Overview
- CAPE, which CBP says goes live at 8 a.m. ET Monday, April 20, will begin taking refund declarations in the ACE portal for duties the Supreme Court invalidated in February.
- Only the importer of record or the customs broker who filed the entry can claim, and they must apply in ACE, upload a CSV list of entry numbers, enroll for ACH, and expect payment about 60–90 days after acceptance.
- Phase 1 covers certain unliquidated entries and those liquidated within about 80 days, leaving reconciliation, drawback, open protests, AD/CVD-affected and many finally liquidated entries for later phases or manual review.
- CBP and court filings put the overall refund pool near $166–175 billion, with roughly $127 billion expected in Phase 1 and more than 56,000 importers already set up for electronic refunds.
- A growing market is buying refund claims to give importers faster cash and handle the paperwork, and consumers are not eligible for refunds.