Tariff refund timetable

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it will open the first phase of its International Emergency Economic Powers Act refund system on April 20, 2026. (cbp.gov) The agency is building the process inside the Automated Commercial Environment, the trade portal importers and brokers already use. Customs calls the new refund tool Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE. (cbp.gov) Starting April 20, importers of record and customs brokers will be able to request refunds by uploading a comma-separated values file in a new CAPE tab in the portal. Each filing can list up to 9,999 entry numbers, and filers can submit more than one declaration. (cbp.gov) Phase 1 is narrow. Customs said it will cover most entries that are still unliquidated or are within 80 days of liquidation, plus some entries marked suspended, extended, under review, and certain warehouse entries. (cbp.gov) The system will not take every case on day one. Customs said entries tied to reconciliation, drawback claims, open protests, or records not filed in the Automated Commercial Environment are being held for later phases. (cbp.gov) A customs entry “liquidates” when the government finalizes the duties owed on that shipment. CAPE is meant to strip out the International Emergency Economic Powers Act duty code, recalculate what the importer should have owed without it, and then trigger liquidation or reliquidation before a refund is issued. (cbp.gov; cbp.gov) The timetable comes out of court supervision after the Supreme Court’s February 20, 2026 ruling invalidating President Donald Trump’s authority to impose those International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs. The U.S. Court of International Trade has been pressing Customs to build a refund process that also pays interest. (thompsonhinesmartrade.com; cbp.gov) On April 1, Senior Judge Richard Eaton said the government was making “satisfactory progress” toward the April 20 deadline in the lead case, Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States. A March 31 declaration cited in that order said the first phase would cover about 63% of entries that paid or deposited these duties. (thompsonhinesmartrade.com) That lead case changed on April 6, when Atmus Filtration was dismissed and Judge Eaton shifted oversight to Euro-Notions Florida, Inc. v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In an April 7 order, he kept the same basic directive: unliquidated entries must be liquidated without the International Emergency Economic Powers Act duties, and non-final liquidations must be reliquidated without them. (thompsonhinesmartrade.com) For importers, the immediate task is operational, not legal. Customs said filers need an Automated Commercial Environment portal account, bank information set up for refunds, and a CAPE declaration ready for entries that fit the first phase when the portal opens on April 20. (cbp.gov)