Tariff‑refund process set

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it will open the first electronic filing window for International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff refunds on April 20, 2026. (cbp.gov) The agency will run the process through a new tool called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries inside the Automated Commercial Environment portal that importers and customs brokers already use for customs filings. Phase 1 covers most entries that are still unliquidated or are within 80 days of liquidation. (cbp.gov) Starting April 20, filers will submit a comma-separated values file, called a CAPE Declaration, in a new CAPE tab in the portal. Each filing can include up to 9,999 entry numbers, and filers can submit more than one declaration. (cbp.gov) Customs said the system will strip out the International Emergency Economic Powers Act Chapter 99 tariff code from valid entries, recalculate duties, and then issue refunds after review, liquidation, or reliquidation. Refunds will be grouped by importer or designated refund recipient and by liquidation date. (cbp.gov) This process exists because courts have been forcing the government to build a way to return duties collected under the emergency-powers tariff program. Law firms tracking the litigation said the U.S. Court of International Trade had been supervising the rollout in the Atmus Filtration case before shifting that role this week to Euro-Notions Florida after Atmus was dismissed. (sullcrom.com) (thompsonhinesmartrade.com) The underlying dispute traces to the Supreme Court’s February 20, 2026 decision in Learning Resources v. Trump, which trade lawyers said held the International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs unlawful. That ruling turned what had been a duty-cost issue into a refund problem for importers with affected entries. (sullcrom.com) Phase 1 is not the whole universe of claims. Customs said entries tied to reconciliation, drawback, open protests, non-Automated Commercial Environment filings, and some other categories will be handled in later phases instead of the April 20 launch. (cbp.gov) Only the importer of record for the listed entries, or the customs broker that filed those entries for that importer, can submit a CAPE Declaration. Customs also said filers cannot use the Automated Broker Interface for these claims, so companies that built workflows around broker-to-government data transmissions will have to use the web portal instead. (cbp.gov 1) (cbp.gov 2) The refund push also lands after Customs moved the broader refund system away from paper checks. Since February 6, 2026, the agency has been steering trade users to electronic refund enrollment in the Automated Commercial Environment portal and Automated Clearing House setup, which are now prerequisites for getting paid quickly once claims clear review. (cbp.gov) For importers, the next date is now fixed: April 20. By then, the companies best positioned to recover money will be the ones that have portal access, bank details, and clean entry lists ready to upload on day one. (cbp.gov)