearly marked “This is not a VAT invoice”, and it must be followed by a proper VAT invoice once the supply happens. The template’s default note opens with that wording, so leave it in place.
If you are VAT-registered, choose 20%, 5% or 0% on each line to show the customer the VAT they will pay. If you are not, leave VAT % blank.
After the customer pays
Copy the lines into the invoice template, which uses the same layout, and give the invoice its own number from your normal invoice sequence. Keep the pro forma with it so you can see the link between the two.
