ERPNext Landed Cost Voucher: How to Add Freight & Duty to Item Cost (2026)

If you import goods or pay significant freight, the price on the supplier invoice is not what the stock actually costs you. Duty, shipping, insurance, and clearing agent fees can add 10–30% to the real cost. Booking those as plain expenses hides them from your item cost and quietly understates your cost of goods sold. The Landed Cost Voucher fixes exactly that.

The whole point of a Landed Cost Voucher is truthful inventory valuation: it pushes the "extra" costs of getting goods to your warehouse into the item's cost, so margins and COGS are real. I am Manoj, an ERPNext and Frappe implementation consultant at MithTech in Bengaluru, and I set these up for importers and distributors.

What is a Landed Cost Voucher in ERPNext?

A Landed Cost Voucher in ERPNext is a document that distributes additional purchase costs — such as freight, customs duty, insurance, and handling — across the items on a Purchase Receipt, increasing each item's valuation rate. It exists because the true cost of stock is the supplier price plus everything spent getting the goods into your warehouse, and those extra costs usually arrive on separate bills from freight forwarders and clearing agents.

Once posted, the voucher raises the valuation of the received items by their share of the landed costs. Your inventory is then valued at true landed cost, and when the items sell, the cost of goods sold includes freight and duty. This is what turns a rough margin into an accurate one for any business that imports or pays material inbound logistics.

Skimmable summary: A Landed Cost Voucher distributes freight, duty, insurance, and handling across received items, raising their valuation to true landed cost. Inventory and cost of goods sold then reflect the real cost of getting goods to your warehouse.

How do I create a Landed Cost Voucher in ERPNext?

You create a Landed Cost Voucher in ERPNext by opening a new Landed Cost Voucher, selecting the relevant Purchase Receipt, adding the extra charges, choosing a distribution method, and submitting. The voucher then updates each item's valuation with its share of those charges. It should be posted while the items are still in stock so the cost attaches correctly.

Here is the process I use.

1. Open a new Landed Cost Voucher (Stock module) and set the posting date.
2. Fetch the Purchase Receipt(s) for the shipment — the received items load in automatically.
3. Add the landed charges in the Taxes and Charges table — freight, customs duty, insurance, clearing fees, each with an amount and expense account.
4. Choose the distribution method — by amount, by quantity, or enter each item's share manually.
5. Submit the voucher — ERPNext updates the items' valuation rates and posts the accounting entries.

Skimmable summary: Create a Landed Cost Voucher, fetch the Purchase Receipt, add each charge (freight, duty, insurance) in the charges table, pick a distribution method, and submit — ERPNext then updates item valuations while the goods are still in stock.

How are landed costs distributed across items?

Landed costs are distributed across items in ERPNext by amount, by quantity, or manually, and the method you pick changes how fairly the cost lands on each item. Distribution by amount spreads charges in proportion to each item's value; distribution by quantity spreads them per unit; manual lets you assign exact shares when neither default is fair.

Choose the basis that matches how the charge was actually incurred. Customs duty is often value-based, so "by amount" fits; container freight is often volume- or weight-based, so "by quantity" or manual fits better. Getting this right is what makes per-item cost accurate on a mixed shipment.

Skimmable summary: Landed costs distribute by amount (value share), by quantity (per unit), or manually. Match the method to the charge — duty by amount, freight often by quantity or manual — so each item on a mixed shipment carries a fair share of the cost.

When should I use a Landed Cost Voucher?

You should use a Landed Cost Voucher whenever the extra costs of receiving goods are significant enough to matter to your item cost — chiefly imports with customs duty and freight, or any purchase with substantial inbound logistics. If freight and duty are trivial, booking them as expenses is fine; once they materially change item cost, they belong in valuation.

Importers are the clearest case: duty, ocean or air freight, insurance, and clearing agent fees together can be a large share of cost, and leaving them out makes every margin report wrong. Distributors with heavy inbound freight benefit too — the discipline is covered in my ERP guide for distributors and wholesalers. For manufacturers, landed raw-material cost then flows into finished-goods costing.

Skimmable summary: Use a Landed Cost Voucher when inbound costs materially affect item cost — imports with duty and freight, or heavy inbound logistics. Trivial charges can stay as expenses; significant ones belong in valuation so margins and COGS stay accurate.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Landed Cost Voucher used for in ERPNext?

A Landed Cost Voucher is used to add extra purchase costs — freight, customs duty, insurance, and clearing charges — to the valuation of received items, so inventory is valued at true landed cost. It is created against a Purchase Receipt and distributes the charges across items, which makes cost of goods sold and margins accurate for importers and distributors with significant inbound costs.

How do I add freight or customs duty to item cost in ERPNext?

Create a Landed Cost Voucher, fetch the Purchase Receipt for the shipment, and enter freight, customs duty, and other charges in the Taxes and Charges table with their expense accounts. Choose a distribution method — by amount, quantity, or manual — and submit. ERPNext then raises each item's valuation rate by its share of those charges, so the cost is embedded in stock rather than booked as a plain expense.

Can I add landed cost after the items are already sold?

It is best to post the Landed Cost Voucher while the items are still in stock, so the added cost attaches to on-hand inventory and flows into cost of goods sold when they sell. If items have already been sold, the valuation adjustment cannot fully attach to what has left stock, and you may need a value adjustment instead. Posting landed costs promptly after receipt avoids this.

What distribution method should I use for landed costs?

Match the method to how the charge was incurred. Use "by amount" for value-based charges like customs duty and insurance, "by quantity" for per-unit or per-weight charges like freight, and "manual" for mixed shipments where neither default is fair. The goal is that each item carries a realistic share of the landed cost, which matters most when a single shipment contains very different items.

Does the Landed Cost Voucher affect accounting as well as stock?

Yes. Submitting a Landed Cost Voucher both raises the valuation of the received items and posts the corresponding accounting entries, moving the charges from their expense accounts into inventory value. This keeps your stock valuation and your general ledger consistent, so the balance sheet inventory figure and the eventual cost of goods sold both reflect the true landed cost.