LUT in GST: What It Is, Who Needs It, and How to File Form RFD-11
A Letter of Undertaking, or LUT, is the document that lets a GST-registered exporter ship goods or bill overseas clients without paying IGST upfront. It's filed once a year in Form GST RFD-11 on the government portal, and it's free. Without it, you either pay IGST on every export invoice and wait months for a refund, or post a bond backed by a bank guarantee, both of which tie up money a lot of exporters can't afford to have sitting idle.
This guide covers what LUT actually does, who's eligible to file it, the documents and steps involved, how long it lasts, and what happens if you export without one.
What LUT Means Under GST
LUT stands for Letter of Undertaking. It's a self-declaration you file on the GST portal stating that you'll meet the conditions attached to exporting under a zero-rated supply, mainly that you'll actually complete the export within the timeline the rules allow (three months for goods, one year for services, from the date of the invoice).
The legal basis sits in two places: Section 16 of the IGST Act, which treats exports and supplies to SEZs as zero-rated, and Rule 96A of the CGST Rules, which lays out the LUT mechanism itself. The form you submit is GST RFD-11.
Once your LUT is accepted, you raise export invoices without charging IGST at all. No tax, no refund application later, no waiting for the department to process anything.
Why Bother With LUT Instead of Paying IGST and Claiming It Back
Exporters do have a second option: pay IGST on the export invoice like any other supply, then file a refund claim. Some businesses go this route because refunds on exports are meant to move faster than ordinary GST refunds. In practice, though, that money can sit with the department for weeks or months depending on how clean your filings are and whether the refund gets flagged for scrutiny.
LUT skips that entire cycle. You never pay the tax, so there's nothing to claim back. For a business with thin margins or a high volume of export invoices, that difference in cash flow is the whole reason LUT exists. A software consultancy billing clients in the US and UK, or a garment exporter shipping containers to the Gulf, both keep the same amount of working capital in the business instead of parking it with the tax department.
Who Can File a LUT
Any GST-registered person exporting goods or services outside India, or supplying to a Special Economic Zone, is eligible to file LUT. That covers proprietorships, partnerships, LLPs, and companies alike. If you're setting up an LLP specifically to run an export business, you'll need the entity registered and a working GSTIN before LUT filing becomes possible; LegalDev's LLP registration service handles the incorporation side of that.
There's one exclusion worth knowing: anyone who has been prosecuted for tax evasion involving an amount exceeding ₹2.5 crore, under the CGST Act, the IGST Act, or any earlier indirect tax law, is not eligible to file LUT. That's a narrow bar and doesn't affect the overwhelming majority of exporters, but if it applies to your business, you'll need to fall back on the bond-and-bank-guarantee route instead.
Everyone else, including brand-new exporters filing for the first time, qualifies. There's no minimum turnover and no waiting period after GST registration before you can file.
GSTIN Comes First
LUT is filed against an existing GSTIN, so registration has to happen before this becomes relevant at all. If your export business isn't registered under GST yet, that's the starting point, not LUT. LegalDev's GST registration service covers the application and Aadhaar authentication side of getting a GSTIN issued.
It's also worth remembering that filing LUT doesn't excuse you from regular GST compliance. You still file GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B on schedule, including in months with no domestic sales, and export invoices still show up in those returns even though no IGST is charged on them. If ongoing return filing isn't something you want to manage in-house, LegalDev's GST return filing service covers that separately from LUT.
Documents You Need to File LUT
LUT filing is lighter on paperwork than most GST processes:
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GSTIN, legal name, and trade name (auto-populated from your registration once you log in)
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A copy of the previous year's LUT, if you've filed one before and want to attach it for reference (optional, not mandatory)
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Details of two independent witnesses: full name, address, and occupation for each
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Digital Signature Certificate for companies and LLPs, or Aadhaar-linked mobile OTP (EVC) for proprietorships and partnerships
There's no supporting financial document required, no projected export turnover to submit, and no fee charged by the government at any stage.
How to File LUT: Step by Step
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Log in to the GST portal at gst.gov.in using your GSTIN credentials.
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Go to Services, then User Services, and select "Furnish Letter of Undertaking (LUT)."
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Open Form GST RFD-11. Your GSTIN, legal name, and trade name will already be filled in.
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Select the financial year you're filing for, for example 2026-27.
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Upload your previous LUT, if you have one and want to reference it. First-time filers skip this.
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Tick the three self-declaration checkboxes, which commit you to completing the export within the prescribed time, paying IGST with interest if you fail to export, and complying with the other conditions attached to zero-rated supply.
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Enter witness details, name, address, and occupation for two people.
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Submit using DSC or EVC, depending on your entity type.
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Download the acknowledgement. This is your proof of filing, and you should keep it on record along with the LUT itself.
The whole process runs online and takes most applicants under fifteen minutes once the details are ready.
LUT Validity and the Renewal Deadline
An LUT is valid for exactly one financial year, from 1 April to 31 March. It doesn't renew automatically. To keep exporting without paying IGST from the start of the new financial year, you need a fresh RFD-11 filed before 31 March of the preceding year.
Miss that window and any export invoices you raise from 1 April onward, before a new LUT is accepted, are technically liable for IGST. That means paying the tax and going through the refund process for those specific invoices, even if you file the new LUT a few days later. Most businesses that export regularly set a recurring reminder for early March so the gap never opens up.
LUT vs Bond: Why Almost Everyone Files LUT
Before LUT existed as a simplified route, exporters furnished a bond backed by a bank guarantee to get the same zero-rated treatment. That option still exists, but it's now reserved mainly for the businesses excluded from LUT eligibility, such as those with the tax-evasion history described earlier.
A bond costs money to set up and maintain, since banks charge for the guarantee and typically require some form of collateral or fixed deposit against it. LUT costs nothing and involves no bank at all. Unless you're specifically ineligible for LUT, there's no real reason to choose the bond route.
What Happens If You Export Without a Valid LUT
If you raise an export invoice without a valid LUT in place, whether because you never filed one or because it lapsed, the export doesn't stop being zero-rated in principle, but you lose the upfront exemption. IGST becomes payable on that invoice, along with interest for the period it went unpaid. You can still recover the amount through a refund claim afterward, but you've lost the working-capital advantage that was the entire point of filing LUT.
Repeated exports without a valid LUT can also draw departmental attention, since it signals a compliance gap even where the underlying tax position gets resolved eventually. Filing on time avoids the whole issue.
Common Reasons LUT Filing Gets Rejected or Held Up
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DSC not registered or expired, which blocks submission for companies and LLPs until it's renewed.
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Aadhaar-linked mobile number inactive, which stops EVC verification for proprietorships and partnerships.
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Witness details left incomplete or inconsistent across the two entries.
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Filing after 31 March, which pushes the effective date and leaves a gap for invoices raised before the new LUT is accepted.
None of these are complicated to avoid. Checking that your DSC and Aadhaar linkage are active well before the March deadline solves most of the friction exporters run into.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is LUT filing compulsory for every exporter?
It's compulsory for zero-rated exports without paying IGST upfront. You can choose to pay IGST and claim a refund instead, but that's the slower, cash-intensive route, so almost every regular exporter files LUT.
Can a freelancer or Upwork exporter file LUT?
Yes, once they hold a GSTIN. Freelancers billing foreign clients often register voluntarily below the mandatory turnover threshold specifically so they can file LUT and invoice without adding IGST.
Does LUT apply to SEZ supplies as well as exports outside India?
Yes. Supplies to Special Economic Zone units and developers are also zero-rated, and LUT covers both categories under the same filing.
Is there a government fee to file LUT?
No. Filing Form GST RFD-11 on the portal costs nothing.
What if my LUT is rejected?
You'd typically need to correct the issue, most often a DSC or witness detail problem, and resubmit. Since LUT filing itself is a declaration rather than an approval-based process, straightforward applications rarely get rejected outright; the more common issue is a failed submission due to a technical or documentation gap, which you fix and resubmit the same day.
Do I need a separate LUT for goods and for services?
No. One LUT filed against your GSTIN covers zero-rated exports of both goods and services for that financial year.
Getting LUT Filed Without the Back-and-Forth
LUT filing is straightforward on paper, but a lapsed DSC, an inactive Aadhaar link, or a missed 31 March deadline can still cost you a working-capital advantage you were entitled to keep. If you'd rather have someone confirm eligibility, prepare the witness and DSC details, and file it correctly the first time, LegalDev's tax team handles LUT filing alongside GST registration and return filing for exporters across India.
Talk to a GST expert