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Proforma invoices

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A proforma invoice is a preview of the invoice you intend to issue: the customer sees the goods, the price and the terms before the sale is billed. Businesses send one so that a customer can raise a purchase order, get internal approval, pay in advance or clear goods through customs. This page explains how a proforma differs from a tax invoice in each country easySales serves. It is general information, not tax or legal advice: check the sources at the end or ask your accountant before you rely on it.

In short

Section titled “In short”
  • A proforma is not the invoice the customer pays against or claims tax with. The tax invoice follows once the sale is billed.
  • In Singapore a proforma is not an invoice for GST, but a payment received against it fixes the time of supply, and the tax invoice is then due within 30 days.
  • In Australia and New Zealand the law treats any document that notifies an obligation to pay as an invoice. A proforma that asks for payment can therefore count as one for GST timing.
  • In Japan a document’s title does not decide what it is: its contents do.

Country by country

Section titled “Country by country”

Singapore

Section titled “Singapore”

IRAS lists sales orders, pro-forma invoices and statements of account as documents that are not invoices for GST purposes. The time of supply is the earlier of the invoice or the payment. So when a customer pays before you issue the invoice, GST is due by reference to the payment date, and the tax invoice must be issued within 30 days of that payment. Issuing any kind of invoice that bills for payment, not only a tax invoice, also fixes the time of supply.

Hong Kong

Section titled “Hong Kong”

Hong Kong has no sales tax, VAT or GST, so no tax rule turns on whether a document is a proforma. Send one whenever your customer needs it.

Australia

Section titled “Australia”

GST law defines an invoice as “a document notifying an obligation to make a payment”. If you account on a non-cash (accruals) basis, GST is attributed to the earlier of the period in which you receive any payment or the period in which you issue an invoice. A tax invoice is a separate test: the document must, among other things, make clear that it is intended to be a tax invoice. On the cash basis, GST follows the payments you receive.

New Zealand

Section titled “New Zealand”

The time of supply is the earlier of the invoice being issued or any payment being received, and “invoice” is again defined as a document notifying an obligation to make payment. Inland Revenue has said that issuing an invoice is a positive act of notifying a present obligation to pay, so look at what your proforma says, not at its heading.

Japan

Section titled “Japan”

There is no prescribed form for a qualified invoice (適格請求書). Any document that carries the required items — your name and registration number, the date, the description (marking reduced-rate items), the total per rate with the applicable rate, the tax per rate and the customer’s name — qualifies whatever its title. In principle, consumption tax arises when the goods are delivered or the service is provided, not when you invoice or are paid; a small sole proprietor on the cash basis for income tax may use the date of payment instead.

Malaysia and Brunei

Section titled “Malaysia and Brunei”

Malaysian service tax is due when payment is received, and at the latest on the day after 12 months from the invoice date if the customer has not paid. Brunei has no GST or VAT.

In easySales

Section titled “In easySales”
  • Every draft invoice is a proforma. Its PDF is headed PROFORMA INVOICE, carries its PF- number and, on a design that prints a stamp, DRAFT. See Invoice PDF.
  • Issuing the draft gives it its INV- number and keeps the proforma number as a reference, so the customer can match the two. See Issue an invoice.
  • Money that arrives before you invoice is recorded as a Prepayment; where tax is due on receipt, easySales issues a deposit tax invoice dated the day the money arrived. See Deposits and prepayments.
  • For some companies in Australia and New Zealand, depending on the Accounting basis, a staged draft has no PDF: a document asking for payment there is a tax invoice, so you issue it first.

Examples

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Lim & Co is GST-registered in Singapore. On 3 March it sends Harbour Café, a GST-registered customer, a proforma for a SGD 2,180.00 fit-out (SGD 2,000.00 plus GST of SGD 180.00), so the café can approve the spend. The café pays the full amount on 10 March, before the work starts.

The payment on 10 March fixes the time of supply, so Lim & Co accounts for the SGD 180.00 of GST in the return that covers 10 March, and must issue the tax invoice by 9 April. Mei Tan records the money as a Prepayment, and easySales issues the deposit tax invoice dated 10 March.

Common questions

Section titled “Common questions”
  • Is a proforma invoice a tax invoice? No. In Singapore IRAS lists it among documents that are not invoices for GST. Issue the tax invoice once the sale is billed or paid.
  • When should I send a proforma invoice? When the customer needs the figures before you bill: to raise a purchase order, approve the spend, pay in advance or arrange import paperwork. Send the invoice itself once the sale is billed.
  • Do I have to charge GST when the customer pays a proforma? In Singapore, a payment received before the invoice fixes the time of supply, so GST is due by reference to that payment. See Deposits and progress claims.
  • How long do I have to issue the tax invoice after a prepayment in Singapore? Within 30 days of receiving the payment.
  • Does a proforma count as an invoice for GST in Australia? The law treats any document that notifies an obligation to pay as an invoice, which can fix when GST is attributed on the accruals basis. Ask your accountant how your proforma reads.
  • Why does my draft invoice print PROFORMA INVOICE? Every draft in easySales is a proforma until you issue it. See Issuing and numbering.

Sources

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Last checked: 21 October 2026.

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