Frequently asked questions

Yes — for importers of record. CBP opened its CAPE refund process on April 20, 2026 and had certified about $122 billion (including interest) to the Treasury for payment by September 11, 2026 (reported from CBP's court declaration of September 15; $86.3 billion by July 10 is verified). See what changed for every dated step.

The importer of record that deposited the IEEPA duties — or the customs broker/carrier that filed for it, which then passes the money on. Consumers who bought goods with the tariff priced in do not get a check. If you paid duties to UPS, FedEx or DHL on a parcel, the carrier filed the entry with either the carrier or you as the importer of record: read the carrier refund guide.

Yes. CBP's own declarations to the Court of International Trade report tens of billions of dollars certified and sent to the Treasury for payment since late April 2026; refunds are paid by ACH with interest, generally 60–90 days after a CAPE declaration is accepted. Firms on this site report clients paid; we publish only dated figures from CBP filings.

Importers of record with entries that carried IEEPA duties (HTSUS lines 9903.01.xx or 9903.02.xx) between Feb 4, 2025 and Feb 23, 2026. Unliquidated entries and entries liquidated 80 days ago or less go through CAPE. Finally liquidated entries currently need a court order (CIT plaintiffs). Run the eligibility checker.

In ACE: open the CAPE tab, upload a CSV of entry numbers (up to 9,999 per declaration), make sure ACH refund details are on file, and wait for acceptance. Only the importer of record or the broker that filed the entries can submit. Step by step: How to get a tariff refund.

CAPE Phase 1 (Apr 20, 2026) and Phase 2 (Jun 29) are live. Phase 3, for finally liquidated entries of importers that sued at the Court of International Trade and whose entries a court ordered reliquidated, was set to deploy on Oct 6, 2026 (CBP declaration of Sep 15, as reported); CBP's IEEPA refunds page does not say that it is live (read Oct 8, 2026). The Government's appeal of the universal-refund orders is pending at the Federal Circuit. The status tracker shows each step with its source.

CBP says valid CAPE refunds are generally issued within 60–90 days of the declaration being accepted. Unliquidated entries are set to liquidate 45 days after acceptance; liquidated entries reliquidate the next business day. Refunds are held if ACH details are missing.

Success fees from about 1.5% to 25% of the refund, flat filing fees, hourly rates for litigation, or a purchase price of cents on the dollar for claim buyers. Every fee shown on a profile is verified with a date; compare them on the comparison page and see success fee vs flat fee.

Not necessarily. An importer of record can file its own CAPE declaration in ACE. A licensed broker can file for the entries it filed originally. Consultants and law firms prepare and coordinate but cannot submit the declaration themselves. Details: Do you need a customs broker?

Importers can bring an action at the Court of International Trade under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i) within two years of accrual; the court counted about 3,700 such cases in its July 15, 2026 order. For finally liquidated entries, a court order is currently the only confirmed route. Talk to a trade attorney; this site is not legal advice.

About $166 billion in IEEPA duties from 330,000+ importers (CBP declaration, March 6, 2026). By September 11, 2026, about $134.7 billion had been accepted in CAPE and about $122 billion (including interest) certified to the Treasury (reported from CBP's declaration of September 15).

No such check has been enacted (taxpayers.net, status as of October 4, 2026). The $2,000 'tariff dividend' was never introduced as a bill, and the five rebate bills (S. 2475, H.R. 6781, H.R. 7865, S. 4093 and H.R. 9768) were referred to committee. The consumer guide shows the date we last checked the bills.