How to issue export invoices under LUT in India

Under the IGST Act’s export-of-services definition, the supplier is in India, recipient and place of supply are outside India, payment meets the permitted foreign-exchange/INR condition, and the parties are not merely establishments of a distinct person. These are separate tests. A foreign client address does not establish the place of supply.

Ask for a review if the work involves an intermediary arrangement, an overseas branch of the same entity or an unusual place-of-supply situation. Keep the contract and description of the actual service with that decision. The invoice should reflect a confirmed treatment, not make the decision merely by displaying an LUT label.

This walkthrough is for a service export under LUT. Supplies to SEZs, goods exports, payment-of-IGST routes and special cases need their own checks.

Use the GST portal for the actual filing. GSTN’s published LUT manual describes Services → User Services → Furnish Letter of Undertaking (LUT), FORM GST RFD-11. Portal labels may change; confirm the current path in your signed-in account.

1. 1Select the correct GST registration and financial year. Confirm eligibility and declarations with the person responsible for GST compliance.
2. 2Complete the required declaration, witness and authorised-signatory details. Review the preview before signing.
3. 3Submit using the available DSC or EVC method as applicable, then retain the acknowledgement and reference.
4. 4Record the LUT year and acknowledgement reference with your invoice records. Check that a prior-year reference has not been carried forward accidentally.

Treat the saved acknowledgement as evidence of what was furnished, not as a universal confirmation that every future invoice qualifies. If you need to regularise an earlier export or have missed a condition, ask your CA about the applicable process instead of backdating documents.

The export-under-LUT wording is: SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT UNDER BOND OR LETTER OF UNDERTAKING WITHOUT PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX. The current Rule 46 source contains the full particulars and the composite export/SEZ endorsement. Select the wording appropriate to the actual supply.

Keep the LUT acknowledgement reference and year for traceability. Do not describe the LUT ARN as a universally mandatory printed Rule 46 field: that is different from recommending it as a useful supporting reference. Likewise, “zero-rated under LUT” should not be replaced casually with “exempt service”.

Consider a fictional design studio invoicing an unrelated client in London for a completed website design milestone. The reviewer confirms export treatment, the studio has furnished the appropriate LUT, and the invoice is denominated in USD. The draft should make the service, client country, currency and without-payment route understandable without relying on an internal note.

• Compare the client’s legal name and address with the contract, rather than copying an informal email signature.
• Check the issuing GSTIN and financial-year number sequence. A copied template can carry the wrong entity or old date.
• Check the agreed amount and currency. Do not let a model calculate tax, a conversion rate or an invoice balance.
• Review the export endorsement and any separate e-invoicing requirement that applies to your business.
• Save the issued version. Correct errors through the appropriate document process instead of silently replacing a document already sent.

In Blackbird’s invoice creation flow, choose the export-without-payment route under LUT after those checks. Review the invoice before issuing it. The example below isolates that review step using fictional data; it does not reproduce every field in the full invoice editor.

1. 1Send the reviewed invoice and retain a copy with its source contract or work record.
2. 2When money arrives, match the receipt and any provider deductions to the invoice. Keep the remittance proof rather than treating a bank credit alone as the entire trail.
3. 3Include the invoice in the appropriate GST reporting review and monthly service-export declaration preparation.
4. 4Track unpaid amounts and any GST or FEMA conditions separately. Do not assume that one law’s deadline or an extension under it automatically resolves the other.

A single record chain is easier to maintain than four independent spreadsheets: invoice → payment → remittance proof → reporting artefact. If a client pays several invoices together, preserve the allocation rather than marking one invoice paid for the entire transfer.

Use the EDF bank-submission checklist for the next part of the process. If you are still choosing a collection route, compare Skydo and Wise using net INR quotes rather than changing the invoice amount to whatever the provider deposits.

Does Blackbird file the LUT when I create an invoice?

No. Furnish the LUT through the GST portal and retain its acknowledgement. The invoice workflow uses the treatment you have confirmed.

Should an LUT export invoice say exempt or zero-rated?

Use the confirmed export-under-LUT treatment and appropriate endorsement. Zero-rated export treatment is not the same classification as an exempt domestic supply.

Is the LUT ARN mandatory on every invoice under Rule 46?

The rule requires the applicable particulars and endorsement. Keeping the LUT ARN and year is useful for traceability; this guide does not claim a universal Rule 46 requirement to print the ARN.

Prepared by Blackbird Finance editorial. Sources reviewed on 19 October 2026; access limitations are noted below. No independent CA review is claimed. Provider prices and portal screens can change.

• India Code: Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
• CBIC: Rule 46, tax invoice particulars

  Official indexed text checked; the live page did not load during this review.

• GSTN: furnishing a Letter of Undertaking manual

  Official indexed manual checked; its direct URL returned an error. Use the GST portal for the current signed-in path.

• GST portal: actual LUT filing and acknowledgement

Found an outdated detail? Tell us which passage and source need checking.

• How to prepare and submit a monthly EDF
• Skydo vs Wise: compare the net INR received
• Section 58: which tax year and scheme apply?