₹499 is the whole professional fee for LUT filing in Mumbai, and the government adds nothing on top. What that money buys is a financial year of exporting without IGST leaving your account first. A Ghatkopar diagnostics company reporting scans for hospitals in the Gulf invoices clean from day one. A Bhiwandi logistics operator moving cargo through JNPT at Nhava Sheva, India's largest container port, clears shipments without tax parked in a refund queue. The Letter of Undertaking is one short form with an outsized effect, and this page covers what it costs, who checks it in Mumbai, and the dates that govern it.
What does the LUT really cost a Mumbai exporter?
Two numbers frame the decision. The first is ₹499, our fee to check eligibility, prepare Form GST RFD-11 and file it against your GSTIN. The second is what skipping the LUT costs you. Say that Ghatkopar lab bills ₹8 lakh a month to overseas hospitals. Paying IGST at 18 percent means ₹1.44 lakh going out every month, recovered only when a refund is processed, while reagents, salaries and rent refuse to wait.
An eligible exporter needs no bond and no bank guarantee for this route. The one disqualifier worth naming: prosecution for tax evasion involving more than ₹2.5 crore pushes you to a bond instead. We screen for this before filing, not after a rejection.
Do the GST thresholds even reach your business?
The LUT conversation starts only once you hold a GSTIN. Maharashtra applies the standard thresholds, with registration compulsory at ₹40 lakh turnover for goods and ₹20 lakh for services. Exporters rarely wait that long. The zero rated route, LUT included, is open only to registered taxpayers, so most Mumbai exporters register early and voluntarily. A trading firm near Zaveri Bazaar crosses the goods line quickly. A two person studio in Bandra can sit under ₹20 lakh for years and still register, because foreign clients expect GST paperwork and the LUT needs the number. Registration itself costs nothing on the portal, which keeps the sequence simple: GSTIN first, LUT straight after, exports at zero tax from then on.
Who inside the tax machinery sees your LUT?
You file on gst.gov.in like every exporter in the country. The local part is the officer behind your registration. Every Mumbai GSTIN begins with 27. Behind it sits one of two desks. The state desk belongs to the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Department, which runs its portal at mahagst.gov.in. The central desk is a Central GST officer in the CGST Mumbai zone. Acceptance of an LUT is usually quick. Whichever desk holds your file is who raises a clarification if something looks off, and who can order physical verification of your principal place of business.
The other Maharashtra layer is profession tax, which exporters overlook because it has nothing to do with exports. The entity holds PTEC and pays a flat ₹2,500 a year with no return attached. PTRC is the separate employer certificate covering the profession tax deducted from employee salaries, ₹200 a month and ₹300 in February. Women earning up to ₹25,000 a month stay outside the deduction. A Powai SaaS founder invoicing American clients under an LUT still owes both layers once a team is on the payroll.
Which proofs actually decide a smooth filing?
Form GST RFD-11 itself is light. The friction, when it comes, sits underneath in the registration the LUT rides on. Mumbai businesses run on leave and licence premises inside cooperative housing societies to an unusual degree. An officer verifying the address wants the agreement, the licensor's NOC and the society's position telling one story. Maharashtra also makes leave and licence agreements compulsorily registrable, with the obligation on the landlord, and a registered agreement closes most address doubts before they open. The same logic covers a home office in a society flat, common from Mulund to Malad; the paper trail matters more than the floor area.
What we collect for the filing itself:
- GST registration certificate and an active 27 series GSTIN
- DSC or EVC of the authorised signatory who signs RFD-11
- Names, occupations and addresses of two witnesses
- Last year's LUT where this is a renewal
- IEC for goods exporters, plus the premises papers above where verification looks likely
Which dates rule the LUT year?
The LUT is an annual instrument, and the calendar is unforgiving in one way above all: cover lapses on its own, with no reminder from the portal.
| Date or window | What it means | Who feels it |
|---|---|---|
| 31 March | The running LUT dies with the financial year | Every exporter holding one |
| 1 April | Fresh exports need a fresh LUT already accepted | Goods, services and SEZ suppliers |
| 22nd after each quarter | GSTR-3B falls due for Maharashtra QRMP filers | Smaller exporters on quarterly returns |
| PTEC annual due date | The ₹2,500 enrolment payment falls due | The exporting entity itself |
Miss the April boundary and every invoice until the new acceptance sits uncovered, a gap that audits find years later. Our renewal drill runs in three moves:
- Early March: we pull the current LUT and confirm its ARN and validity on the portal.
- Mid March: we refile RFD-11 for the incoming year, reusing your witnesses unless you change them.
- 1 April: you invoice against the new LUT number with no break in cover.
Where do Mumbai exporters get this wrong?
Three failures repeat in the files we take over. The silent lapse leads: the LUT expired on 31 March, invoices kept flowing, and nobody noticed until a buyer's auditor asked for the current ARN. The SEZ blind spot comes second. Supplies into a SEEPZ unit in Andheri East are zero rated exactly like a shipment to Singapore, and they need LUT cover too; plenty of vendors learn that from a notice. The third failure is treating the LUT as the whole export stack. It is not. Goods exporters still need IEC, and Foreign Trade Policy matters route through the DGFT regional authority at Mumbai. Sector bodies such as GJEPC and Texprocil, both headquartered in the city, exist because export compliance has many moving parts.
Why file it through LegalX India?
Because the fee is small and the failure modes are not. Our CA and CS team screens eligibility before anything is submitted, files RFD-11, tracks the acknowledgment until the reference number reaches you, and then parks your renewal in a March diary so the silent lapse never happens. Exporters across Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane use us for exactly this filing, and LegalX India carries a 4.8 Google rating across more than 2,500 reviews. The work is fully online. If you would rather talk first, request a callback and an expert phones you inside 30 minutes.
For the statute behind zero rated supplies, the bond alternative and the full national picture, read LUT filing in India explained.