CBP to open tariff refund portal April 20

Customs and Border Protection will open the first phase of its tariff refund system on April 20, but only a slice of importers can use it at first. (cbp.gov) The agency said importers and customs brokers will file refund requests through a new Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries tool, or CAPE, inside the Automated Commercial Environment Secure Data Portal. Phase 1 covers most entries that are still unliquidated or are within 80 days of liquidation. (cbp.gov) To file, users must upload a comma-separated values file listing entry numbers in the portal’s new CAPE tab. Each declaration can include up to 9,999 entries, and Customs and Border Protection said filers cannot use the Automated Broker Interface for this step. (cbp.gov) These refunds trace back to the Supreme Court’s February 20, 2026 ruling striking down tariffs President Donald Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Customs and Border Protection told a court in March that those duties brought in an estimated $166 billion across 53 million entries. (politico.com) In customs practice, liquidation is the government’s final accounting on an import entry. Customs and Border Protection said Phase 1 is built for recent and simpler entries, while later phases are supposed to cover final liquidations, disputed entries, special refund programs, and entries tied to antidumping or countervailing duty cases. (cbp.gov) (politico.com) The agency has been warning for weeks that the scale is unusual. In a March 6 court filing, Customs and Border Protection said it had never tried to process anything close to this volume of refunds and needed 45 days to build new Automated Commercial Environment functions. (politico.com) Trade lawyers say that means companies should separate “portal opens” from “money arrives.” Politico reported April 13 that most importers will not be eligible in the first batch, and Baker Botts said the rollout is limited to unliquidated or recently liquidated entries. (politico.com) (bakerbotts.com) Companies also need the plumbing in place before any payment can move. Customs and Border Protection says refund recipients must have an Automated Commercial Environment portal account and provide bank information for Automated Clearing House refunds, which the agency now issues electronically in most cases. (cbp.gov 1) (cbp.gov 2) The legal pressure has been building since early March. Politico reported on March 3 that more than 2,000 refund-related cases were already pending at the U.S. Court of International Trade as companies moved to protect claims while they waited for a government-wide process. (politico.com) April 20 is the start of the filing lane, not the end of the refund fight. Customs and Border Protection said valid entries will be reviewed, liquidated or reliquidated, and then grouped by recipient and liquidation date before refunds are issued. (cbp.gov)