Refund Processing Underway
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has started processing refunds for finally liquidated entries to businesses that sued over now-defunct tariffs, according to an October 6 court filing reported by Supply Chain Dive. The refunds stem from duties enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the Supreme Court invalidated in February.
To receive these payments, eligible organizations must apply through CBP's Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) portal. Currently, only plaintiffs who submitted a valid importer of record number to CBP by July 30, 2026, can receive these refunds. Those who submitted their numbers after this deadline must wait for further instructions, with no current timeframe provided by the agency.
Phased Rollout and Scale
As of October 6, CBP has accepted 477 CAPE declarations for finally liquidated entries, covering 425,517 individual entries. This capability represents the third phase of the CAPE rollout. Although CBP initially targeted the end of July for this phase, the implementation was delayed until October. This specific phase is expected to handle approximately $11.4 billion, or 6.9%, of the total IEEPA tariffs.
Overall, the CAPE portal has accepted about $136.6 billion in potential and certified refunds as of October 2. Of that amount, $126 billion has been forwarded to the Treasury Department for disbursement.
Ongoing Legal Disputes
The Court of International Trade (CIT) previously ruled that CBP must refund both unfinalized and finally liquidated entries. However, the Justice Department has appealed this decision to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The government argues that the CIT lacks the jurisdiction to mandate a universal refund for all finalized entries, asserting that refunds should only be granted to the specific parties that filed lawsuits.
