$166B tariff refund portal

Importers can start asking the U.S. government for tariff refunds on Monday, April 20, through a new Customs portal built after the Supreme Court struck down the duties. (cbp.gov) The tool is called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, and it sits inside the Automated Commercial Environment Secure Data Portal run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Importers and customs brokers file by uploading a comma-separated values file listing the entry numbers tied to refund claims. (cbp.gov) The Supreme Court’s ruling came on February 20, 2026, in *Learning Resources v. Trump*, which held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize the president’s tariffs. The opinion described the challenged duties as 25% on most Canadian and Mexican imports, 10% on most Chinese imports, and at least 10% on imports from all trading partners under the reciprocal tariff program. (supremecourt.gov) Those tariffs had been collected at the border by Customs, so the court win did not automatically put cash back into company accounts. Customs says CAPE is meant to turn valid refund requests into consolidated payments, including interest, instead of making businesses chase refunds one entry at a time. (cbp.gov) Phase 1 is narrower than the headline number attached to the program. Customs says the first release covers most unliquidated entries, entries up to 80 days past liquidation, and some entries that are suspended, extended, under review, or in warehouse status, while claims involving drawback, open protests, reconciliation, or non-ACE filings are being left for later phases. (cbp.gov) The mechanics matter because refunds will not go out unless the recipient has the right banking setup inside the portal. Customs says refund bank information is separate from payment information and that refunds are paid by Automated Clearing House, the electronic bank-transfer network used for direct deposits. (cbp.gov) Only the importer of record or the customs broker who filed the entries can submit a CAPE declaration. Each declaration can include as many as 9,999 entries, and filers can submit more than one declaration if they need to cover a larger volume. (cbp.gov) Customs says the system will remove the tariff code lines tied to these emergency-power duties, recalculate what was actually owed, and then liquidate or reliquidate the entries before issuing refunds. The agency says refunds will be grouped by recipient and liquidation date rather than paid out line by line. (cbp.gov) The portal opens the next phase of the fight over the tariffs: paperwork, eligibility checks, and timing. For companies that paid the duties, the legal ruling arrived on February 20; the cash recovery process starts April 20. (supremecourt.gov; cbp.gov)