How to make a proforma invoice step by step

When the calendar reminds you that there are two months left to say goodbye to 2022, you know that it's time to review the annual billing of your business. It's time to check that internal expenses and employee payrolls are correct, among a long list of details to consider within your company.

One of the big questions you should ask yourself during this process is whether you have managed to keep clear control of invoices and budgets. At taclia, we tell you what you need to know about these two key elements for your company and why proforma invoices are more essential than they seem.

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Invoices and proforma invoices

The invoice itself is a commercial document that contains all the information about the service provided or a specific sale. This sheet is recorded, so it has legal validity, as the corresponding State taxes are paid.

On the other hand, the proforma invoice is the document prior to the regular invoice. In other words, it is a kind of provisional draft. In it, the details of the future invoice are outlined so that the customer can get an idea of how the services will be provided and what their marked price is.

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And what's the difference between a budget?

You shouldn't confuse a proforma invoice with a budget estimate. The estimate is a purely informative document sent to establish the initial contact with the client. Once the client and the company accept the terms of the estimate, the proforma invoice is designed.

What sets these concepts apart is that if for any reason the client and the company disagree, in legal terms, the proforma invoice will serve as evidence to demonstrate any fraudulent activity that may have taken place.

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Example of a proforma invoice  

The proforma invoice shows the actual cost of your products or services, so it is important to issue it so that the customer has visibility of the amount due before receiving the final invoice.

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What should a proforma invoice include?

Here is an example of a proforma invoice that you can create very easily through the Sales functionality of taclia:

As you can see in the example, these are the different elements that your proforma invoice should include:

• Your company's and the client's data, including name, tax identification number, telephone, email, and address. By creating your invoice through taclia, you can also add your company logo.
• Invoice date. It is important to know when it was issued and also the due date. Here it is indicated that it is a proforma invoice. This should always be indicated in the document to differentiate it from a regular invoice.

Next, we include the details of the services or products. Each service constitutes a separate line within the invoice. What is indicated in each line?

• Concept: Here we detail the service we have offered to the client. If desired, we can include a brief description of the service.
• Quantity: the number of times we have offered our service.
• Price: per unit, without VAT or deductions.
• Subtotal: total price, without VAT or deductions.
• Tax: the tax amount, the withholding that must be applied.
• Total: the final amount of the transaction.

After the detail of the lines, as a summary, the subtotal price is broken down, as well as the tax percentage and the total amount to be paid by the customer. You can also include a visible message at the end of the document.

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With taclia, you can create your proforma invoices and personalize them easily. In the Sales section of your application, you will have at your disposal your estimates, rates, regular invoices, and proforma invoices. You will have a list of services that have already been invoiced, collected, or still pending. You can review the date on which the work was completed and the payment deadline, so you always know when to demand responses from your customer.

You will be able to create your own proforma invoice, including all the relevant details seen above, following the clear outline that taclia offers.

Before sending the final document to your customer, you can preview it or download it. Once the invoice is ready, with just one click you can send it directly to your customer. Once you have the customer's confirmation, you can convert your proforma invoice into a regular invoice by clicking on 'Convert to invoice'.

Thanks to the Product and services section of the Sales feature, you can easily assign a cost to each of your services and create your invoices in seconds.

Similarly, do not forget that with taclia you can save your simplified invoices, those that are like a "receipt," a record of the final payment.

Try taclia for free now to easily manage your documents.