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For IT, SaaS and professional-services exporters, the export of services is zero-rated under GST — but qualifying as an "export of service" and actually recovering the credit are two different things.
When is a service an "export"?
All five conditions must be met: the supplier is in India, the recipient is outside India, the place of supply is outside India, payment is received in convertible foreign exchange (or INR where permitted), and the supplier and recipient are not merely establishments of the same person.
Two refund routes
- LUT route: export without paying IGST and claim a refund of unutilised input tax credit.
- IGST-paid route: pay IGST on the export and claim a refund of the tax paid.
Most service exporters use the LUT route because they have accumulated input credit and no domestic output to absorb it.
Common pitfalls
- Intermediary trap: if the contract makes you an "intermediary", the place of supply shifts to India and the benefit is lost. Drafting matters.
- FIRC/BRC evidence: keep foreign-inward-remittance evidence aligned to invoices.
- Refund timing: file within the limitation period and reconcile credit monthly.
This is a clean, sample article migrated from the kind of topic the firm publishes — without the hashtag-stuffed titles of the old site.
GST RefundExport of ServicesTechnologyLUT