U.S. importers can begin filing refund claims starting Monday, April 20, for $166 billion in tariffs collected over the past year after the Supreme Court invalidated duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. More than 300,000 importers brought in over 53 million shipments subject to the tariffs, and the government expects to initially accept refund claims worth about $127 billion of the total amount collected, the WSJ reported.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has set up Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, inside its Automated Commercial Environment portal to handle refunds. Importers and customs brokers will log in to file CAPE declarations for review. If a declaration is accepted, the system will revise the shipment record, remove the IEEPA-related tariff line, and recalculate duties.
Refunds will be issued as a lump sum per importer, including interest, rather than per shipment. The agency says the CAPE rollout will proceed in phases, with the first phase limited to imports that are not yet considered final or that were finalized within the past 80 days.
Finalization happens through the liquidation process. Importers typically pay estimated duties when shipments enter the U.S., then the final bill is set at liquidation, which usually occurs within a year, typically in 314 days. Importers generally then have 180 days after liquidation to dispute or flag issues with the finalized duties.
Some entries will not be eligible in phase one, including shipments liquidated more than 80 days ago, entries not filed through the Automated Commercial Environment, and claims tied to duty drawbacks for goods exported back out of the U.S. The agency has said it is evaluating when later phases will begin.
Importers and brokers should expect most refunds to be paid within 60 to 90 days after a claim is accepted, with payments issued electronically. The filing system is available only to importers and customs brokers, so individual consumers cannot submit refund claims through that portal.
