How to use it
- 1Enter your business name, address and GSTIN once. They are saved on your device for next time, along with your bank details.
- 2Choose whether you export under LUT, without IGST, or with payment of IGST. Add the LUT's ARN if you want it printed, and the invoice number and date.
- 3Fill in the client's name, address and country. If the goods or services are delivered somewhere else, tick the box and give that address.
- 4Pick the currency your client pays in and the exchange rate, then add each item with its HSN or SAC code, quantity and rate in that currency.
- 5Add your bank's SWIFT code, check the preview, and press Download PDF / Print or Word (.docx). At the month's end, list the invoice in your EDF.
Export Invoice – a filled-in sample
Made with the tool above from made-up details: every name and number in it is invented. Press “See a filled-in example” in the tool to open it there and download it.
What the invoice prints
- Your name, address and GSTIN, and the invoice number (up to sixteen characters, unique for the financial year) and date
- Place of supply: outside India, and the country of destination
- The endorsement for the route you choose, word for word as rule 46 gives it
- The recipient’s name and address, and the address of delivery
- Each item with its HSN or SAC code, quantity, rate and amount in your client’s currency
- The total in that currency and in words, the rupee value at your exchange rate, and IGST in rupees or “Nil (under LUT)”
- Your bank’s details for the wire, including the SWIFT code, and the authorised signatory
Under LUT
The Letter of Undertaking is furnished in FORM GST RFD-11 to the jurisdictional Commissioner before you export (rule 96A(1) of the CGST Rules). It binds you to pay the tax with interest if an export does not complete in time: for services, if the payment does not arrive in convertible foreign exchange, or in rupees wherever RBI permits, within one year or the FEMA period, whichever is later, plus fifteen days.
After the invoice
At the month’s end, a firm exporting services lists the month’s invoices in one EDF, due within 30 days from the end of that month; our guide to the EDF walks through it. For sales within India, use the GST invoice; to quote or ask for an advance first, the proforma invoice.
Sources
- Rule 46 of the CGST Rules, 2017, third proviso, and rule 96A(1), as in CBIC’s tax repository (taxinformation.cbic.gov.in), read 18 October 2026
- Section 2(6) of the IGST Act, 2017
- Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026, regulation 3(2), for the EDF
Questions people ask
How is an export invoice different from a GST invoice?
It is a tax invoice under rule 46 of the CGST Rules, with the supplier's GSTIN, a serial number, the date, HSN or SAC codes, descriptions, quantities and values like any other. The third proviso to rule 46 then adds two things for an export of goods or services: an endorsement, in words the rule prescribes, and in place of the recipient's state details, the recipient's name and address, the address of delivery and the name of the country of destination.
What exactly does the endorsement say?
Under a bond or Letter of Undertaking: "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 IGST paid: "SUPPLY MEANT FOR EXPORT/SUPPLY TO SEZ UNIT OR SEZ DEVELOPER FOR AUTHORISED OPERATIONS ON PAYMENT OF INTEGRATED TAX". This format prints the one you choose, word for word as the rule has it.
Under LUT or with IGST: which should I choose?
Under LUT you export without paying IGST, having furnished a bond or a Letter of Undertaking in FORM GST RFD-11 to the jurisdictional Commissioner before the export (rule 96A(1)). With IGST, you pay IGST on the export, and the invoice shows it in rupees. Which route suits your business, and what follows from it, is a question for your accountant; the invoice prints either correctly.
What does the LUT bind me to?
Rule 96A(1) says the bond or LUT binds the exporter to pay the tax due with interest if the goods are not exported within three months of the invoice date (or a longer period the Commissioner allows), or, for services, if payment is not received in convertible foreign exchange, or in Indian rupees wherever RBI permits, within one year or the period FEMA allows, whichever is later, in each case within fifteen days after that period ends.
Do I have to print the LUT's ARN on the invoice?
Rule 46 does not ask for it. Printing it lets anyone checking the invoice see which LUT it was issued under, so the field is there; leave it empty if you prefer.
Is the place of supply always 'Outside India'?
For a genuine export, yes. Section 2(6) of the IGST Act makes a supply of services an export only when, among other conditions, the supplier is in India, the recipient is outside India, the place of supply is outside India, and payment comes in convertible foreign exchange or in rupees wherever RBI permits. If a service's place of supply is in India, it is not an export, and this is not the invoice to use.
Which currency should the invoice be in?
The one your client pays in. The form offers eleven, rupees included. The exchange rate turns the total into rupees on the invoice, which is the figure your GST return needs; use the rate you will report there.
Does the client need a GSTIN?
No. The recipient is outside India. If your client has a tax or VAT number and wants it on the invoice, there is a field for it.
How does the invoice connect to the EDF?
From 1 October 2026 a firm exporting services files an Export Declaration Form within 30 days from the end of the month in which the invoice was raised, and one EDF can list all of the month's invoices with their numbers, dates, currencies and amounts. Our EDF format takes those details from you invoice by invoice.
Can I download it in Word or Excel?
Word, yes: press Word (.docx) above the preview. The file is laid out like the PDF and every word and figure can be edited. There is no Excel version of the export invoice yet.
Can the invoice be in Hindi?
Yes. Switch Document language to हिंदी above the preview. The headings and the amount in words are in Hindi; the endorsement stays in English, word for word.
Is there a blank format?
Yes. Press 'Blank format', or use the blank PDF and Word files linked at the top of this page. A blank is for either kind of export, so it prints both endorsements with a box to tick, and the rupee and IGST columns.
Last reviewed: 18 October 2026