Export of goods or services under bond or Letter of Undertaking
Rule 96A of the CGST Rules
Straight from CBIC
Official source, not a summary of a summary
Full text included
Read the exact words of the law yourself
Amendment history
See what changed, and when
Free, always
No login, no paywall, no book to buy
In one line
Export without payment of tax: furnish a Letter of Undertaking (or a bond with security where the LUT is not allowed) in RFD-11 before exporting. Goods must leave India within three months of the invoice and payment for services must be received within one year, or the tax with interest becomes payable within fifteen days.
What this means in practice
The parts that actually decide cases — the things a practitioner checks first.
A LUT is filed annually in RFD-11 before the first export of the year.
Three months from the invoice for goods, one year for receipt of payment for services – and the tax with interest falls due fifteen days after that, without any notice.
How this provision is built
The skeleton, clause by clause — useful when a notice cites a specific sub-clause.
The exact words of the law
3,103 characters, uneditedReproduced from the CBIC text. We explain it above — but you should always be able to read it yourself.
Read the full provision+
(1) Any registered person availing the option to supply goods or services for export without payment of integrated tax shall furnish, prior to export, a bond or a Letter of Undertaking in FORM GST RFD-11 to the jurisdictional Commissioner, binding himself to pay the tax due along with the interest specified under sub-section
(1) of section 50 within a period of –
(a) fifteen days after the expiry of three months 3 [or such further period as may be allowed by the Commissioner,] from the date of issue of the invoice for export, if the goods are not exported out of India; or 6 [
(b) fifteen days after the expiry of one year, or the period as allowed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999) including any extension of such period as permitted by the Reserve Bank of India, whichever is later, from the date of issue of the invoice for export, or such further period as may be allowed by the Commissioner, if the payment of such services is not received by the exporter in convertible foreign exchange or in Indian rupees, wherever permitted by the Reserve Bank of India.]].
(2) The details of the export invoices contained in FORM GSTR-1 7 [, as amended in FORM GSTR-1A if any,] furnished on the common portal shall be electronically transmitted to the system designated by Customs and a confirmation that the goods covered by the said invoices have been exported out of India shall be electronically transmitted to the common portal from the said system. 5 [ Provided that where the date for furnishing the details of outward supplies in FORM GSTR-1 for a tax period has been extended in exercise of the powers conferred under section 37 of the Act, the supplier shall furnish the information relating to exports as specified in Table 6A of FORM GSTR-1 after there turn in FORM GSTR-3B has been furnished and the same shall be transmitted electronically by the common portal to the system designated by the Customs: Provided further that the information in Table 6A furnished under the first proviso shall be auto-drafted in FORM GSTR-1 for the said tax period.]
(3) Where the goods are not exported within the time specified in sub-rule
(1) and the registered person fails to pay the amount mentioned in the said sub-rule, the export as allowed under bond or Letter of Undertaking shall be withdrawn forthwith and the said amount shall be recovered from the registered person in accordance with the provisions of section 79 .
(4) The export as allowed under bond or Letter of Undertaking withdrawn in terms of sub rule
(3) shall be restored immediately when the registered person pays the amount due.
(5) The Board, by way of notification, may specify the conditions and safeguards under which a Letter of Undertaking may be furnished in place of a bond.
(6) The provisions of sub rule (1)shall apply, mutatis mutandis , in respect of zero-rated supply of goods or services or both to a Special Economic Zone developer or a Special Economic Zone unit without payment of integrated tax.
What changed, and when
The amendment trail, newest first — because the version that applies to your case depends on the period.
2024-07-10 · Substituted
12/2024CTdated10
Substituted vide Notification No. 12/2024 CT dated 10.07.2024.
2024-07-10 · Inserted
12/2024CTdated10
Inserted vide Notification No. 12/2024 CT dated 10.07.2024.
2019-02-01 · Substituted
03/2019-CTdated29
Substituted vide Notification No. 03/2019-CT dated 29.01.2019 w.e.f. 01.02.2019 for "Refund of integrated tax paid on export".
2019-02-01 · Inserted
03/2019-CTdated29
Inserted vide Notification No. 03/2019-CT dated 29.01.2019 w.e.f. 01.02.2019.
2017-10-28 · Inserted
51/2017CTdated28
Inserted vide Notification No. 51/2017 CT dated 28.10.2017.
2017-10-18 · Inserted
47/2017-CTdated18
Inserted vide Notification No. 47/2017-CT dated 18.10.2017.
2017-07-01 · Inserted
15/2017-C
Inserted (w.e.f. 01.07.2017) by Notification No.15/2017-C.T. , dated 01.07.2017.
Read this with
A provision rarely works alone. These are the ones it points to.
Where this comes from
Text reproduced from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, as available on 2026-09-05. The explanation and practice notes above are GSTZone’s own, written for this hub. If you spot anything out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it — this hub is checked daily against CBIC.
Reading is free. Getting it wrong isn’t.
Does this apply to your case, or not?
Reading the section is one thing. Knowing whether it bites on your facts, and what it costs if it does, is another. Send us the situation – we will tell you straight, and only take it on if we can genuinely help.
6+ years · 2,500+ GST registrations filed · Bhopal, serving all of India