GST LUT for Exports Rejected or Not Reflecting? Exporter Fix Guide

Who this guide is for

This guide is for GST-registered exporters of goods or services in India who use a Letter of Undertaking (LUT) to export without paying integrated tax, and who have hit a problem with that LUT. It is useful if:

• Your LUT application on the portal was rejected or marked deficient by the jurisdictional officer.
• The financial year has changed and your earlier LUT has expired, so your current exports are no longer covered.
• You filed the LUT but it is not reflecting on the portal, or you cannot find the acknowledgement.
• You exported during a gap when no valid LUT was in place and you need to regularize those supplies.
• You were asked to furnish a bond instead of a LUT and are unsure what that involves.

A LUT matters because exports are zero-rated under GST. You can export either under a LUT without paying integrated tax, or by paying integrated tax and claiming a refund. A valid LUT is what keeps your working capital free and your supply chain moving. When the LUT breaks, the whole zero-rated route is exposed.

This is an action guide, not tax advice. Where the stakes are high, such as regularizing a long gap or responding to a notice, engage a Chartered Accountant or GST practitioner. If your wider export setup is also stuck, the companion guide on a suspended IEC or DGFT risk flag and the one on IGST export refunds not credited on ICEGATE cover the next links in the chain.

What you can do this weekend

Friday evening

Log in to gst.gov.in with your GSTIN credentials. Go to Services > User Services > View My Submitted LUTs (the exact menu label can change between portal versions, so look for the Letter of Undertaking area under User Services). Check the status for the current financial year. It will usually read as filed, rejected, or simply have no entry for the year.

If there is an entry, note the Application Reference Number (ARN) and download the acknowledgement as a PDF. If the status is rejected, read the remark carefully. Save a dated screenshot of whatever you see. This is your evidence baseline.

Also check the email and mobile number linked to your GST registration. The portal often sends a message when a LUT is filed or rejected, and the officer may have written separately. Write down the date your earlier LUT expired, which is normally the end of the previous financial year.

Saturday

Work out exactly which exports are affected. Pull your export invoices and shipping bills for the period since your last valid LUT lapsed. For each one, note the date, the value, and whether you exported on the without-payment route assuming a LUT was in place.

If you exported during a gap with no valid LUT, do not panic, but do not ignore it either. List those supplies separately. You will decide later, ideally with a GST practitioner, whether to pay integrated tax and claim a refund or to represent to your officer with proof that the exports were genuine.

Gather the people and papers you need to re-file. The online LUT asks for the names and addresses of two independent witnesses and is signed with your digital signature certificate (DSC) or electronic verification code (EVC). Confirm your DSC is working and registered on the portal before Monday, because a DSC problem is one of the most common reasons a LUT filing fails to complete.

Sunday

Draft your re-filing plan and, if needed, a short representation to the jurisdictional officer using the template in this guide. Organise your evidence: registration certificate, previous LUT acknowledgement, export invoices, shipping bills, and bank realization records.

If the LUT was rejected on a curable ground, such as a missing witness detail or a wrong financial year selected, prepare a clean re-filing that fixes exactly that defect. If you cannot tell why it was rejected, prepare a written request to the officer asking for the recorded reason.

Call a Chartered Accountant or GST practitioner if a gap period is involved or if the rejection looks substantive. A short paid consultation before you file is worth far more than fixing a mistake afterwards. Once you are clear, you are ready to file on Monday.

Documents and evidence checklist

Step-by-step action plan

Step 1 — Confirm the exact LUT status on the portal

Log in to the GST portal and open the Letter of Undertaking area under User Services. Select the current financial year and read the status. There are four common situations: the LUT shows as filed (no action needed beyond saving the acknowledgement), it shows as rejected, it has expired because the year changed, or there is no entry at all because the filing never completed. Note the ARN if there is one and save a dated screenshot. Knowing precisely which situation you are in decides everything that follows.

Step 2 — Understand what a LUT does (and its yearly limit)

A LUT is a declaration you give to the GST authority that you will fulfil the conditions for exporting without payment of integrated tax. Exports are zero-rated, and the LUT is the route that avoids blocking your cash in tax you would otherwise pay and reclaim. The single most important rule to remember is that a LUT is valid only for the financial year for which it is furnished. It does not roll over. At the start of each year you must file a fresh LUT before raising your first export invoice. An expired LUT is the most common reason exporters suddenly find their without-tax route is not protected.

If you do not meet the eligibility conditions for a LUT, you may be required to furnish a bond instead, often supported by a bank guarantee, to your jurisdictional officer. The precise eligibility conditions and any bank-guarantee percentage can change over time and can vary by case, so verify the current position on the official portal or with your officer rather than relying on an old figure.

Step 3 — Find out why it was rejected or is missing

If the LUT was rejected, look for the officer's remark on the status page and in your GST-registered email. Common curable reasons in practice include selecting the wrong financial year, incomplete witness details, a mismatch in the authorised signatory, or a request for further documents. If no reason is visible, write to your jurisdictional officer asking for the recorded reason for rejection.

If the LUT is simply not reflecting, first confirm whether the filing actually completed. If an ARN was generated, the submission went through and this is likely a display or sync issue: clear your browser cache, try a different browser, and recheck after a few hours. If no ARN was generated, the filing did not complete and you should file again from scratch. Either way, save screenshots at each stage.

Step 4 — File or re-file the LUT for the year

On the portal, open Furnish Letter of Undertaking, select the correct financial year, and read the on-screen undertakings. Accept the standard declarations, enter the names and addresses of your two independent witnesses, and sign using your DSC or EVC. Confirm that a new ARN is generated and download the acknowledgement PDF immediately. Do not assume it filed until you see the ARN and the acknowledgement.

If the portal asks for documents this year that it did not ask for earlier, follow the current on-screen instructions, because the LUT format can be updated from year to year. Once filed and accepted, your zero-rated without-tax route is protected again for that financial year.

Step 5 — Regularize any exports made without a valid LUT

If you exported during a gap when no valid LUT was in place, those supplies need to be regularized. There are generally two routes. You can pay the integrated tax on those exports and then claim a refund, or you can represent to the jurisdictional officer with proof that the exports were genuine, such as shipping bills and bank realization records, and ask that the without-tax treatment be accepted. The right route depends on your facts, the amounts, and how long the gap was. This is exactly the point to involve a GST practitioner, because choosing wrongly can cost interest or trigger a notice. For the related GSTR-2B and credit-side reconciliation, our guide on GST refund and ITC mismatch CBIC complaints is useful.

Step 6 — Protect your export refund position

A refund of accumulated input tax credit on zero-rated exports is processed separately from the LUT, but the two are linked. A valid LUT for the relevant period strengthens your refund claim, while a rejected or late LUT can give the refund officer a reason to query the file. Fix the LUT first, regularize any gap, and then file the refund with your export invoices, shipping bills and bank realization records ready. Keep your GST returns (GSTR-1 export tables and GSTR-3B) current throughout, because the refund officer will check that the exports were reported.

Step 7 — Raise a grievance if the LUT still will not reflect

If you have an ARN but the LUT is still not visible after a sensible wait, or it was rejected on a ground you believe is wrong, raise a grievance on the GST self-service portal quoting the ARN and attaching your screenshots. Note the ticket number. Simultaneously write to your jurisdictional GST officer with a short, factual representation (use the template below) and request that the LUT be accepted or that the recorded reason for rejection be supplied.

Step 8 — Escalate and use RTI for records if there is no response

If the officer does not respond within a reasonable time, escalate to the jurisdictional senior officer (such as the Deputy or Joint Commissioner of your range) and, if needed, lodge a grievance on CPGRAMS directed to the Department of Revenue and CBIC. To obtain the records and any order on your LUT, you can file an RTI application to the public information officer of your GST authority, as explained in the RTI section below. If a formal proceeding follows, engage a qualified GST practitioner or advocate.

Escalation ladder

Copy-paste representation template

Replace the text in square brackets with your own details before sending to your jurisdictional GST officer.

When RTI can help

The Right to Information Act, 2005 applies to public authorities, which includes the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the State GST departments. In a LUT dispute, RTI is useful in specific record-related situations:

• Getting the status and any order on your LUT: If the officer has neither accepted nor explained the rejection, file an RTI with the public information officer of your jurisdictional GST authority. Ask for the current status of the LUT filed under ARN [your ARN] for GSTIN [your GSTIN] for FY [year], and a copy of any order or noting on it.
• Getting the recorded reason for rejection: If a rejection remark is vague or absent, RTI can be used to obtain the recorded reason and the file notings behind the decision, which helps you re-file correctly or represent on the right ground.
• Tracking a pending representation: If you submitted a representation and heard nothing, RTI can confirm whether it was received and what action, if any, was taken internally.

To file an RTI online, see our step-by-step guide on how to file an RTI online in India. The fee for a central government authority is the prescribed nominal amount, and the public information officer must respond within 30 days. If you get no reply or an unsatisfactory one, our guide on the RTI first appeal under Section 19 explains the next step. For using RTI alongside other grievance channels, see CPGRAMS and RTI together, and for deeper strategy, The RTI Playbook.

When RTI will not help

RTI has clear limits in a LUT problem, and it is important to be honest about them:

• RTI will not re-process your LUT: RTI is a tool to access information held by a public authority. It cannot make the officer accept your LUT or correct a portal display. The LUT filing on the portal and the jurisdictional officer are the route for that; RTI only supports it with records.
• RTI does not reach private parties: If a customs broker, your bank, or a software vendor caused the practical hold-up, RTI does not apply to their internal records. You deal with them directly. RTI reaches the public authority's records only.
• RTI is not the fast route to fix a live export: If you have a shipment moving and need the LUT in place now, re-filing on the portal and a direct representation to the officer are faster than the 30-day RTI window. Use RTI for the paper trail, not as the emergency remedy.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Assuming the LUT carries over to the new year: It does not. A LUT is valid for one financial year only. File a fresh LUT at the start of each year before your first export invoice, and you will avoid the most common LUT problem of all.
• Continuing to export without payment after the LUT lapses: If your LUT has expired and you keep exporting on the without-tax route, those supplies may not be protected. Either re-file first, or be ready to pay integrated tax and claim a refund for the gap.
• Treating a missing acknowledgement as a filed LUT: If no ARN was generated, the LUT did not file. Always confirm the ARN and download the acknowledgement PDF before you rely on it.
• Ignoring the rejection remark: Many LUT rejections are for small, curable reasons such as a wrong year or missing witness detail. Read the remark, fix exactly that, and re-file cleanly instead of re-submitting the same error.
• Letting your GST returns lapse during the dispute: Keep filing GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B on time and reporting your exports correctly. A defaulting taxpayer weakens both the LUT representation and any later refund claim.
• Regularizing a gap period without advice: Choosing between paying integrated tax and representing to the officer has tax and interest consequences. For anything beyond a tiny gap, get a Chartered Accountant or GST practitioner involved before you act.
• Confusing the LUT with the export refund: They are separate processes. Fixing the LUT does not by itself release a refund, and a refund is not a substitute for a valid LUT. Handle the LUT first, then the refund.

If the export blockage is wider than the LUT, see our guides on a suspended IEC or DGFT risk flag, on IGST export refunds not credited on ICEGATE, and on the full GST, tax and export compliance library.