Barnes & Thornburg | IEEPA Tariff Refunds: An Update

In a previous alert, we reported that the U.S. Supreme Court had found President Donald Trump’s tariffs issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to be illegal.

We subsequently reported that the U.S. Court of International Trade (“the Court”), in an effort to implement the Supreme Court decision, had ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to issue refunds “automatically” to importers that previously paid IEEPA duties to CBP.

In recent days, there have been significant developments:
• The U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) expanded eligibility for IEEPA duty refunds to include all entry types (unliquidated entries, liquidated but not yet final entries, and final liquidated entries).
• CBP reported that the overall development of its automated refund system is 75% complete.
• No refunds are being issued yet, but there are things importers can proactively do now to prepare for refunds.

CIT Expands Scope of Entries Eligible for IEEPA Refunds

On March 27, 2026, the CIT issued an order expanding the scope of entries that are eligible for IEEPA refunds. As previously reported, on March 4, 2026, the Court initially had mandated refunds only for unliquidated entries and for liquidated entries for which “liquidation is not final.”

The term “liquidation” refers to CBP’s final computation of duties on entries, which typically occurs approximately 314 days after the entry date. The meaning of entries for which “liquidation is not final” was not clear in context, but it was believed to be those entries that were within the voluntary reliquidation or protest period (i.e., 90-180 days after liquidation).

Thus, the original order would have excluded from refunds those entries made in the first few months of the IEEPA tariff implementation. However, the Court Order on March 27 specified that “[a]ny liquidated entries for which liquidation is final shall be reliquidated without regard to the IEEPA duties.” In other words, all entries for which IEEPA tariffs were paid are now eligible for refund regardless of the status of those entries.

CBP Continues Progress on Refund Process

Since the Order on March 4, the Court has required CBP to make periodic reports of its progress on a process that would allow for refunds of the IEEPA tariffs. This process, which CBP calls the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE), would be a new functionality within CBP’s existing Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). It will have four components:

1. Claim Portal
2. Mass Processing
3. Review and Liquidation/Reliquidation
4. Refund

Most recently, on March 30, 2026, CBP reported to the Court that the development of the Claims Portal is 85% complete, the development of the other components is between 60-80% complete, and the CAPE system development overall is 75% complete. CBP also clarified that it expects review and liquidation of a CAPE declaration (i.e., refund request) to be completed within 45 days of acceptance by the CAPE system.

CBP Limits “Phase I” of CAPE to Entries Not Yet “Finally Liquidated” and Limits Other Categories of Entries

CBP’s status report on March 30 acknowledged the Court’s Order on March 27 that expanded eligibility for refunds to “finally liquidated” entries. However, CBP asserted that it could not expand the development of the CAPE system to include “finally liquidated” entries and still meet the implementation timeframe promised to the Court (45 days from March 6, i.e., April 20).

For that reason, CBP announced that it will process during Phase 1 of CAPE only unliquidated entries and those that are within 90 days after liquidation. More specifically, CBP plans to accept CAPE declarations only for those liquidated entries that liquidated within the preceding 80 days to ensure compliance with CBP’s 90-day voluntary reliquidation period.  This language suggests that importers will not be permitted to include “finally liquidated” entries in their Phase I refund declarations and will need to wait for a subsequent phase.

In addition, CBP clarified certain other categories of entries that will not be accepted on a CAPE declaration during Phase 1 of CAPE:
• Entries flagged for reconciliation and Entry Type 09 – Reconciliation Summary entries
• Entries designated for drawback claims
• Entries covered by a protest
• Entries not filed in ACE and without a liquidation status in ACE
• Entries subject to antidumping and countervailing duties that have liquidation instructions

Subsequent phases of CAPE are anticipated and will be further explained in further status updates reported to the CIT.

What Should Importers Do to Prepare?

As previously reported, importers should consider the following measures:

1. Ensure that they have an account in CBP’s ACE system

2. Establish an Automated Clearing House (ACH) link in ACE

3. Conduct a refund analysis and risk assessment.

Obtain import records/reports from ACE or your customs broker to be prepared for CAPE declaration filings. Monitor U.S. imports for which IEEPA tariffs were paid and their liquidation status (e.g., unliquidated, liquidated but not yet final entries, and “finally liquidated” entries) and:

a. Given CBP’s clarifications with respect to Phase 1 of CAPE, separate liquidated entries into two groups: (i) liquidated but not “final” entries that are within 80 days  after liquidation (i.e., eligible for Phase 1) and (ii) entries more than 80 days past liquidation (which likely will need to be filed during a subsequent phase).

b. Stay vigilant to preserve your right to refunds. For entries liquidated more than 90 days but less than 180 days, consider filing a protest with CBP. It is not clear, however, how such entries will be treated by subsequent CAPE phases. According to CBP’s report on March 30, entries subject to a protest will not be eligible for Phase 1.

c. For finally liquidated entries that are beyond the 180-day protest period, consider filing an appeal with the CIT before the end of the two-year statute of limitations from the date of entry. However, according to the Court’s order on March 27, such entries are eligible for refund by CBP and will likely be included in a subsequent phase of CAPE.

4. Stay informed.

Refund filings (e.g., CAPE declarations) for Phase 1 are not permitted yet but will likely start in the next few weeks, if CBP continues with its progress.

Further Appeal Developments

The CIT agreed to dismiss the lead case involving a filtration company dealing with the CBP refund and selected a new flagship appeal by a sewing needle and products company as the new vehicle for directing CBP’s refund process for the IEEPA tariffs. CIT Senior Judge Richard Eaton is overseeing all IEEPA tariff appeals and has started replicating orders from the now-dismissed filtration company case in the sewing products’ company docket.