Tariff refund process

U.S. importers can now file formal claims to get back emergency tariffs that Customs says were collected unlawfully, using a new online process that went live April 20. (cbp.gov) U.S. Customs and Border Protection is routing those claims through a new CAPE tab in the Automated Commercial Environment, the agency’s trade portal. Phase 1 lets importers of record and authorized customs brokers upload a CSV file, called a CAPE Declaration, to request refunds of International Emergency Economic Powers Act duties. (cbp.gov) Customs said approved refunds will generally be paid electronically within 60 to 90 days after a claim is accepted, if there are no compliance issues. Since January 2, 2026, the agency has said refunds are issued by Automated Clearing House, subject to limited exceptions. (cbp.gov; cbp.gov) The refund path follows a Supreme Court ruling in February 2026 that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, a decision that forced the government to unwind duties collected under that law. Customs says CAPE is for refunds made under court order and other statutory authority, not a blanket automatic payout. (hoganlovells.com; cbp.gov) That distinction matters for companies that assumed the money would simply reappear in their accounts. Customs and trade lawyers say importers have to file, match entries to the right refund category, and provide supporting data before the agency will validate a claim. (nortonrosefulbright.com; rsmus.com) Phase 1 is also narrower than the headline suggests. Customs guidance and law firm summaries say the first release covers certain unliquidated entries and entries still within 80 days of liquidation, while other entries may need later CAPE phases or different administrative or court routes. (hoganlovells.com; cov.com) CAPE is built to handle refunds in batches instead of one customs entry at a time. Customs says the tool consolidates IEEPA duty refunds, including interest, which could speed processing for importers with large numbers of affected shipments. (cbp.gov; nortonrosefulbright.com) The scale is large: Skadden said last month that roughly $165 billion in IEEPA duties could be at issue, paid by more than 330,000 importers across more than 53 million entries. That helps explain why Customs built a separate claims channel instead of trying to reverse every payment manually. (skadden.com) For importers, the practical deadline is not a single public cutoff but the status of each entry and the paperwork behind it. The opening of CAPE gives companies a way to seek cash back now, but only if they actively file and clear Customs’ validation checks. (cbp.gov; nortonrosefulbright.com)