CBP Updates Court on IEEPA Tariff Refunds Procedures

On March 31, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) provided an update on the IEEPA tariff refunds process to the Court of International Trade in the Atimus Filtration litigation (1:26-cv-01259).

CBP continues to make process in the development of the tarff refunds claims portal. The agency has designated it as the “CAPE Portal” – Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries.

The CBP Tariff Refunds update states:

1. CBP intends to limit processing of entries to those that are unliquidated or for which the 90-day voluntary reliquidation period has not expired. Liquidation generally occurs 314 days after the date of entry. CBP estimates this will cover 63% of entries for which IEEPA duties were paid.
2. CBP will be issuing tariff refunds either to the importer of record or a party the importer of record has designated to receive refunds on its behalf on a CBP Form 4811. You should determine if you have given authority to another person to receive your tariff refunds.
3. All refunds will be issued electronically. You must register your bank account in ACE to receive them.
4. In the first phase of the tariff refunds claims process which is designated “CAPE Phase 1”, CBP will accept claims for entries for which the liquidation status is suspended, extended or under review. CBP will remove the IEEPA duties for properly filed claims and the entries will be liquidated without the IEEPA duties. When liquidated the IEEPA duties will be refunded.
5. Entries subject to antidumping/countervailing duties will be accepted in the CAPE Phase 1 process if their liquidation is suspended pending instructions from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). However the tariff refunds for these entries will not be processed until DOC sends instructions to CBP to lift the suspension and liquidate the entries.
6. Claims for warehouse and withdrawal entries will be accepted and processed after all withdrawals have been made the the entry is ready for liquidation
7. CBP will take up to 45 days from the acceptance of CAPE Declaration to review and liquidate the validated entries unless there is a compliance concern necessitating further review.
8. CAPE Phase 1 will accept declarations containing entries liquidated within the preceeding 80 days.

Entries Not Accepted in CAPE Phase 1

CBP will not accept claims for the following categories of entries in CAPE Phase 1:

• Reconciliation
• Designated on a drawback claim
• Covered by an open protest
• Not filed in ACE and without a liquidation status in ACE
• AD/CVD subject to DOC liquidation instructions and pending liquidation

Please contact Erik Lieberman at 202.830.0300 or erl@liebermanpllc.com for further information.