EDI 810: Invoice

The EDI 810 is the X12 invoice. A supplier sends it to the buyer after goods ship, to request payment for what actually shipped. It carries the invoice number, the PO it bills, line items with quantities and prices, terms, allowances and charges, and the total. The buyer's accounts payable matches it against the 850 and the receipt, then pays, often with an 820 that lists any deductions.

Request a 30-minute call

Reviewed October 2026 against X12 4010 and 5010

The 810 at a glance

Code: X12 810
Name: Invoice
Sent by: Supplier
Sent to: Buyer's accounts payable
When: After the goods ship, and after the ASN when the partner requires one. One invoice per shipment or per PO, as the partner's guide says.
Responds to: 850 Purchase Order, 856 Ship Notice/Manifest (ASN)
Acknowledged with: 997 Functional Acknowledgment
Related documents: 850 Purchase Order, 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgment, 856 Ship Notice/Manifest (ASN), 820 Payment Order/Remittance Advice
EDIFACT equivalent: INVOIC

Where does the 810 sit in the cycle?

Each document is usually answered by a 997 functional acknowledgment, which only confirms it arrived and parsed.

Which segments does an 810 use?

The standard column is what X12 itself requires. Your trading partner's implementation guide will require more, and it wins.

Segment	Name	Standard	What goes in it
ST	Transaction set header	Mandatory	Starts the invoice and gives it a control number that the SE repeats.
BIG	Beginning segment for invoice	Mandatory	Invoice date and number, PO date and number, and on some partners a code that marks a credit or debit memo.
NTE	Note/special instruction	Optional	Free text. Most partners ignore it.
CUR	Currency	Optional	Only when the invoice is not in the currency both sides assume.
REF	Reference identification	Optional	Vendor number, bill of lading, department, and sometimes the ASN's shipment ID if the buyer matches on it.
N1	Name (party)	Optional	Remit-to, bill-to, ship-to, by codes the buyer assigned. The loop is optional in the standard; remit-to and ship-to are required by most guides.
ITD	Terms of sale	Optional	Basis date, discount percent and days, net days. Should match the terms on the PO.
DTM	Date/time reference	Optional	Ship date, the one most guides ask for.
FOB	F.O.B. related instructions	Optional	Freight terms. Use it only when they differ from the PO, or the partner asks.
IT1	Baseline item data (invoice)	Optional	One per line: quantity invoiced, unit, unit price and item IDs. Optional in the standard because an 810 can bill services; merchandise invoices always use it.
PID	Product/item description	Optional	Free-text description.
SAC	Service, promotion, allowance or charge	Optional	Freight, handling or allowances, at the line or invoice level, using the partner's codes.
TXI	Tax information	Optional	Sales or other tax, when the buyer is not exempt.
TDS	Total monetary value summary	Mandatory	Invoice total with two implied decimals: 57660 means 576.60. It must equal the lines plus charges, minus allowances.
CAD	Carrier detail	Optional	Carrier and routing, when the partner wants it on the invoice.
ISS	Invoice shipment summary	Optional	Total units and weight shipped.
CTT	Transaction totals	Optional	Number of IT1 lines.
SE	Transaction set trailer	Mandatory	Segment count from ST to SE, and the same control number as the ST.

4010 or 5010?

The 810 keeps its shape between 4010 and 5010. 5010 adds a CRC condition indicator to the heading, gives the TXI under each SAC a small loop of its own with a date, and renames segments such as N1 (Party Identification) and REF (Reference Information). TDS is mandatory in both releases and the IT1 loop is optional in both. Partner guides differ more than the releases: some want the ISS, some refuse an invoice without the ASN shipment ID.

What does an 810 look like?

Sample with made-up data. X12 4010. Every company, number and address is invented.

ISA*00* *00* *ZZ*NORTHFORK *ZZ*BASINHW *261014*1610*U*00401*000003001*0*P*>~
Interchange envelope from the supplier, sent 40 minutes after the ASN. Order matters: many buyers hold an invoice that arrives before its ASN.
GS*IN*NORTHFORK*BASINHW*20261014*1610*3001*X*004010~
IN marks a group of invoices.
ST*810*0001~
Start of one invoice.
BIG*20261014*NF-INV-30418*20261008*BH2026-04417~
Invoice date, invoice number, PO date and PO number. The invoice number must never repeat for this buyer.
REF*BM*NF-BOL-50931~
The bill of lading from the ASN, so accounts payable can tie the invoice to the receipt.
N1*RE*Northfork Tool Co*92*NF01~
Remit-to party: where the money goes, under the vendor code the buyer assigned.
N3*PO Box 9999~
Remit-to address.
N4*Logan*UT*84321~
Remit-to city, state and ZIP.
N1*ST*Basin Hardware DC 2*92*0002~
Ship-to, the same 0002 as the PO and the ASN.
ITD*01*3*2**10**30~
Terms: 2% off if paid within 10 days of the invoice date, net due in 30.
DTM*011*20261014~
Ship date.
IT1*1*24*EA*18.4**UP*614141000012*VN*NT-FH20~
Line 1: 24 hammers at $18.40, the quantity shipped and the price from the PO.
PID*F****Framing hammer, 20 oz~
Description for line 1.
IT1*2*12*EA*11.25**UP*614141000029*VN*NT-PB24~
Line 2: 12 pry bars at $11.25.
PID*F****Pry bar, 24 in~
Description for line 2.
TDS*57660~
Invoice total with an implied decimal: 57660 means $576.60, which is 441.60 plus 135.00.
CTT*2~
Two invoice lines.
SE*16*0001~
16 segments from ST to SE.
GE*1*3001~
One invoice in group 3001.
IEA*1*000003001~
End of the interchange.

Why do buyers reject an 810?

An 810 is checked twice. The translator checks syntax and sends back a 997. Then accounts payable matches the invoice against the PO and the receipt, and that is where most invoices stall. A failed match rarely produces an error file. It produces a late payment or a deduction.

Problem	What happens	Fix
The price is not the PO price	Held, or paid at the PO price with the difference deducted	Invoice at the PO price unless the 855 or a written change agreed otherwise. Fix the price list, not the invoice
More invoiced than received	Short payment, often with a deduction on the 820 or an 812	Invoice what the ASN says shipped, never what was ordered
The invoice arrives before the ASN, or without one	Held until the receipt posts, sometimes rejected	Send the 810 after the 856, built from the same shipment record
The PO number is missing or mistyped	No match, so the invoice drops into a manual queue	Take the PO number from the sales order’s customer PO field. Never retype it
An invoice number repeats	Rejected as a duplicate, or paid twice and clawed back later	One numbering sequence per company, and a separate one for credit memos
TDS does not equal lines plus charges	Rejected on validation	Compute the total from the same rounded line amounts you send, and remember the two implied decimals
Charges the PO did not allow	Freight or handling deducted	Bill charges only when the PO terms or FOB allow them, using the partner’s SAC codes
Wrong remit-to or vendor number	Payment delayed or sent to the wrong place	Send both exactly as the partner set you up, and update them when your bank details change

Where does the 810 data come from in your ERP?

Segment	Usually comes from	The usual gap
BIG	The invoice record and the sales order’s customer PO	The PO number lives in a note field, or invoices and credit memos share one number range
REF	Vendor number, bill of lading and department from the order	The department was never stored when the 850 loaded
N1 remit-to, ship-to	Company record and the order’s ship-to code	The remit-to is set up per partner in the EDI tool and forgotten when the bank changes
ITD	Payment terms record	Terms stored as text (“2% 10, net 30”) instead of the separate values the ITD needs
IT1	Invoice lines: shipped quantity, price, item	The ERP holds its own item number; the partner wants its own number or the UPC back
SAC	Freight and other charge lines	Freight entered as an item line instead of a charge
TDS	Invoice total	Rounding: the ERP prices at four decimals, the invoice at two

How do you get 810s working?

Route	Fits when	Watch out for
Managed EDI provider or VAN with a web portal	One or two partners, low volume, nobody in house to own maps	Invoices are retyped from the ERP. Every retyped price and quantity is a chance to fail the buyer’s match
Managed EDI or an iPaaS connector wired to your ERP	Your ERP has a supported connector and your partners are large retailers with ready-made maps	The connector sends what the invoice record holds. If the PO number, line references or partner item IDs were dropped when the 850 loaded, they are missing here too
An in-house translator	Many partners, high volume, or an ERP that no connector supports	You own the maps, the AS2 certificates, the monitoring, and whoever gets called when a 810 fails at night

The 810 is usually the quickest of the three to build once the 850 and 856 are right, because it reuses their data. When it is the only document a partner asks for (some want invoices and nothing else), check first that your ERP keeps the customer PO number and line references. Wiring that through is the ERP and EDI integration work we do.

Questions about the 810

Does the 810 replace the paper invoice?

For a partner that has you on EDI, usually yes. The 810 is the invoice of record, and paper copies are often refused or ignored. The vendor agreement says so explicitly.

How do I send a credit memo by EDI?

Many partners accept an 810 flagged as a credit memo by a transaction type code in the BIG segment. Others want credits on an 812, or do not accept supplier credits at all and take deductions instead. The guide decides.

My 810 got a 997. Does that mean it was approved?

No. The 997 means the file arrived and parsed. Approval, holds and deductions show up later, on an 820 remittance, an 812, or the partner's supplier portal.

Why does the TDS have no decimal point?

TDS is a numeric field with two implied decimal places, so 57660 means 576.60. Sending 576.60 is a syntax error, and it is one of the most common mistakes on a first 810.

One invoice per shipment or one per PO?

The partner's guide decides. Many retail guides want one invoice per PO per shipment, so a PO that ships in two loads gets two invoices, each matching its own ASN.

New trading partner asking for the 810?

Send us their implementation guide. We will tell you what your ERP already holds, what is missing, and the shortest path to a test file that passes.

Request a 30-minute call See engagement models