FedEx, UPS and DHL Express say they are working to secure tariff refunds on eligible shipments and issue the refunds back to the customers who originally paid them, according to notices posted on their websites.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched its dedicated refund system for now-defunct International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs on Monday, with the first phase of the system's rollout focused on handling entries liquidated in the previous 80 days. Once an entry is submitted and accepted, it will take roughly 60-90 days to issue the refund, according to CBP.
FedEx said on its website it will submit refund declarations to CBP, adding that it has "committed to do that on behalf of all customers for whom we served as customs broker." FedEx will issue refunds for IEEPA tariffs paid by customers once the company begins to receive refunds.
For shipments where UPS was the importer of record, the company said on its website it "will work to request and retrieve IEEPA tariff refunds from CBP on our customers' behalf." UPS added that it can't issue the refunds until it receives the funds from CBP.
"After we receive the funds from CBP, we have established a process to issue refunds to the payors," UPS said.
DHL Express said it will automatically file refund claims for eligible entries covered by the first phase of the CBP's refund system rollout, according to the carrier’s website. Like FedEx and UPS, DHL will return the refunds CBP issues to the party that originally paid the duties.
For shipments where a DHL customer served as the importer of record, the customer can initiate refund claims directly through CBP's processes or through an authorized representative, the carrier said.
"If DHL provided customs brokerage services, the customer can request DHL’s services to file the refund claim," DHL added.
On the first day of the tariff refund system's launch, over 55,000 parties submitted claims for more than 4 million imports, CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner Susan S. Thomas said in a video posted on LinkedIn.
