Overview
- The CAPE portal, which opened at 8 a.m. ET Monday inside CBP’s ACE system, lets importers or their brokers upload a CAPE Declaration that lists entry numbers for refunds.
- Phase 1 limits claims to unliquidated entries or those liquidated within the prior 80 days, leaving many older entries for later phases and some deposits to manual review.
- Court filings show about 330,000 importers paid roughly $166 billion on more than 53 million shipments, and about 56,497 registered accounts are eligible for around $127 billion now.
- Refunds will be paid by ACH to the importer of record after CBP validation rather than to consumers, though class-action cases seek downstream restitution and FedEx says it will pass refunds to customers it billed.
- CBP and advisers warn accuracy matters and glitches are likely, so errors in CSV files or bank details can trigger rejections or delays as the unprecedented volume could take months to work through.