Export invoice under LUT: the ten lines it needs

From the Export Desk, chapter 5 · Look inside the Export Desk

What are the ten lines?

Rule 46 of the CGST Rules lists what a tax invoice must carry, and its proviso adds what an export invoice must say (source 1). Cut to what applies when a registered person exports a service under an LUT, the list comes to ten lines. Lay them out however you like; these are the contents, in this order:

The ten lines of an export invoice under LUT, and the part of rule 46 behind each

ID	Line	Rule
L1	You: your legal name (and trade name if registered), address and GSTIN	CGST rule 46(a)
L2	Invoice number: up to 16 characters (letters, digits, “-” and “/”), unique in the financial year	46(b)
L3	Invoice date	46(c)
L4	Your client: name and address, the address of delivery, and the country of destination	46, export proviso
L5	The service: a description, and the SAC on every line	46(g), 46(h)
L6	The value: taxable value and total, in the invoice currency (an INR line at a stated rate is practice; ask your CA)	46(j), 46(k); rule 34(2)
L7	The tax: IGST shown as nil, and “Tax payable on reverse charge: No”	46(l), (m), (p)
L8	Place of supply: outside India, with the country	46(n); IGST Act s.13(2)
L9	The endorsement, exactly: SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT/SUPPLY TO SEZ UNIT OR SEZ DEVELOPER FOR AUTHORISED OPERATIONS UNDER BOND OR LETTER OF UNDERTAKING WITHOUT PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX, with your LUT ARN and its date (the ARN is practice, not the rule’s text)	46 proviso; rule 96A
L10	Signature or digital signature of you or your authorised representative	46(q)

A heading of “Tax invoice” at the top is good practice, though the rule’s list of particulars doesn’t set it out (source 1).

What exactly does the endorsement say?

The proviso to rule 46 sets these words for an export made under bond or LUT without payment of IGST (source 1):

SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT/SUPPLY TO SEZ UNIT OR SEZ DEVELOPER FOR AUTHORISED OPERATIONS UNDER BOND OR LETTER OF UNDERTAKING WITHOUT PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX

Copy it as it stands, with the capitals, the slash and the words about SEZ units, even though your client isn’t one. Three versions fall short:

• A shortened form, such as “supply meant for export under LUT without payment of IGST”. It reads well, but it isn’t the rule’s wording.
• An older wording, which began “SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT UNDER BOND OR LETTER OF UNDERTAKING”. Notification No. 17/2017-Central Tax, of 27 July 2017, replaced it with the text above (source 1).
• The endorsement for an export with IGST paid, which ends “ON PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX”. Under an LUT you pay no IGST, so it is the wrong one (source 1).

Under the endorsement, add your LUT’s ARN and the date it was filed. The rule’s text doesn’t ask for them; it is the usual practice, and it shows at a glance which LUT the invoice relies on (source 1).

The wording above is the CBIC’s own text of rule 46, as amended up to 8 October 2024, compared character for character on 13 October 2026 (source 1).

How should you number export invoices?

Rule 46(b) asks for a consecutive serial number of up to 16 characters, in one or more series, made of letters, digits, hyphens (“-”) and slashes (“/”), and unique for a financial year (source 1).

Putting the financial year inside the number keeps each year’s series apart: EXP/26-27/001 has 13 characters. Start a new series on 1 April, and never use a number twice. If an invoice has to be reduced or cancelled after you send it, ask your CA about a credit note rather than editing the original.

Which currency, and do you need a rupee figure?

Invoice in the currency you agreed with your client. For GST, the value in rupees uses the exchange rate determined under generally accepted accounting principles for the date of the time of supply, under rule 34(2) (source 2). Printing that rupee value on the invoice, with the rate and its source, is practice rather than one of the ten lines. Ask your CA which rate to use, and keep to it.

Should an export invoice under LUT show IGST?

Show it as nil. An LUT lets a registered person supply services for export without paying IGST (source 3), so the invoice shows the IGST as nil, and “Tax payable on reverse charge: No”. Don’t add CGST or SGST either: a supply where the supplier is in India and the place of supply is outside India is an inter-State supply, under section 7(5)(a) of the IGST Act (source 4).

Which SAC, and how many digits?

Every line of the invoice carries the SAC of the service it describes. Notification 78/2020-Central Tax sets the number of digits from 1 April 2021: four if your aggregate turnover in the previous financial year was up to ₹5 crore, six if it was more (source 5). Six digits tell a reader more, at any turnover. Which code fits your service is a question for your CA.

What if you aren’t registered for GST?

Then the ten lines don’t apply yet. Rule 46’s tax invoice is issued by a registered person, and only a registered person can furnish an LUT (source 1, source 3). Under Notification 10/2017-Integrated Tax, a person making inter-State supplies of taxable services is exempt from registration while their all-India aggregate turnover stays within ₹20 lakh in a financial year, or ₹10 lakh in the special category States other than Jammu and Kashmir (source 6). Whether that exemption fits your case, and what your plain invoice should say, are questions for your CA.

How do you check an invoice before you send it?

1. Open your last export invoice beside the table above.
2. Go down the ten lines in order, and mark each one present, missing or different.
3. Copy the endorsement from this page over yours, and put your LUT’s ARN and its date under it.
4. Check the invoice date against your LUT. An LUT covers one financial year, so an invoice dated on or after 1 April 2027 needs the LUT for 2027-28 (source 3).
5. Check the number: 16 characters at most, and not used before in this financial year.
6. Run it through the free export invoice check. It tests the same ten lines, works out the date the money is due in India, and gives the EDF date with the RBI’s remarks of 7 October 2026 beside it.

From the kit. In the Export Desk, chapter 5 of the guide takes the ten lines one at a time, on a specimen invoice with each line numbered. This is that page.

The ten lines are also a free A4 page, to print and keep beside your invoice template: One page, free.

The dates that follow an export invoice, nine months for the money and the EDF if your bank says you file, are in the guide to exporting services from 1 October 2026. Filing and renewing the LUT is in the LUT guide.

Questions to ask your CA

1. Which SAC fits my services, and should I use four digits or six?
2. Which exchange rate should my rupee figure use: from which source, and for which date?
3. How should my LUT’s ARN and its date appear on my invoices?
4. I send my invoices as PDF attachments. Do they need a signature, and of which kind?
5. How do I handle an advance, or a credit note, on an export invoice?
6. I’m not registered yet. What should my plain invoice say, and when should I register?

Sources

1. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. Rule 46, Tax invoice, CGST Rules, 2017, the CBIC’s own text in its tax information repository, with its amendments up to Notification No. 20/2024-Central Tax of 8 October 2024, including the export proviso and its endorsement. Primary source. Read on 13 October 2026.
2. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. Rule 34, Rate of exchange of currency, other than Indian rupees, for determination of value, CGST Rules, 2017, the CBIC’s own text. Sub-rule (2), for services. Primary source. Read on 13 October 2026.
3. Goods and Services Tax Network. Furnishing of Letter of Undertaking for Export of Goods or Services, the GST portal’s user guide. Primary source. Read on 12 October 2026.
4. Know Your GST. Section 7, Inter-State supply, IGST Act, 2017, a reproduction of the Act. Secondary source. Read on 12 October 2026.
5. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. Notification No. 78/2020-Central Tax, 15 October 2020, a copy on the GST Council’s website. Primary source. Read on 12 October 2026.
6. GSTZen. Integrated Tax Notification 10/2017: Seeks to exempt persons making inter-State supplies of taxable services from registration under section 23(2), a reproduction of the notification. Secondary source. Read on 12 October 2026.

What changed in this guide

• 13 October 2026. Rules 46 and 34 are now cited from the CBIC’s own text of the CGST Rules, in place of a secondary source. The endorsement matches that text word for word; nothing in the ten lines changed.
• 12 October 2026. Written, and checked against the sources above. The ten lines and the endorsement are the same, word for word, as the free page, the free check and the Export Desk.