U.S. to open tariff refund system April 20

The Trump administration plans to open its tariff refund portal on April 20, starting the process of returning duties the Supreme Court said were collected unlawfully. (cbp.gov) U.S. Customs and Border Protection said importers and customs brokers will file the first claims through a new tool called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, inside the Automated Commercial Environment portal. In Phase 1, filers will upload a comma-separated values file listing entry numbers tied to refund requests. (cbp.gov) The agency is preparing for roughly $166 billion in refunds tied to tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, according to Reuters and trade lawyers tracking the litigation. Skadden said more than 330,000 importers paid those duties across more than 53 million entries. (usnews.com, skadden.com) The Supreme Court set this in motion on February 20, 2026, when it ruled 6-3 in *Learning Resources v. Trump* that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. The case covered the Canada, Mexico and China drug-trafficking tariffs and the broader “reciprocal” tariffs on imports from trading partners worldwide. (supremecourt.gov) Customs is not mailing checks one entry at a time. The agency said CAPE will remove the International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff codes from valid entries, recalculate what was actually owed, and then issue consolidated refunds by recipient and liquidation date. (cbp.gov) The first release is narrower than the headline number suggests. Phase 1 covers most entries that are still unliquidated or are within 80 days after liquidation, along with some suspended, extended, under-review, warehouse and warehouse-withdrawal entries. (cbp.gov) Some claims will have to wait. Customs said entries tied to reconciliation, drawback claims, open protests, non-Automated Commercial Environment filings, and entries without a liquidation status in the system are being held for future phases. (cbp.gov) Importers also need bank details on file before any money goes out. Customs said refunds will be paid electronically through Automated Clearing House, and companies without an Automated Commercial Environment portal account and refund banking information risk delays or rejected payments. (cbp.gov, cbp.gov) The refund fight has shifted from whether companies are owed money to how fast the government can process it. Customs said April 20 is the start of filing, not the end of the case, and the agency is rolling CAPE out in phases as it works through millions of entries. (cbp.gov, cbp.gov)