U.S. Customs And Border Protection Unveils Tariff Refund Portal

On April 20, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) launched a portal through which companies can request refunds from the federal government’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs, which the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated earlier this year. According to The Hill, roughly 330,000 importers who paid a combined $166 billion in tariffs will be eligible for refunds.

The agency has assembled all of the information companies need to know about the portal at this link.

The refund process, called Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE), is being deployed in phases. Phase One, the April 20 launch, is limited to certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation. (According to Supply Chain Dive, CBP estimates roughly 63 percent of refunds will be handled in the initial stage.) The system will recalculate duties as if the IEEPA duties were never owed. A projected refund will be the difference between the duties, taxes, and fees paid on the entry summary and the recalculated total. All refunds will be delivered electronically.

Broadly, requesting refunds of IEEPA duties requires:

• Importers of Record and authorized Customs brokers have an established Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Secure Data Portal account;
• Recipients use the ACE Portal account to provide CBP with bank account information; and
• Importers of Record and authorized Customs brokers submit CAPE Declarations in the ACE Portal.

As such, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recommends that companies seeking refunds complete these steps before submitting their refunds:

• Update their CBP importer record (Form 5106)using a company’s own email, not their broker’s;
• Create an ACE Portal account(setup takes three to four weeks);
• Enroll in ACH Refund, which is required for electronic deposits; and
• Check with their broker if any entries fall into exceptions (liquidated entries, drawback claims, open protests, antidumping/countervailing duty entries).

Once an entry is submitted and accepted by CBP, the agency has said it will take approximately 60-90 days for refunds to be issued. Find more information in this CFB fact sheet.

As noted above, the system will not cover every refund. Additional functionality will be added over time, including:

• Enhanced tools and validations to ensure compliance, facilitate entry summary processing, and expedite CBP’s review process;
• Enhanced financial reporting and security tools;
• Tools to further streamline revenue enforcement in situations where there is an outstanding bill for non-IEEPA duties associated with an entry included on a CAPE declaration;
• The capability to process entries flagged for reconciliation and entries designated on drawback claims;
• The capability to process complex interest calculations related to multiple collection dates on a single entry summary included on a CAPE Declaration;
• The capability to process entries for which liquidation is final; and
• The capability to process non-Automated Broker Interface entries where no entry summary lines exist.