Several off-price retailers have begun receiving refunds for now-defunct International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs they paid, and executives discussed the reimbursements on recent earnings calls.
Burlington, for instance, recorded $55 million in tariff refunds and said that will be invested back into the business. Meanwhile, the topic of Ross Stores’ $253 million in IEEPA tariff refunds led to a discussion on the company's pricing strategy.
Retailers and other importers are receiving the refunds after U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a dedicated system in April for returning IEEPA tariffs. As of Aug. 21, the system has sent approximately $106.6 billion in IEEPA tariff refunds for disbursement. Walmart, Target and Amazon are among the importers that have already begun receiving refunds and shared how they plan to use the invalidated levies.
A year before President Donald Trump’s second term began, TJX CEO Ernie Herrman said the possibility of higher tariffs and market “chaos” may provide favorable buying opportunities. Other off-price retailers, including Ross and Burlington, also didn’t seem too phased about tariffs at the time. According to analysts, because off-price retailers sourced inventory from other retailers and brands, the merchandise model provided a shelter against tariffs. However, tariffs began to squeeze off-price retailers more than initially anticipated, which led the chains to adjust inventory and pricing strategies to protect margins.
Now, after millions spent and returned in IEEPA levies, here’s a look at what Burlington, TJX and Ross are saying about tariff refunds.
Burlington plans to use tariff refunds to boost value
Burlington received approximately $55 million in tariff refunds in Q2, CEO Michael O’Sullivan said during an Aug. 27 earnings call. The CEO told analysts that Burlington plans to reinvest the funds back into the business in the second half of the year as the rising cost of living weighs on many moderate and low-income families.
“I want to be explicit about the decision that we have made here,” O’Sullivan said. “Rather than taking a one-time boost to earnings, we are planning to use the refunds to deliver sharper values for our customers.”
The CEO said that based on dollar terms and percentage of sales, Burlington’s $55 million in refunds is “much lower than many of our retail peers and competitors.” This is due to the chain’s decision to move away from categories highly impacted by tariffs. Despite the move hurting sales trends in the back half of 2025, Burlington was still able to see strong earnings since the retailer experienced a lesser impact from tariffs.
“Reinvesting the refunds into sharper values feels like the right thing to do for our customers,” O’Sullivan said. “And at the same time, we’re confident that we can hit our targets without flowing these refunds to earnings.”
Because Burlington plans to reinvest those dollars across Q3 and Q4, the retailer expects the net impact of tariff refunds on the retailer’s full year guidance to be neutral, EVP and CFO Kristin Wolfe said.
TJX flows some tariff refunds to associate bonuses
TJX, which owns several off-price retail chains including T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, received $331 million of IEEPA-related tariff refunds during the second quarter of fiscal year 2027, according to an Aug. 28 securities filing. The company estimated it paid an aggregate of about $490 million in IEEPA tariffs. As of Aug. 1, TJX has not recorded a receivable for additional refunds.
Because of the refunds, TJX accrued incremental expenses of $112 million for year-end compensation and bonuses for eligible associates, a spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive.
“The net benefit of tariff refunds was $219 million for the Company’s second quarter Fiscal 2027 pretax profit,” the spokesperson said in an email. “The remaining amount will be used to support our future growth.”
Profit margin for the first six months of the fiscal year increased to 15.6% for its "Marmaxx" segment, compared to 14.2% during the same period last year, per the securities filing. The bump in segment profit margin was driven by the net benefit from tariff refunds alongside favorable merchandise margin but was partially offset by supply chain investments and store wage and payroll costs.
Ross stays the course on pricing strategy
Ross Stores has received approximately $253 million in IEEPA tariff refunds, according to an Aug. 20 securities filing.
While Ross did not specify how the company plans to use the tariff refunds, CEO James Conroy noted that the retailer had been hesitant to pass through AUR, or average unit retail, increases in the past four quarters as new tariffs took hold, according to an Aug. 20 earnings call.
While other retailers were quick to pass that cost impact to customers — and are now reversing course — Ross has “tried to maintain a little bit more stability,” Conroy told analysts. However, Conroy said that there likely will be some modest, low-single-digit AUR increases in the back half of the year.
“But I’m liking sort of the consistency of our pricing strategy right now,” Conroy said. “And I think as it stands, if we were to do some competitive price shopping, we would look very, very competitive.”
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