Must the commercial invoice show FOB, freight and insurance separately?

The short rule

No general rule says a commercial invoice must split the price into FOB value, freight and insurance. Incoterms 2020 decide who arranges and pays for carriage and insurance, but they do not deal with the payment of the price (ICC, introduction to Incoterms 2020). The letter of credit rules do not ask for the split either: article 18 of UCP 600 sets what a commercial invoice must be, and a separate freight or insurance line is not part of it. So a CIF invoice that shows one total is normal, unless the destination, the buyer or the credit asks for more.

Some destinations do ask for more, and in others the buyer's duties or fees depend on it. That is why an importer may insist on a breakdown that another never mentions.

Where the split is required

The reason in the United States is money. Customs value there leaves out the cost of transport and insurance for the international voyage (19 U.S.C. 1401a(b)(4)(A)), so those costs have to be shown to be left out.

Where money depends on it

• Ghana. The Food and Drugs Authority sets its verification fee for a frozen meat or fish import permit on the FOB value declared on the invoice (guideline FDA/ICD/GDL-04/05, clause 3.1.7, in force since 2 July 2025). An applicant found to have altered that FOB value pays the fee plus 100% of the unpaid amount as a fine (clause 4.2).
• The Philippines. Customs value includes the cost of transport and insurance to the Philippine port (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, Section 701). Customs guidelines from 2007 take the freight from the bill of lading, ask for the shipping line's certificate of the freight paid on reefer cargo, and verify an insurance premium below 2% of the FOB value (Customs Memorandum Order 22-2007). The broker needs the freight and insurance amounts either way.
• New Zealand. Importers are expected to get a breakdown of the freight and insurance in a CIF price. When none can be had, the whole CIF price may be declared as the customs value (New Zealand Customs Service).

Local cargo insurance

Some countries require imports to be insured with a local insurer. In Ghana this applies to all imported goods except personal effects since 1 February 2026, under Section 222 of the Insurance Act, 2021 (Ghana Shippers' Authority). The Bureau Veritas datasheet for DR Congo says import cargo insurance is paid to an insurer based in DR Congo. In Kenya, marine cargo insurance for commercial imports has had to be placed with Kenyan insurers since 1 January 2017 (Lloyd's).

Under a CIF price the seller buys the insurance, usually in its own country. Where the buyer must insure locally anyway, ask whether the buyer prefers CFR, or wants the insurance shown on its own line.

When the invoice shows the split

An invoice that splits the price is read like any other: the lines must add up to the total, and the trade term on it, such as CIF Manila, is the one in the contract and, under a letter of credit, in the credit. Insurance has a rule of its own under a credit: unless the credit states the amount, the cover must be at least 110% of the CIF or CIP value (UCP 600, article 28(f)(ii)).

A worked example

A made-up invoice for one 40-foot reefer of frozen pork, sold CIF:

56,400.00 plus 4,200.00 plus 85.00 is 60,685.00, so the split adds up. The insurance certificate should insure at least 110% of 60,685.00, which is 66,753.50.

Now suppose the total had been typed as 60,865.00. Every line looks right, but the lines add up to 180.00 less than the total. A bank, an inspector or a buyer who adds the lines will stop the set, and under a letter of credit that can mean a discrepancy fee and a delayed payment: see the most common letter of credit discrepancies.

For another destination rule that touches the same documents, see cargo tracking numbers such as ECTN, BESC and FERI. For the values that must agree across the whole set, see what must match between the bill of lading, the invoice and the packing list.