U.S. Customs and Border Protection is preparing to broaden its processing of refunds tied to tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, with a new phase set to begin in October.
According to a court filing, CBP will start processing refunds on Oct. 6 for certain finally liquidated entries that were subject to the now-defunct IEEPA tariffs.
Under the agency’s latest guidance, businesses that submitted a valid importer of record number to CBP by the end of July will be able to request refunds for finally liquidated entries through the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries portal, known as CAPE. Brandon Lord, executive director of CBP’s Trade Programs Directorate, outlined the timetable in the filing.
Companies seeking refunds for entries submitted after July 30, 2026, will have to wait for additional instructions. The filing does not specify when those instructions will be issued.
The development represents the latest step in CBP’s phased rollout of CAPE, the system being used to process refunds for tariffs imposed under IEEPA and subsequently invalidated by the Supreme Court in February.
CBP introduced the first two phases of CAPE earlier this year. However, the agency had not yet added the capability needed to process finally liquidated entries. The third phase had originally been targeted for the end of July and was expected to cover approximately $11.4 billion, or 6.9%, of IEEPA tariffs. Its implementation was subsequently delayed.
For companies waiting on finally liquidated IEEPA entries, the new October start date marks an important development, but eligibility remains closely tied to ongoing litigation.
“For businesses waiting on finally liquidated IEEPA entries, this is a meaningful development,” Pete Mento, managing director of global trade advisory services at Baker Tilly, said in a LinkedIn post. “But please read the eligibility requirements before telling your CFO to start spending the refund. Your litigation status and the applicable court orders still matter.”
That litigation status is particularly significant because the Justice Department has appealed a court ruling issued earlier this year. The original decision directed CBP to refund unprocessed or unfinalized entries and was later expanded to cover finally liquidated entries as well.
The DOJ is challenging the inclusion of certain finally liquidated entries, arguing that the court does not have jurisdiction to impose a universal refund order covering all finalized entries. According to the government’s position, the order should apply only to parties affected by the ruling that have themselves sued for refunds.
The scale of the refund operation has continued to grow. As of Sept. 11, CAPE had accepted approximately $134.7 billion in potential and certified refunds for processing, according to the filing. Of that amount, $122 billion had been sent to the Treasury Department for disbursement.
