U.S. Customs and Border Protection has begun processing some finally liquidated entries from businesses that sued for refunds of now-defunct tariffs and were later ruled entitled to reimbursement by the Court of International Trade, according to an Oct. 6 court filing.
Organizations can apply for the refunds through CBP's Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries portal, or CAPE, Brandon Lord, executive director of CBP’s Trade Programs Directorate, said in the filing.
However, only plaintiffs who submitted a valid importer of record number to CBP by July 30, 2026, are currently able to receive refunds for finally liquidated entries. Plaintiffs who submitted a number after July 30 must await further instructions, per the filing. CBP did not provide a timeframe for when that information would be available.
As of Oct. 6, CBP has accepted 477 CAPE finally liquidated entry declarations for processing, covering 425,517 entries, per the filing.
"Another important step in the CAPE process — and one importers involved in the tariff litigation will want to continue to monitor," Kelly Nelson, principal consultant and managing director of KPMG Trade & Customs Services, said on LinkedIn.
Refund processing for certain finally liquidated entries is the latest development in CBP's phased CAPE rollout, which began earlier this year. The portal handles refunds for duties enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that were invalidated by the Supreme Court in February.
CBP had targeted the end of July for this third phase of CAPE’s rollout covering finally liquidated IEEPA entries but delayed implementation until October. The capability is expected to handle roughly $11.4 billion, or 6.9%, of IEEPA tariffs.
The CIT ruled earlier this year that CBP had to refund unprocessed or unfinalized entries and later expanded the order to include finally liquidated entries. However, the Justice Department appealed the decision, arguing the court lacks jurisdiction to issue a universal refund order for all finalized entries and that the ruling should apply only to parties that sued for refunds. The appeal remains in litigation before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
As of Oct. 2, CAPE has accepted roughly $136.6 billion in potential and certified refunds for processing, with $126 billion sent to the Treasury Department for disbursement, according to the latest filing.
