U.S. Customs and Border Protection will begin accepting refund requests Monday, April 20, through a new online process for duties collected under tariffs the Supreme Court ruled were imposed without proper legal authority. The agency says approved claims are expected to take about 60 to 90 days to process, the first step in a larger refund effort estimated in court filings at roughly $166 billion.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is set to launch the first phase of its new refund-claims process on Monday, April 20, for import duties collected under tariffs the Supreme Court invalidated in February.
CBP says importers and their brokers will be able to submit refund requests electronically through a portal in the agency’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). The refund tool is known as CAPE—short for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries—and is intended to streamline what could be a large volume of claims.
According to CBP guidance cited in recent legal filings and reporting, businesses must submit a declaration identifying eligible entries and certifying required information. CBP has said that if a claim is approved, processing and payment could take about 60 to 90 days.
The size of the potential refunds remains substantial. Court filings and reporting on the litigation over the tariffs have placed the total amount of unlawfully collected duties at roughly $130 billion to $175 billion, with several reports citing an estimate around $166 billion. In one court filing cited in reporting, CBP said most eligible importers had enrolled for electronic refunds, covering an estimated $127 billion in refunds for entries tied to electronic payment enrollment.
The rollout of CAPE is expected to be phased, with the initial stage focused on a subset of entries that can be handled through the electronic process. Trade attorneys and logistics providers have cautioned that some entries may be excluded from the first phase based on how they were filed or their status in the customs system, meaning not all claims will be processed immediately through CAPE.
Small-business advocates, including the Main Street Alliance, have urged the government to make the process workable for smaller importers that say they were hit by higher costs. Retailers and other downstream businesses have also said they are watching closely to see whether refunds received by importers or logistics companies lead to lower prices or other pass-through benefits.
While the refund system is designed for businesses that paid the duties at import, the Supreme Court decision and the expected refunds have also raised questions about consumers who paid tariff-related charges. Some consumer-related lawsuits have been filed in federal court seeking to compel companies to return tariff-related amounts, including litigation involving FedEx and eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica. FedEx has said it intends to return any refunds it receives to the shippers and customers who bore those charges, while Costco has faced litigation from a member seeking a share of any tariff-related refunds; Costco’s leadership has said on an earnings call that if it receives refunds, it would look for ways to return value to members, including through lower prices.
