Invoice vs Delivery Order vs Packing Slip: What Goes With a Shipment

When goods leave your warehouse, three documents get confused constantly: the invoice, the delivery order and the packing slip. Getting invoice vs delivery order right matters because each has a different job — one requests payment and accounts for GST, one proves delivery, and one lets the receiver check the contents. This guide explains all three in a Singapore context, shows which travels with the shipment, and gives you a comparison table and copyable structures so your paperwork is clean and dispute-proof.

The three documents at a glance

Think of a shipment’s life in three roles. The invoice is the financial document: it requests payment, shows prices and, if you are GST-registered, accounts for GST with your GST registration number. The delivery order (DO) is the proof-of-delivery document: it lists what was sent, travels with the goods and is signed by the receiver. The packing slip (or packing list) is the contents document: it sits inside or on the package so the receiver can check what is physically in the box, and it usually shows no prices. One shipment can involve all three, each doing a distinct job.

Document	Main purpose	Shows prices?	Accounts for GST?	Travels with goods?
Tax invoice	Requests payment	Yes	Yes (if GST-registered)	Sometimes (or sent separately)
Delivery order	Proof of delivery, signed on receipt	Optional	No	Yes
Packing slip	Lists contents to check against	No	No	Yes (in/on the package)

Invoice vs delivery order: the key differences

The clearest way to hold invoice vs delivery order apart is by who cares about them. Your finance team and the customer’s accounts payable care about the invoice, because it drives payment and GST. Your warehouse, the driver and the customer’s receiving team care about the delivery order, because it proves the right goods arrived. An invoice can be issued before, with or after delivery; a DO is created at dispatch and only becomes evidence once it is signed. Crucially, a delivery order is not a tax invoice — you cannot rely on it to account for GST, and a customer should not pay from it alone.

The Singapore GST angle

In Singapore, GST is accounted for on the tax invoice, which must show your GST registration number, the GST amount and the required particulars. A delivery order and a packing slip are not tax invoices, so they do not by themselves satisfy GST record-keeping — they are operational documents. It is common to state values on a DO for reference, but the tax invoice remains the GST document. If you issue a simplified tax invoice or deal with zero-rated exports, the rules differ, so check current guidance from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) or your accountant, as rates and requirements change over time. Keep the invoice, DO and packing slip together per shipment for a clean audit trail.

Which document goes with the shipment?

In practice the packing slip travels inside or on the box so the receiver can tick off contents. The delivery order travels with the driver to be signed on handover, with a copy left with the customer and a signed copy returned to you. The invoice is often sent separately — emailed to accounts payable or issued on a billing cycle — though some businesses include a copy in the shipment. For B2B and distribution, the DO’s signature is what protects you in a dispute, so never let goods leave without one.

Copyable document structures

Use these lean structures as a starting point; full field-by-field templates for the DO and packing slip are linked at the end.

Tax invoice — core fields
Your company name, address, UEN and GST registration number · “Tax Invoice” title · invoice number and date · customer bill-to · line items with description, quantity and unit price · subtotal · GST amount · total payable · payment terms

Delivery order — core fields
Your company name, address and UEN · “Delivery Order” title · DO number and date · deliver-to party · customer PO / invoice reference · line items with SKU, description, quantity ordered and delivered · total packages / weight · received-by signature, stamp and date

Packing slip — core fields
Your company name · “Packing Slip” title · order / DO reference · ship-to party · line items with SKU, description and quantity packed · number of cartons and which items are in each · no prices

Worked example

These details are illustrative. Acme Supplies ships an order to Bright Retail. The packing slip PS-2026-0311 goes inside carton 1 of 3, listing 198 units of BEV-COLA-320-06 and 288 units of SNK-CHIP-100 so the storeman can check each box. The delivery order DO-2026-0512 travels with the driver; Bright Retail’s storeman counts against it, notes two dented cola units, signs and stamps the received-by box. Later, tax invoice INV-2026-0774 is emailed to Bright Retail’s accounts team showing prices, the GST amount and Acme’s GST registration number. Bright Retail matches all three against its purchase order and pays from the invoice — adjusted for the two rejected units recorded on the DO.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating the DO as a tax invoice. Relying on a delivery order for GST leaves your accounting incomplete.
• Putting prices on the packing slip. The slip is for checking contents; prices belong on the invoice, and a priced slip inside a box can cause awkwardness.
• Shipping without a signed DO. Without the receiver’s signature you have no proof of delivery in a dispute.
• Mismatched references. If the invoice, DO and packing slip do not share a PO or order reference, matching becomes guesswork.
• Omitting the GST registration number on the invoice. A tax invoice without it does not meet Singapore requirements.
• Not keeping the set together. Filing the three documents separately makes any query slow to resolve.

How WhiteBox helps

WhiteBox generates the invoice, delivery order and packing slip for an order from one source of truth, so quantities and references match across all three and partial deliveries flow through automatically. For businesses that would rather outsource the physical side, WhiteBox runs its own Singapore warehouse — the software and the fulfilment are one company with live visibility. See our fulfilment services and B2B distribution services, or get in touch.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an invoice and a delivery order? An invoice requests payment, shows prices and accounts for GST; a delivery order proves what was delivered and is signed by the receiver. They serve opposite roles and are matched together, not interchangeable.

Is a delivery order a tax invoice in Singapore? No. GST is accounted for on the tax invoice, which shows your GST registration number. A DO is an operational document and may show values for reference only.

What is a packing slip for? A packing slip lists the contents of a package so the receiver can check what physically arrived. It usually shows no prices and travels inside or on the box.

Which document should the customer pay from? The tax invoice. A customer should not pay from a delivery order or packing slip alone, because neither is the financial document that accounts for GST.

Do all three documents travel with the shipment? The packing slip and delivery order normally do; the invoice is often sent separately to accounts payable, though a copy may be included.

Related reading: Order Fulfilment in Singapore (pillar), Delivery Order Template for Singapore, Packing Slip Template and Best Practices, Purchase Order Template for Singapore.