Export refund readiness: the document checklist
Twelve documents. If all twelve exist before you file, the claim is usually sanctioned.
Refund claims are rejected on documents far more often than on law. Assemble these twelve items for each period before filing, and the deficiency memo route is largely avoided.
For goods
One. A valid letter of undertaking in RFD-11 for the financial year, or the bond with security.
Two. Export invoices matching the GSTR-1 export table on number, date, value and shipping bill particulars.
Three. Shipping bills or bills of export with the EGM filed and reflected.
Four. The statement prescribed by the rules for the category, in the required format.
Five. The invoice level annexure of the credit claimed, reconciled to GSTR-2B.
Six. A computation of the refundable amount under the applicable formula, with the turnover figures and their source.
For services, and common items
Seven. The contract or purchase order with the foreign recipient, establishing the recipient's location.
Eight. Foreign inward remittance certificates or bank realisation statements, indexed to invoices.
Nine. Evidence that the place of supply is outside India, and where intermediary characterisation is a risk, the basis on which the supply is on your own account.
Ten. The prescribed declarations and undertakings, signed by the authorised signatory.
Eleven. The certificate prescribed where the amount exceeds the threshold, with the working papers behind it.
Twelve. The supplier filing status extract for the period, so that a mismatch is answered before it is raised.
What to do on Monday
Make the twelve item checklist a sign off before every filing, owned by one person.
Reconcile the shipping bill, invoice and GSTR-1 export table before filing, not after a query.
Index remittance certificates to invoices as they are received.
Pull the supplier filing status extract before filing so mismatches are pre answered.
This page states the general position. A reader with a specific question on their own facts may write to the GST practice at AMLEGALS.
Write to the GST practiceQuestions we are asked on this
Should we upload documents the portal does not demand?
Yes. A deficiency memo costs more than the upload.
How often should we file?
Monthly. Annual filings take longer and fail as a whole.
What is the single most common gap?
The remittance evidence for services, and the shipping bill to invoice match for goods.
In this cluster
- GST refunds: every category, every form, every deadline
- Export refunds: the LUT route versus the IGST route
- VKC Footsteps: why input service tax stays stuck in an inverted duty structure
- Provisional refund of ninety percent: the mechanism and how to keep it
- Replying to RFD-08: the refund rejection notice
- Deficiency memos in RFD-03 and the limitation reset problem
- Interest on delayed refunds under Section 56
- Unjust enrichment in GST refunds: when it applies, and when it does not
- Section 77: refund where tax was paid under the wrong head
- SEZ supplies and refund: endorsement, authorised operations and the disputes
GST Insights is published by AMLEGALS for general information. Law stated as on 3 September 2026. Not advice on any particular set of facts; not an advertisement or a solicitation under Rule 36 of the Bar Council of India Rules. Readers with a question on their own facts may write to the GST practice of their own accord.