U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently published a document titled “International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) Duty Refunds” – https://www.cbp.gov/trade/programs-administration/trade-remedies/ieepa-duty-refunds – as well as CSMS # 68315804 – https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCBP/bulletins/4126a9c– , which summarizes the incoming refund process.
CBP launched the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) April 20, 2026, as Phase 1 only for unliquidated entries and liquidated entries within 80 days of liquidation.
CBP also specified the actions required for requesting refunds:
The Importer of Record (IOR) and its customs broker must have an ACE account.
ACH must be set up in ACE.
The IOR or its customs broker must submit the request for refund (CAPE Declaration) via CAPE in the ACE system.
The CAPE Declaration must be submitted as a .CSV file in ACE.
The CAPE Declaration template will be available in the ACE system.
Once the CAPE Declaration has been processed and validated by CBP, ACE will liquidate or reliquidate the entries by removing the IEEPA HTS codes.
Refunds will be issued directly to the IOR’s bank account recorded in ACE or to a party the IOR has designated to receive refunds on its behalf via CBP Form.
Lastly, after the CAPE Declaration is accepted by CBP, refunds will be issued within 60 to 90 days.
What Importers Should Do:
- If not already created, create an ACE account immediately
- If you have an ACE account but you haven’t connected in the past 45 days, call ACE Support – https://www.cbp.gov/trade/automated/ace-support – immediately to reactivate your account
- Register to receive refunds via ACH using your U.S. bank account
- Prepare an ACE report covering all entries with IEEPA duties (including the liquidation dates)
For Phase I refund requests, Prepare a CAPE Declaration consisting of a .CSV (comma-separated values) file containing only entry numbers, and only entry numbers 1) for which IEEPA duties were paid, and 2) that are unliquidated or liquidated less than 80 days prior to the date the Declaration will be submitted.
CBP began accepting refund requests on April 20.
