Guidance and Action Plan Regarding IEEPA Tariff Refunds (4/1/26)
Source
American Shipper
Post Date
04/10/2026
As announced, CBP filed a new declaration in front of CIT today.
progress on the refund mechanism, but plenty of uncertainty remains, and importers shouldn? rely solely on CAPE to protect their rights.
The key points boil down to three buckets:
What CAPE Phase 1 covers: Entries that are either still unliquidated or within the 90-day voluntary reliquidation window. Entries with susped, exted, or under-review liquidation status will be accepted but refunded through the normal liquidation process rather than immediately. CBP says it will take up to 45 days from accepting a CAPE Declaration to review and liquidate.
What it doesn? cover (yet): Finally, liquidated entries (despite Judge Eaton? order covering them), entries flagged for reconciliation, entries on drawback claims, entries with protests, non-ACE entries, and certain AD/CVD entries ping liquidation instructions. CBP says it plans to expand to finally liquidated entries in a later phase.
The practical takeaways for importers are threefold.
?First, keep protesting and consider filing refund suits ?the status report doesn? resolve the protestability question or whether litigation is necessary.
?Second, there? a tricky timing dilemma: importers may want to wait on protesting to see if CAPE can process entries within the 90-day reliquidation window, but waiting too long risks missing protest deadlines entirely. CBP claims it can process entries with at least 10 days left on the clock.
?Third, CBP will be spot-checking entries and offsetting refunds against other amounts owed, so importers need their classification, valuation, and country-of-origin documentation buttoned up.
Our guidance remains the same: check your liquidation dates, ensure you have all the necessary documents for declarations you want to protect/get a refund on, and, most importantly, ensure that all your declarations are compliant, as Customs will be doing spot checks and audits.
