Today — April 20, 2026 — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officially opened the tariff refund portal, giving American importers their first real opportunity to recover billions of dollars in duties paid under President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs. Those tariffs were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in February 2026 in a landmark 6–3 decision.

If your business paid tariffs on imported goods in the past year, you may be owed a significant refund — plus interest. This guide breaks down exactly who qualifies, how to apply, what mistakes to avoid, and how to get expert help navigating the process.

What Is the Tariff Refund Portal?

The government’s refund system is called CAPE — the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries. It is administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and provides an electronic pathway for businesses to submit IEEPA duty refund claims under court order.

The Supreme Court ruled in February 2026 that the President did not have authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs — meaning every dollar collected under those tariffs is now legally refundable.

CAPE is designed to consolidate claims rather than process refunds entry-by-entry, which can speed up timelines for eligible filers who submit clean, accurate applications.

Who Is Eligible to File a Tariff Refund Claim?

CBP has been explicit: not every business or individual automatically qualifies. Eligibility is specific and the rules matter.

• Businesses that directly paid IEEPA tariffs as the importer of record
• Customs brokers who paid duties on an importer’s behalf
• Claims covering “unliquidated” tariffs — estimated duties not yet finalized
• Tariffs that were finalized by CBP within the past 80 days

Consumers who paid higher retail prices on imported goods are not eligible to file claims directly with CBP. Only the business that paid the duty at the border can file.

How Much Money Could You Get Back?

The scale of this refund program is unprecedented. As of April 9, 2026, more than 56,000 U.S. importers had already registered for electronic refunds — representing a combined $127 billion in eligible refunds, including interest accrued since the original payments were made.

Individual claims range from a few thousand dollars for small importers to tens of millions for large-scale operations. One San Francisco importer — ASM Games — filed claims covering 17 shipments totaling more than $162,000 in about five minutes with proper preparation. A Minnesota cigar importer absorbed $34,000 in tariff costs alone.

Refunds will be distributed in stages, with the most recently paid tariffs prioritized first. Every day you wait potentially moves you further back.

How to File a Tariff Refund: Step-by-Step

The CAPE portal follows a four-step process. Each step matters — errors at any stage can delay or invalidate your entire claim.

Critical Warnings: What Can Kill Your Claim

Trade attorneys and customs experts are unanimous: this process is more complex than it appears. These are the most common mistakes that result in outright rejections.

• A single ineligible entry in your filing can cause CBP to reject the entire submission — or individual line items — at its discretion
• Data formatting errors, even minor ones, are grounds for immediate rejection
• Rushing your filing on launch day risks technical errors due to portal traffic — the system was expected to experience overload
• Claiming tariffs outside the 80-day finalization window without legal authority
• Filing as a consumer rather than as the verified importer of record

Why Work With a Tariff Refund Specialist?

The CAPE portal provides the filing channel — it does not prepare or verify your claim for you. That responsibility falls entirely on you. Trade attorneys have publicly described the process as burdensome for many businesses, particularly smaller importers who lack dedicated trade compliance staff.

More than 330,000 importers paid IEEPA tariffs across 53 million shipments of imported goods. The vast majority have not yet filed. Many will get it wrong — and lose their refund as a result.

Duty Refund Portal was built specifically to handle exactly this complexity — from eligibility screening and document preparation to claim submission and status tracking — so your business gets it right the first time.

• Free initial eligibility assessment — know before you commit
• Expert review of your import records before submission
• Claim preparation with formatting verified for CBP compliance
• Ongoing status tracking and communication support throughout the process
• Contingency-based pricing — we only get paid when you get paid

Frequently Asked Questions