Well, the day has come that every importer has been holding their breath for… the ability to get back the IEEPA refunds that had been paid. On April 20, CBP’s CAPE system became available for importers or customs brokers to file for refunds under Phase 1, after SCOTUS ruled that the IEEPA tariffs were illegal.
Many importers were ready with all their entries to submit to get their refund process underway. Were you one of them, or are you still confused about how the process is supposed to work? Do you even have an ACE account set up yet?
What is CAPE?
CAPE is the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, which was developed by CBP to be able to process the entry refunds from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) that were enacted starting in February 2025.
This was the best way that Customs could handle issuing billions of dollars in refunds for the IEEPA tariffs that were collected unlawfully. To access CAPE, importers need to have an Automated Commercial Environment Secure Data Portal (ACE Portal).
CAPE declarations can be submitted by the importer of record on the entry or by the customs broker that filed the entry on behalf of the importer of record.
What should Importers do?
As an importer, you should first review all your entry documents to ensure you are listed as the Importer of Record (IOR) on the shipment. If you aren’t, and an express consignment carrier, such as DHL, FedEx, or UPS, is the IOR, then make sure you reach out to them to see if they will be filing for the refund.
All three carriers have said that they will return the duties to the parties that originally incurred the cost of the IEEPA tariffs.
Next, you should make sure that you have an ACE account if you don’t have one already. After you get the ACE account set up or if you already have one, make sure that you are signed up for ACH refunds. Customs will NOT be issuing paper checks, and refunds will be sent electronically only.
Once you have ACE all set up and ready to go, you then need to review your entries that had IEEPA tariffs and see if they can be filed in the Phase 1 submission. There are some entries that are not being accepted currently by CBP.
If you have any entry on your CAPE submission list that is not being accepted, your entire submission will be rejected, and you will have to remove any entries with errors before re-uploading your submission.
What can be submitted?
For this first Phase, the entries that can be submitted are very narrow. Only entries that are unliquidated or up to 80 days past their liquidation date when the CAPE submission is filed are currently being accepted. This is because of CBP’s voluntary reliquidation timeline.
They have up to 90 days after liquidation to reliquidate voluntarily before final liquidation sets in. So, that leaves the following types of entries out:
- Entries that have been flagged for reconciliation, as well as Entry Type 09 – Reconciliation Summary
- Entries on a drawback claim
- Entries covered by an open protest
- Entries not filed in ACE, and entries without a liquidation status in ACE
- Entries subject to Antidumping/Countervailing Duties (AD/CVD), for which the Department of Commerce (DOC) has issued liquidation instructions, that are pending liquidation in accordance with 19 U.S.C. § 1504(d)
- Entries for which liquidation is final.
Also, CBP has stated that Post Summary Corrections (PSCs) are prohibited from trying to recoup any IEEPA duty refunds.
How does CAPE work?
Once you file your CAPE submission, it will go through a few validations. First, it will review the entry numbers to ensure they are entries that were made in ACE and that the entry numbers are valid. CBP has stated that it doesn’t matter if the dashes are used or not.
It will check to make sure there is the right number of digits for an entry number. If there are any errors, they will be flagged, and the submission will be kicked back. If this happens, review the errors and make any corrections as necessary, and re-upload the submission. Once all the entries are validated and your submission is accepted, you will get a claim number.
Next, the entries will go into the processing stage. During this review, the IEEPA duties will be removed, the entry will be updated to a new version, and the refund will be calculated. From this point, the entries move to the review and liquidation stage. Here, CBP will review the entry, validate the refund, and liquidate or reliquidate the entry if no other issues are present.
The final stage is the refund. This will be issued through an ACH payment to the importer of record or the notify party as indicated on the CF4811 form.
In total, the process is expected to take 60-90 days from the date the CAPE submission is accepted. This includes 45 days for CBP to review the entry for any additional errors that could have been made at the time of entry.
CBP stated that the refunds will be consolidated by the recipient and the liquidation date, and then it will be issued to the bank account listed in your ACE Portal Account.
If you want your refunds, ensure this information is accurate, or your refunds might end up in someone else’s account.
I should also note that currently, there is not a deadline to submit CAPE Phase 1 submissions, and there is not a timeline for Phase II. Customs doesn’t know what will be included in Phase II yet.
What if an entry is liquidated but past the 80 days?
If your entry is past 80 days from the liquidation date, then the liquidation is final. Since CBP hasn’t determined what will be included or when Phase II will come out, your best bet to preserve your right to the refund would be to file a Protest or file a case with the Court of International Trade. Don’t drag your feet with these entries, since you only have 180 days from the date of liquidation to file a protest. At this point, you will only have about 90 days to get the protest written and submitted.
What if your supplier passed the IEEPA tariffs on to you?
This is a tricky situation. Your supplier, if they are the importer of record, will be the one to file for the IEEPA refunds and receive them. You would need to check your terms and conditions with the supplier and maybe have a conversation with them to see if they plan on passing on the refunds back to you. After all, you were the one who paid them.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you have gained some insight into what you need to do to get your IEEPA refunds back. If you are still confused, feel overwhelmed by gathering all this information, or want a trained professional to review your entries to ensure you are filing the correct ones or help you with any protests, your Export Solutions team is here to help.
Schedule a no-charge consultation with one of our trade compliance professionals today.
Shawna Karajic is a Senior Consultant for Export Solutions -- a full-service consulting firm specializing in U.S. import and export regulations.