TRADE ALERT – IMPORTS
HEADLINE	CBP Update to CIT on System to Recover IEEPA Tariffs
DATE	March 13, 2026
AGENCY	Court of International Trade; U.S. Customs and Border Protection
EFFECTIVE DATE	March 12, 2026
SUMMARY	U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) has released additional details about its proposed refund process, or Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (“CAPE). The refund process will be within the agency’s system of record, the Automated Commercial Environment (“ACE”) and have four components: claim portal, pass processing, review and reliquidation, and refund. Development of the CAPE components ranges from 40% to 80% complete, but CBP did not produce an estimated completion date or say how it would handle the thousands of entries that importers have already protested. Additionally, CBP stated that more complex entries, such as those subject to antidumping and countervailing duties or those in “Suspended”, “Extended,” or “Under Review” status, will require further system development and functionality, with no estimated timeline for receiving refunds.   The liquidation of entries with IEEPA tariffs has not been suspended. Importers should still consider filing protests close to the end of the protest period (180 days after liquidation) to preserve refund rights. Additionally, for entries that have (1) liquidated before the Supreme Court’s ruling on Feb. 20, 2026, and/or (2) exceeded the protest deadline, we continue to recommend that importers file an action at the CIT.   Action Items for Importers   1. Ensure that your account on CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment (“ACE”) is up to date. 2. Ensure that you are set up for ACH Refunds. 3. Begin identifying all entries on which IEEPA duties were paid. 4. Monitor entries for liquidation and protest deadlines. 5. Be prepared to file protests before the 180-day protest deadline. 6. Consider filing an action at the CIT.
BACKGROUND	On March 4, 2026, the CIT issued an order directing CBP to liquidate all unliquidated entries without IEEPA duties. The CIT also ordered that all entries for which liquidation is not final to be reliquidated with a refund of the IEEPA duties. In response to the CIT’s March 4 Order, CBP filed a declaration detailing a proposed framework for how CBP may provide IEEPA duty refunds.   On March 6, 2026, the CIT suspended the March 4 order “to the extent that it directs immediate compliance.” This suspension followed a closed conference in Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States, to continue determining how the IEEPA duties can be refunded to importers. The CIT also ordered CBP to file a report on the refund process development by March 12.
DETAILS	On March 12, 2026, per court order, CBP filed a second declaration in Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States providing an update on the refund process proposed on March 6. The CIT has ordered CBP to provide another update on the progress on March 19, 2026.   CBP’s proposed process is called the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (“CAPE”). CAPE will have four integrated components: 1. Claim Portal, 2. Mass Processing, 3. Review and Liquidation/Reliquidation, and 4. Refund. CBP’s CAPE Refund Process:   1. CAPE Claim Portal (reportedly ~70% complete) The CAPE Claim Portal will be web-based, and will be where importers or their authorized brokers can submit IEEPA refund requests (“CAPE Declaration”). The CAPE Claim Portal will be available in a new tab in both importer and broker ACE accounts. Filers will not use the Automated Broker Interface (“ABI”) to file in the CAPE Claim Portal.   As part of the CAPE Declaration, filers will upload a Comma-Separated Values (“CSV”) file (as opposed to an Excel file) containing a list of the entry summaries for which they are requesting IEEPA duty refunds. ACE will validate the CAPE Declaration to ensure all information is provided and properly formatted, and the CAPE Declaration is submitted by either the Importer of Record for the entries or the authorized broker that filed the entry summaries. Should ACE identify issues, filers will be able to correct the identified issues and resubmit their request.   Once the CAPE Declaration passes initial validation, ACE will validate each entry summary number and that at least one IEEPA Chapter 99 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) number was declared on that entry. Filers should be aware that, if they combined all of the Chapter 99 duties onto one line (as noted by CBP in the March 6 filings), this practice could complicate the refund process, and additional actions may be required. The filer will be able to correct any entry that is rejected through submission of a new CAPE Declaration.   2. Mass Processing (reportedly ~40% complete) The Mass Processing component will remove IEEPA HTS numbers from the validated entry summaries and run new duty calculation validations (as in the normal ACE entry summary process). Once Mass Processing is complete, CAPE accepts the CAPE Declaration.     3. Review and Liquidation/Reliquidation (reportedly ~80% complete) Review and Liquidation/Reliquidation will automatically set the validated entries to liquidate/reliquidate in a yet-undetermined number of days after the CAPE Declaration is accepted. This will allow CBP to conduct manual review as needed. Review and Liquidation/Reliquidation will also update the entry summaries to reflect the new total duties paid and will automatically calculate interest. It may take significant time for CBP to push through the liquidation backlog.     4. Refund (reportedly ~60% complete) CAPE Refund will be a specific module within the ACE Collections refunds module. As accepted CAPE Declaration entries liquidate/reliquidate, CAPE Refund will consolidate refunds by liquidation/reliquidation date and importer of record or other designated party to receive the refunds. Refunds will be sent electronically to the designated bank account.     Phased Development CBP intends for CAPE to be rolled out in a phased approach. The initial release will be the basic functionalities noted above, with continuing development to address more complicated scenarios. However, CBP expects the basic functionalities to be able to process the majority of formal and informal entries, other than unliquidated entries subject to antidumping and countervailing duties, or entries where liquidation is suspended, extended, or under review. Additionally, future functionality will be developed to address other entry types, such as warehouse withdrawals or entries designated on a drawback claim.   This filing is encouraging, but several outstanding questions remain. It is not clear whether there will be a process, apart from protest, whereby an importer can dispute a CAPE calculation or reach back to entries that are beyond the voluntary reliquidation period (normally 90 days after liquidation). Notably, the filing also fails to provide an estimated completion date for CAPE. As a result, we continue to suggest that importers continue to file protests and cases until this decision is finalized, but importers may want to delay filing protests until near the end of the protest period to allow the CIT and CBP to continue to provide additional information.   There is still no information as to any prioritization of the refunds, or the handling of importers’ claims at the CIT. There remains a possibility that those who have pending actions at the CIT or have filed protests may have their refunds processed first, although this is not a guarantee.   CBP’s update reiterates that importers should (1) have an importer account on CBP’s ACE portal for the recovery of duties and (2) ensure they can receive refunds electronically. We urge all importers to establish their accounts on ACE as soon as possible and make sure that they are set up for the ACH refund process. Although CAPE will allow brokers to file for refunds, importers should still ensure they have an ACE account to assist with IEEPA duty recovery. We encourage importers to begin the process of gathering documentation of all entries on which IEEPA duties were paid to assist with the CAPE Declaration.
BASIS	International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq.)
CITE	CBP Declaration (March 12, 2026): Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States, Court No. 26-01259 (Ct. Int’l Trade Mar. 12, 2026).   CBP Declaration (March 6, 2026): Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States, Court No. 26-01259 (Ct. Int’l Trade Mar. 6, 2026).   CIT Order (March 4, 2026): Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States, Court No. 26-01259 (Ct. Int’l Trade Mar. 4, 2026).   Federal Court of Appeals order (March 2, 2026): V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump, Nos. 2025-1812, -1813 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 2, 2026).

Recent Trade and Compliance Actions Homepage