FedEx, UPS to return tariff refunds

FedEx, UPS and DHL are now in the middle of a second, messier phase of the IEEPA tariff fight: getting money back to the customers who originally paid it. The Supreme Court ruled on February 20, 2026, that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs, wiping out a set of import duties that had been collected since 2025. U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened its refund process on April 20 through the CAPE portal, and the large parcel carriers have said they will return refunds once the government pays them. The dispute has shifted from whether the tariffs were legal to who files, who receives the money first, and how carriers trace each payment back to the right shipper or consumer. ### Why are parcel carriers involved in tariff refunds at all? UPS said on its tariff-refund page that it will seek refunds for eligible shipments where it served as the importer of record, and that customers in those cases do not need to contact the company. DHL Express said it will automatically file eligible Phase 1 claims where it acted as importer of record and will pass refunds to the party that originally paid the duties. (ropesgray.com) FedEx said it will issue refunds for IEEPA tariffs paid to customers for whom it served as customs broker once it begins receiving money back from CBP. CBS reported on April 21 that individual consumers cannot file directly when the carrier or another party was the importer of record, because only the importer of record can request refunds through CAPE. That structure helps explain why parcel companies became the public face of the refund process for many small importers and retail buyers. (ups.com) ### What exactly did the Supreme Court strike down? The Supreme Court held in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump and Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc. that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs, according to legal summaries published after the ruling. Ropes & Gray said the February 20 decision invalidated both the “Reciprocal Tariffs” first imposed in April 2025 and the “Trafficking and Immigration Tariffs” tied to fentanyl. (cbsnews.com) CBP’s refund guidance makes clear that the agency is not handling all claims at once. The agency said CAPE is being deployed in phases, with Phase 1 limited to certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation. That means many importers and carriers are still waiting for later guidance covering more complicated or older entries. (ropesgray.com) ### Why is UPS talking about a figure above $5 billion? UPS Chief Executive Carol Tomé said in late April that the company expects eventually to pass along more than $5 billion in tariff refunds to customers once it receives those funds from the U.S. government, according to Sourcing Journal. Tomé said UPS had begun by applying for just under $500 million in refunds across 2.5 million entities in the first phase, after processing 16 million IEEPA-related entries since “Liberation Day.” (cbp.gov) That number matters because it shows how much of the refund burden may run through carriers that collected and remitted tariffs as intermediaries. UPS said, “We are just a pass-through,” and said it would remit money back to customers after Treasury sends funds to the company. (wwd.com) ### Why could refunding customers become complicated? CBP said approved refunds will take at least 60 to 90 days to reach importers of record, and UPS said it cannot pay customers until it receives those funds. FedEx said it will work “expeditiously” once CBP makes it whole, while DHL said refunds will be passed to the original payer in line with CBP guidance. (wwd.com) The operational problem is that carriers must match government refunds to old shipments, duty charges and payors across millions of entries. Supply Chain Dive reported that, for customers who served as importer of record themselves, they may need to initiate claims directly through CBP or through an authorized representative rather than wait for a carrier to do it automatically. (ups.com) ### What happens next for shippers and importers? CBP said additional phases of CAPE are coming, and UPS told customers it will expand its refund efforts as the agency launches those phases. FedEx said it will keep communicating as additional direction becomes available from the government and the courts. DHL said it can assist customers filing claims where the customer acted as importer of record. (supplychaindive.com) For now, the next milestones are administrative, not judicial. Importers need to know who was listed as importer of record on each shipment, whether the entry falls inside Phase 1, and whether the carrier or the customer must file through CAPE. CBP’s timetable of at least 60 to 90 days from approval means the first wave of repayments is already being tested against carriers’ recordkeeping and payout systems. (cbp.gov) (ups.com)