First wave of tariff refunds set to begin May 11, CBP says

Tariff refunds are finally moving from theory to cash flow. U.S. Customs and Border Protection told the Court of International Trade that the first electronic payments on overturned IEEPA tariffs should go out around May 11, after the new CAPE refund system went live on April 20. That matters because importers have been sitting on billions in unlawfully collected duties since the Supreme Court struck the tariffs down on February 20. Now the process is real — but it is also messy, partial, and slower than many companies hoped. (ttnews.com) ### What refunds are these? These are refunds for tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — IEEPA — the law Donald Trump used to put duties on imported goods. The Supreme Court ruled on February 20, 2026 that he had used that law unlawfully for these tariffs, which opened the door to repayment fights in the lower courts. CBP’s new CAPE system exists to unwind that and return validated duties, plus interest, through one consolidated process instead of a one-entry-at-a-time slog. (ttnews.com) ### What changed this week? The new part is the date. In an April 28 filing and court update, CBP said the first refund payment should land around May 11. Judge Richard Eaton, who is overseeing the refund process at the Court of International Trade, is using regular status updates to track how fast Customs is clearing claims, and another hearing is set for May 12. So this is no longer just “portal is open” news — it is the first real payout timetable. (ttnews.com) ### What is CAPE, exactly? CAPE stands for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries. It sits inside the ACE trade portal and lets importers or the customs brokers who filed their entries upload a CSV file listing the entries they want refunded. Once a declaration is validated and accepted, ACE updates the entry data by removing the IEEPA tariff line and the related duties. Refunds then go out electronically through ACH, which means companies need refund bank details loaded into ACE or nothing gets paid. (cbp.gov) ### Who can get paid first? Not everyone. Phase 1 of CAPE only covers certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation. Entries that are suspended, extended, under review, or in warehouse status can be accepted but not immediately refunded, with payment pushed to liquidation. Other categories are excluded for now, including final liquidations, drawback claims, some reconciliation entries, open protests, and certain AD/CVD-related cases. Basically, the first wave is the easy-to-process slice. (cbp.gov) ### How far along is CBP? Far enough to start paying some claims, but not far enough to call this smooth. Roughly 13.3 million entries had cleared an initial review after launch, about 21% of IEEPA entries had been accepted for duty removal, and about 3% had reached the refund stage. At the same time, about 15% of reviewed entries were denied on entry-specific validation checks as of April 26. That means a lot of companies are still stuck in data-cleanup mode. (ttnews.com) ### Why are claims getting rejected? Mostly because this is a giant data exercise disguised as a legal remedy. Only the importer of record or the broker who originally filed the entries can submit the claim. The filing has to go through ACE — not ABI, not a post-summary correction — and the uploaded entry list has to match CBP’s records. If a declaration is rejected, the good news is there is no stated deadline to file, and companies can fix errors and resubmit. (cbp.gov) ### How fast will money actually arrive? CBP’s own guidance still says valid refunds will generally be issued within 60 to 90 days after a CAPE declaration is accepted, including about 45 days for CBP review plus Treasury payment time. The May 11 date is earlier because a small batch has already made it through the pipeline. But that should be read as “first payments start then,” not “everyone eligible gets paid then.” (cbp.gov) ### Bottom line The refund machine is on, and May 11 looks like the first visible proof. But this is still a phased cleanup operation on a massive scale — potentially touching $166 billion in duties and tens of millions of entries — so the real story is not one payment date. It is how quickly CBP can turn accepted claims into cash without drowning importers in validation errors first. (ttnews.com)