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CAPE Phase II Is Live: Most IEEPA Duties Are Now Refund-Eligible — Here’s How to Claim Yours 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

  • As of June 29, 2026, CBP’s CAPE system reached Phase II — enhanced processing for reconciliation-flagged entries, making the large majority of IEEPA duties eligible for refund. 
  • Refunds are not automatic for every entry type. Eligibility, filing method, and ACH enrollment all matter — and finally, liquidated entries are treated differently depending on whether you filed a CIT lawsuit. 
  • The window rewards speed and documentation. Importers who reconcile their IEEPA-dutied entries now will recover capital sooner; those who wait risk falling into later, slower phases. 

Tariff Refunds – a Moving Target 

If your business paid duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), you have likely been watching a moving target: litigation over whether those duties were lawfully collected, a refund mechanism built in phases, and shifting guidance on which entries qualify and when. The result is paralysis — many importers know money may be owed back to them, but cannot tell whether, how, or when to claim it. 

That uncertainty has a real cost. Every month, a refund-eligible entry that sits unaddressed, working capital tied up at CBP rather than in your business. And because the refund framework is being rolled out in stages, the entries you can act on today are not the same as the ones you will be able to act on next month — sequencing matters. 

CAPE Phase II Now […]

By |2026-06-29T09:50:10-04:00June 29, 2026|ACE, Import, tariffs, Trade Policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)|0 Comments
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CAPE Now Accepts Reconciliation-Flagged Entries — But File in the Wrong Order and You Forfeit the Refund

If you have entries flagged for reconciliation and a reconciliation deadline inside the next 30 days, the order in which you file has just become a decision that can cost you your IEEPA refund. Under CBP’s June 29, 2026, CAPE deployment, once you file the reconciliation entry (Type 09), the underlying entries are locked out of CAPE in this phase. File the recon first, and you have stripped your own entries of the consolidated IEEPA refund path — permanently, for now. The new functionality is genuinely good news. The trap is in the sequence. 

Key points:

  • New as of June 29, 2026: CAPE will accept entries flagged for reconciliation (Entry Types 01, 02, 06) even when no Type 09 reconciliation entry has been filed yet. 
  • The sequence that wins: File the CAPE Declaration FIRST. CAPE strips the IEEPA duties from the flagged entries, then you file the reconciliation. 
  • The sequence that loses: File the reconciliation entry first. The underlying entries are then ineligible for CAPE in this phase. 
  • Still not covered: Entries where the reconciliation entry is already on file — those wait for a future CAPE phase. 

Same eligibility limits as Phase 1 carry over: unliquidated entries and entries within 80 days of liquidation only. 

The Challenge: Reconciliation Was a Hole in Phase 1 

When CBP launched Phase 1 of the Consolidated Administration […]

By |2026-06-26T12:30:43-04:00June 26, 2026|ACE, Import, tariffs, Trade Policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)|0 Comments
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Navigating IEEPA Tariff Refunds: Legal and Compliance Considerations

Copyright 2025 Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc. (800-372-1033) Reproduced with permission. Navigating IEEPA Tariff Refunds: Legal and Compliance Considerations.

Editor’s Note: The recent Supreme Court decision invalidating tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) has opened the door to tariff refunds for importers. However, amid the newly implemented administrative process for refunds and heightened enforcement scrutiny, importers must do more than simply file a claim.

Importers pursuing refunds of tariffs imposed under IEEPA must navigate a developing framework that blends judicial relief with a newly established administrative process. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has implemented the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) as the primary mechanism for submitting refund claims following the Supreme Court’s decision and subsequent orders from the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT). While CAPE provides a pathway to recovery, it is limited in scope, phased in its application, and subject to ongoing legal and procedural uncertainty. Against this backdrop, importers must approach refund claims with a coordinated strategy that accounts for litigation posture, operational readiness, and heightened compliance expectations.

Requesting Refunds through CAPE

Following the Supreme Court decision and subsequent CIT orders, CBP developed the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) – the agency’s official process for handling IEEPA refund claims.

CBP launched Phase 1 of CAPE on April 20, 2026. The following entry types are eligible for refunds […]

By |2026-06-17T10:43:03-04:00June 17, 2026|Bloomberg, Bloomberg Import|0 Comments
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CAPE Phase 1 is Here

On April 20, 2026, CBP launched Phase 1 of the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE). Importers of record (IORs) and licensed customs brokers may now file CAPE Declarations through ACE.

Tariff Refund Process

CBP has specified the actions required for requesting refunds:

  1. The Importer of Record (IOR) or its customs broker must have an ACE account.
  2. ACH must be set up in ACE (using a U.S. bank account).
  3. The IOR or its customs broker must submit the request for refund (CAPE Declaration) via CAPE in the ACE system.

The CAPE Declaration must be submitted as a .CSV file in ACE along with the following certification:

“I attest to the best of my knowledge and belief that: (1) the country of origin, entry type, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) classification(s), and valuation for each entry number is true and correct; and (2) the goods were not entered in violation of any applicable United States law, order, or rule. I understand that if I make or cause others to make material false statements or omissions to CBP, including in connection with a request for tariff reimbursement, I may be subject to criminal prosecution and civil liability, including but not limited to under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001, 542, 545, 19 USC § 1592, and 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a).”

Once the CAPE Declaration has been processed and validated by CBP, ACE will liquidate or reliquidate the entries by removing the IEEPA HTS codes.  Refunds will be issued directly to the IOR’s bank account recorded in ACE or to a party the IOR has designated to receive refunds on its behalf via CBP Form 4811. Lastly, after the CAPE […]

By |2026-04-23T13:04:08-04:00April 23, 2026|tariffs|0 Comments
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Reminder: CBP Now Issues Refunds via ACH Through ACE

Effective February 6, 2026, CBP will process all refunds electronically. The agency will not issue any refunds by check unless a waiver has been approved.

Background

Historically, the majority of CBP refunds for the overpayment of duties, taxes, and fees were transmitted via paper checks issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The issuance of electronic refunds via ACH has been available for some time, but opting-in for electronic refunds has been voluntary and limited in scope. In 2024 and 2025, approximately 30% of the refunds CBP issued annually were issued electronically.

On March 25, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account.” The order mandates the transition from paper checks to electronic payments for all Federal disbursements and receipts.

Electronic Refunds

To implement the electronic payments Executive Order, CBP published an Interim Final Rule on January 2, 2026, announcing that the agency will issue all refunds electronically (subject to certain exceptions under 31 CFR part 208) effective February 6, 2026. This rule applies to refunds issued to all importers, brokers, filers, sureties, service providers, facility operators, foreign trade zone operators, and carriers,  and any designated third parties listed on CBP Form 4811. After this date, CBP will not issue any refunds by check, unless a waiver has been approved. Comments on the Interim Final Rule are due March […]

By |2026-01-27T13:01:02-05:00January 27, 2026|tariffs, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)|0 Comments
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