Government & Compliance
LUT & Export GST Refund Helper
LUT eligibility, RFD-11 filing steps, and a Rule 89(4) export refund estimate.
A Letter of Undertaking (LUT) lets a GST-registered exporter ship goods or services — or supply to an SEZ unit or developer — without paying IGST upfront, instead of paying it and claiming a refund afterward. It's filed once per financial year on Form GST RFD-11 and, for almost everyone, replaces the older, heavier requirement of a bond backed by a bank guarantee.
Can you file LUT?
If all three apply, you can file LUT online — no bank guarantee, no physical paperwork.
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How to file LUT (Form GST RFD-11)
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Estimate your export refund
If you export under LUT, you don't pay IGST on output — but input tax credit on purchases still builds up, and can be claimed back as a refund under Rule 89(4) of the CGST Rules.
How the Rule 89(4) refund is worked out
Refund = (Turnover of zero-rated supply ÷ Adjusted total turnover) × Net ITC — where Net ITC is the input tax credit availed on inputs and input services (not capital goods) for the period, and adjusted total turnover is your total turnover for that period, excluding exempt supplies other than zero-rated ones. The ratio is capped at 1, since zero-rated turnover is a subset of your total turnover — if your numbers put it above that, one of the two figures is likely wrong.
This calculator gives a working estimate of the standard formula — it doesn't apply the further restriction on goods (value capped at 1.5× the price of like goods sold domestically, to prevent overvaluation) or the separate advance-adjustment rule for services. For the exact admissible amount, file the refund application on the GST portal under Form GST RFD-01, which runs the full calculation.
Frequently asked questions
What if I export without filing LUT or a bond?
You can't export tax-free without one of the two. Without LUT or a bond, you'd need to pay IGST on the export invoice (or SEZ supply) and separately claim it back as a refund — a slower route that ties up working capital until the refund clears, compared to exporting tax-free upfront under LUT.
How long is a LUT valid for?
For the financial year it's filed against, and no longer — you must file a fresh LUT before exporting in the new financial year. Exporting without a valid LUT in place means falling back to paying IGST and claiming a refund for those shipments.
What happens if I'm not eligible for LUT?
You furnish a bond instead, backed by a bank guarantee (typically up to 15% of the bond amount), filed manually with your jurisdictional GST office rather than online — a heavier process than LUT's self-declaration.
Is paying IGST and claiming a refund ever the better option?
It can suit exporters who'd rather not deal with LUT renewal and the ITC-refund process, since the shipping-bill route (paying IGST, then claiming it back) is often processed faster than an ITC-accumulation refund — the tradeoff is tying up cash as IGST until that refund comes through, instead of not paying it in the first place.