US$170 billion in tariff refunds are here, and U.S. Customs officially opens applications

Sunny Worldwide LogisticsIt is a logistics company with more than 20 years of transportation experience, focusing on markets such as Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Southeast Asia. It is more of a cargo owner than a cargo owner~

With the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) are illegal, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has officially launched the first phase of the tariff refund process. This refund covers the huge tariffs levied between February 2025 and February 24, 2026, and will be returned to eligible importers in batches through the newly developed CAPE automation system.

The first phase of refunds mainly targets two types of customs declaration records: one is entries that have not yet completed liquidation, and the other is entries that have not been liquidated for more than 80 days. Customs declarations involving anti-dumping duties or other complex situations are temporarily not included in the scope of this round, and coverage will be gradually expanded in subsequent stages. It is important to note that refunds are not automatically issued. Importers or authorized brokers must actively log in to the ACE Secure Data Portal, submit a CAPE declaration and upload relevant customs declaration information. After verification, CBP will remove the IEEPA tariff terms and recalculate the general tariff, and then issue an electronic refund (which may include interest) to the designated bank account via ACH transfer. The entire process takes approximately 60 to 90 days from the time the declaration is accepted to the actual payment, depending on the progress of the compliance review.

Once a declaration is submitted, it cannot be modified, so it is important for businesses to ensure that their bank account information is accurate and to double-check eligibility criteria. Given that the scale of this tax refund is unprecedented in the history of U.S. Customs, a large number of centralized declarations may have a certain impact on the progress of FMC qualification processing. It is currently the U.S. line signing season. It is recommended that companies interested in expanding into the U.S. market apply for FMC qualifications as early as possible to avoid missing the signing window due to channel congestion.