FedEx has announced that it will begin returning tariff refunds to eligible customers starting in August, marking the next phase of a large-scale reimbursement process linked to duties collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The announcement was made by Brie Carere, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer at FedEx, during the company’s latest earnings call. The refunds concern tariffs that have since been withdrawn, with the company now receiving repayments from the U.S. government and preparing to transfer those funds back to the customers who originally absorbed the costs.
According to FedEx, government-issued refunds for IEEPA tariffs began arriving on May 11. Because FedEx acted as the importer of record for many shipments, the reimbursements are being sent directly to the company before being redistributed to the affected customers.
At the end of its fourth quarter, FedEx reported that approximately $800 million in IEEPA tariff refunds had been identified for repayment to customers who originally paid those duties.
However, the reimbursement process remains ongoing. FedEx noted that it is still awaiting refunds for a portion of the shipments covered under the first phase of the government’s refund program. The U.S. Treasury is releasing refunds on a rolling basis, while Phase 1 of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection system covers entries that were liquidated during the previous 80 days.
The company emphasized its commitment to returning all eligible funds as quickly as possible.
“FedEx remains fully committed to remitting all applicable duties — along with any accrued interest received from the U.S. Treasury — as quickly as possible,” the company stated.
The scale of the operation is considerable. FedEx is currently managing more than 20 million shipment entries involving IEEPA duties across hundreds of thousands of customer accounts, making the refund process both complex and resource-intensive.
One of the key challenges facing the company is determining exactly who ultimately absorbed the tariff costs. As a result, FedEx said it is not currently able to provide customers with complete reports detailing all refund-eligible entries.
To improve transparency and streamline the process, the company plans to launch a dedicated online portal on July 10. The platform will allow customers to verify whether a refund has been received for a particular shipment and to view the associated refund amount.
Customers who choose to authorize the sharing of limited shipment and refund information with trusted vendor partners through the portal will receive priority treatment when refunds are distributed. FedEx expects the first payments under this system to begin around August 10.
Those who opt not to share the requested data will still receive their refunds, although the company warned that processing times may be longer due to internal resource limitations.
FedEx is not the only logistics provider currently managing tariff reimbursements.
UPS has also begun the process of claiming refunds tied to eligible IEEPA shipments. During an earnings call held in April, UPS Chief Executive Officer Carol Tomé revealed that the company was seeking slightly less than $500 million in refunds covering approximately 2.5 million eligible entries.
Tomé stated that while the Treasury’s repayment process could take time, UPS intends to transfer the refunded funds back to customers as soon as they are received. According to the company’s policy, refunds will first be applied against any outstanding customer invoices, with any remaining balance paid out between 60 and 90 days after UPS receives the funds.
Meanwhile, DHL has outlined a similar reimbursement framework. For shipments where DHL acted as the importer of record, the company estimates that customer repayments will generally be processed within 30 to 90 days after the refund is received from authorities.
For customers based in the United States, DHL plans to issue payments directly to the party that originally paid the duty. In cases where duties were billed back to a shipper or a third-party account, the funds will be credited to the relevant country operation for distribution to the appropriate account holders.
Current refund programs reveal the significant administrative burden faced by logistics providers that acted as importers of record in implementation of IEEPA-related tariffs. While billions of dollars in duties are now being refunded industry-wide, carriers must carefully review shipment records, identify the parties who ultimately paid the duties, and ensure refunds are paid to the appropriate parties.
As FedEx prepares to launch its new portal and begin disbursements in August, affected customers will be watching closely to track the status of their refunds and recover funds that have been tied up for months.
