US Tariff Refunds (IEEPA): How to Claim in CAPE

Latest updates (October 2026)

These dates move often; check CBP's IEEPA duty refunds page and your broker before acting.

• 20 Feb 2026: the Supreme Court held in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs; the IEEPA tariffs ended.
• 20 Apr 2026: CBP opened CAPE (Phase 1) for unliquidated entries and entries liquidated within 80 days.
• 29 Jun 2026: CAPE was extended to entries flagged for reconciliation (CBP CSMS #69066837).
• April–July 2026: the Court of International Trade ordered liquidation or reliquidation without the IEEPA duties for importers that had sued, including finally liquidated entries; on 3 June 2026 the government appealed that part to the Federal Circuit (No. 26-1895), where it was still pending in October 2026.
• 6 Aug 2026: the Court of International Trade heard arguments on a class action (V.O.S. Selections) that could cover importers who have not sued; no ruling was reported by late September.
• 2 Oct 2026: about USD 136.6 billion in refunds had been accepted for processing in CAPE, and about USD 126 billion in duties plus interest had been refunded (as reported in the court's opinion of 8 October).
• 6 Oct 2026: CBP opened CAPE Phase 3, which lets the plaintiffs in the more than 4,000 court cases with a reliquidation order file CAPE declarations; by 7 October declarations for 1.1 million entries and about USD 500 million in refunds had been accepted.
• 8 Oct 2026: the Court of International Trade certified a class in Freestyle World, Inc. v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection: importers of record that paid IEEPA duties between 1 February 2025 and 19 February 2026 and did not file their own case. The order decided only the class; there was no ruling yet on refunds for its members.

Who gets the money

Refunds go to the importer of record named on the entry, not to the foreign supplier and not to customers further down the chain.

If your US buyer was the importer of record, the refund goes to the buyer. If you sold DDP and your company was the importer of record, you claim it. Whether any refund is shared is a commercial matter under your contract. An importer can name another party to receive refunds with CBP Form 4811.

Phase 1 and 2: filing a CAPE declaration

You need an ACE Secure Data Portal account with access to CAPE, and ACH refund bank details registered in ACE, because CBP does not send paper checks for these refunds.

A CAPE declaration is a CSV file listing only entry numbers, up to 9,999 per file; CBP provides a template. ACE checks the file, checks each entry, removes the IEEPA chapter 99 lines and recalculates the duty. Accepted entries are refunded with interest in one ACH payment per importer and liquidation date.

Declarations cannot be edited or withdrawn after submission, and post-summary corrections are not the route for IEEPA refunds, so check the list first.

Entries that liquidated more than 80 days ago

CAPE Phase 1 only takes entries within 80 days after liquidation, because CBP's own power to reliquidate ends at 90 days. For older entries the options depend on timing.

Within 180 days after liquidation, an importer can file a protest with CBP to keep the entry open. After that the entry is finally liquidated, and the route has been the Court of International Trade: Phase 3 is for entries covered by its reliquidation orders.

Whether importers that did not sue will be refunded for finally liquidated entries depends on the pending Federal Circuit appeal and on the class action certified on 8 October 2026, which has not yet ruled on refunds. Court actions of this kind have a two-year time limit, and lawyers disagree on when it starts, so importers with large amounts on older entries should get advice from a customs attorney soon.

What is not refunded

Only IEEPA duties are covered. Section 232 duties (such as steel, aluminium, copper, vehicles and lumber), Section 301 duties, antidumping and countervailing duties and regular duties stay payable. The Section 122 surcharge of February to July 2026 was held unlawful only for the importers that sued, and that case was on appeal in October 2026.