IEEPA tariff refunds are moving forward

In February 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were illegal. Refunds received minimal discussion during the oral arguments or as part of the decision, and the court did not rule on whether the tariffs would be refunded. The issue of refunds was left up to the U.S. Court of International Trade.  

The Court of International Trade quickly ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to refund tariffs. The refunds will go to the importer of record or their agent that paid the tariffs. 

CBP said it needed 45 days to create a refund process. It developed the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries functionality within the Automated Commercial Environment. CAPE makes it easier to submit refund requests and process refunds in bulk rather than on an entry-by-entry basis.  

The system launched on April 20. Most CAPE declarations experienced a seamless process; others ran into significant issues that seem to have been resolved. CBP believes most of the tariff refunds are eligible during Phase 1 of the rollout. More challenging entries, including those that have been fully liquidated, will be left for later phases of development. CBP has not yet announced when the later phases will roll out.  

Companies that have filed CAPE declarations now wait for CBP to review entries for potential issues (product classification, rules of origin, transshipment, etc.) and to determine the IEEPA tariff refund. If CBP finds issues, it could remove a portion of the refund to “offset” the issue. Once the declaration is accepted, CBP said the process can take 60-90 days before a refund is issued.  

Who gets the refunds? 

IEEPA tariffs impacted hundreds of thousands of businesses, from local small businesses to national retailers and from manufacturers to farmers. Those businesses paid over $160 billion in these illegal tariffs.  

The tariffs had to be paid when products entered the country, typically months before they landed on a retail store shelf for sale. The tariff increases had a significant impact on businesses, especially when they happened without notice just before cargo arrived at a U.S. port. 

The Court of International Trade has ruled that refunds will go to the entities that directly paid the tariffs — the importers of record or their brokers.  

Some are now asking whether consumers should be reimbursed for tariff-related price increases. That question was not part of the ruling. 

Retailers’ response to the IEEPA tariffs varied widely by category, competition and customer sensitivity. Many retailers absorbed the increased costs, adjusted their product mix or took other steps rather than increase prices. 

Their response to tariff refunds will be similar. Retailers will have a range of options to offset tariff-related costs and reinvest where it matters most: the business, their workforce and consumers. There are also a wide range of advisory opinions on how the refunds should be handled for financial accounting and tax purposes, which is leading to more chaos and confusion. 

What happens next 

While the IEEPA tariffs were struck down, significant uncertainty remains about U.S. trade policy going forward. The administration has imposed a temporary global 10% tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to address a “balance of payments” issue. 

The Office of the United States Trade Representative has launched two separate Section 301 investigations into structural excess capacity (covering 16 countries) and forced labor (covering 60 countries). Some administration officials have said the Section 301 investigations will replace the IEEPA tariffs. The IEEPA tariff refunds could be used by businesses to pay for these new tariffs. 

The administration has also instituted tariffs on a wide range of specific products under Section 232. 

Refunding the illegal IEEPA tariffs back to the businesses that paid them is pro-worker, pro-customer and pro-growth. When retailers and small businesses can invest with greater certainty, consumers benefit through more competitive pricing, improved service and a stronger retail workforce.