$166B tariff‑refund rollout

The United States is opening a new customs portal on April 20 to start refunding import tariffs the Supreme Court said were collected illegally. (cbp.gov) The money at stake is about $166 billion in duties paid by more than 330,000 importers across more than 53 million customs entries, according to court filings by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (cnbc.com) The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on February 20 that President Donald Trump had no authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose those tariffs. Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade is now overseeing the refund process. (news.bloomberglaw.com) Customs built the new system inside its Automated Commercial Environment, the trade platform importers already use to file entries. The refund tool is called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, and it is designed to combine many line-item refunds into one payment with interest when required. (cbp.gov) The first phase will not cover every claim. Customs told the court on March 31 that the initial launch will handle about 63% of the 53 million entries tied to the invalidated tariffs, leaving roughly one-third for later phases with no firm public timetable. (news.bloomberglaw.com) Phase 1 is limited to certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation, which means the earliest rollout is aimed at claims that are easier for the agency to recalculate. Importers or their customs brokers must submit a CAPE declaration through the web portal, using a comma-separated values file rather than the older broker interface. (cbp.gov) The biggest immediate bottleneck is payment setup, not the refund math. Customs told the court this week that only about 20% of roughly 300,000 eligible firms had enrolled to receive electronic payments, and importers that do not sign up will not get paid through the new system. (news.bloombergtax.com) That leaves a large gap between firms that could be paid and firms that are ready to be paid. Customs said about 57,000 importers have completed the electronic-payment step, while about 82% of importers who paid the tariffs are eligible for electronic refunds representing about $127 billion of the total. (news.bloombergtax.com) Some importers and their lawyers have also pushed the court to make sure “final” duties do not fall through the cracks while later phases are built. Bloomberg Law reported that Judge Eaton expanded an earlier order after companies argued that more entries would keep becoming final unless they filed protests, adding cost and delay. (news.bloomberglaw.com) For now, the government’s message is procedural as much as legal: create an Automated Commercial Environment portal account, enroll in Automated Clearing House refunds, and file the CAPE declaration when the system opens. The court settled the legality of the tariffs in February; the pace of repayment now depends on how quickly importers clear the paperwork. (cbp.gov)