See who’s eligible, and how to request a refund of IEEPA tariffs.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has rolled out a new system for refunding tariffs that were declared unlawful by the Supreme Court in February. Here’s a quick overview of who’s eligible, and how to submit a request for a tariff refund.

Who is eligible for a refund?

Only importers or authorized customs brokers who filed the tariff entries may request a refund of IEEPA duties paid between April 5, 2025, and February 24, 2026.

Small businesses, retailers and consumers who are not the official importer of record are not eligible for refunds through CBP’s refund system announced in late April.

Refunds are not automatic; those eligible must submit a request.

How to request a refund

Tariffs paid under the International Emergency Economic Power Act (IEEPA) will be refunded through a new online tool called CAPE, the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries.

To use CAPE, you first need to set up an account in CBP’s ACE Portal. Importers and brokers must have an active ACE Portal account that includes bank information for receiving deposits in order to have their refund request processed. Funds can be directly deposited in a business checking or business savings account.

According to CBP, “Importers or brokers must submit a CAPE declaration through the ACE Portal by uploading a comma-separated values (CSV) file with the list of entry numbers for which a refund of IEEPA duties is requested.”

How long will it take to get a tariff refund?

CBP anticipates that refunds will be issued 60–90 days after acceptance of a filer’s CAPE Declaration. It could take longer if the agency determines additional review is necessary.

When tariffs were paid through an intermediary

Some tariffs were paid through intermediaries, such as UPS and FedEx. Both delivery companies are requesting refunds and will return IEEPA tariffs to their customers.

In an online statement, UPS says, “For shipments where UPS was the Importer of Record, we will work to request and retrieve IEEPA tariff refunds from CBP on our customers’ behalf. There is no need for those customers to contact UPS. After we receive the funds from CBP, we have established a process to issue refunds to the payors.”

FedEx is also filing for tariff refunds. “Our intent is straightforward: if refunds are issued to FedEx, we will issue refunds for IEEPA tariffs paid to the shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges.” The company it has already started work on requesting refunds.

If you paid tariffs through other intermediaries, contact them to see how they’re handling refunds.

Resources for IEEPA tariff refunds

• CBP IEEPA Duty Refunds webpage with regular updates
• ACE Portal
• How to Use the ACE Portal
• ACE Portal Electronic Refund Enrollment Instructions, also video instruction
• CBP webpage with comprehensive resources on ACE

 

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