U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) opened Phase 2 of its tariff refund process on June 29, allowing importers to seek reimbursements for additional IEEPA duties struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year.
In Phase 1 of the Consolidated Administrative and Processing of Entries (CAPE) refund process, which began in April, CBP allowed companies to seek refunds for active entries, as well as for entries up to 80 days past the date of liquidation or the final calculation and assessment of duties. Some imports now eligible for tariff refunds under Phase 2 were ‘flagged for reconciliation’ according to CBP because the final duty calculation was not settled at the time of entry. In such cases, importers filed preliminary customs declarations, and final duties were expected to be settled later.
The CBP’s CAPE portal is accessible here.
According to CBP, entries covered by under CAPE Phase 2 include unliquidated entries and those liquidated within 80 days of the declaration filing date. This includes reconciliation-flagged entries (entry types 01, 02, and 06) for which the reconciliation entry (type 09) has not yet been filed. If a type 09 reconciliation entry is filed before filing a CAPE declaration, the underlying entry will be locked out of the current consolidated refund path permanently, according to CBP. Excluded entries include those for which reconciliation is already filed, entries with drawback claims and entries currently subject to an open protest, according to CBP.
Phase 3 of the CAPE refund process, which includes entries liquidated more than 80 days before the refund period, is expected to start later this summer, according to reports.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, has appealed an order issued by U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton in March that all importers of record could benefit from the Supreme Court’s February ruling that President Trump did not have the authority to impose sweeping tariffs under IEEPA (the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977).
A federal appeals court said earlier this month that the Trump administration could continue collecting temporary 10% Section 122 duties on most imports, enacted as a stopgap by the White House after the Supreme Court ruling on IEEPA tariffs, which were subsequently struck down by a U.S. trade court. The Section 122 tariffs are set to expire July 24, 2026.
