CBP opens tariff refund portal after Supreme Court struck down IEEPA duties

US Customs and Border Protection has launched the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) portal, two months after the Supreme Court ruled that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were illegal. Importers and licensed customs brokers can now file CAPE declarations, with refunds expected to be issued 60 to 90 days after acceptance. Consumers who absorbed higher prices at checkout are not in line to recover anything — only the parties that paid the duties at import qualify.

The scale is substantial: over 330,000 importers paid roughly $166 billion in IEEPA duties through early March. The administration is signaling it may not refund the full amount, with NEC Director Kevin Hassett citing “alternative authorities” being studied by the US Trade Representative to reduce the payout. The CAPE approach consolidates refunds rather than processing them entry-by-entry, which should in theory speed throughput but also introduces the risk of early-stage glitches in a freshly built system.

The practical takeaway for importers is to prepare documentation and file promptly, while bracing for disputes over how much of the $166 billion the government actually intends to return.