IEEPA Tariff Refund Guide: ACE, CAPE Process & Deadlines

How do importers actually get IEEPA tariff refunds?

Importers get IEEPA tariff refunds by submitting a CAPE (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries) declaration through the ACE (Automated Commercial Environment) portal. CBP launched CAPE Phase 1 on April 20, 2026, the first dedicated channel for processing IEEPA refund claims after the Supreme Court struck down IEEPA-based tariffs in February 2026. Refunds are typically issued within 60-90 days following CAPE Declaration acceptance, unless a compliance concern triggers further CBP review.

What is the deadline to claim an IEEPA tariff refund?

The deadline depends on each entry's liquidation status. Phase 1 of CAPE accepts unliquidated entries and entries within 80 days of liquidation. For liquidated entries, importers must file a protest within 180 days of liquidation under 19 U.S.C. 1514. Past 180 days, the path narrows to litigation in the Court of International Trade. The single biggest mistake importers are making in May 2026 is treating this as an open-ended process rather than tracking each entry's protest clock.

TL;DR

If you paid IEEPA duties between February 2025 and February 2026, you may be owed a refund. The path: get an ACE account with ACH bank details on file, pull your ES-003 import history report, identify the entries with IEEPA Chapter 99 codes, check each entry's liquidation status and protest deadline, and submit a CAPE declaration through ACE for unliquidated entries or entries within 80 days of liquidation. Past-deadline liquidated entries require legal action. GingerControl built this guide because the IEEPA refund window is closing faster than most importers realize, and the audit risk on poorly-documented claims is real.

Last updated: May 2026

The IEEPA refund window in plain English

In February 2026, the Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA-based tariffs imposed by executive order from February 2025 onward. The administration replaced the IEEPA framework with Section 122 reciprocal tariffs at a 10% baseline, but the duties paid under the now-invalid IEEPA framework are refundable.

The refund universe is large. Many importers paid IEEPA duties layered on top of base MFN, Section 232, and Section 301 across the 12-month window. For a mid-sized importer, the refund exposure is commonly $1M to $10M. For larger ecommerce platforms, 3PLs, and industrial importers, it scales into eight or nine figures.

CBP responded by building CAPE (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries), a refund channel inside ACE that consolidates refunds rather than processing them entry-by-entry. Phase 1 launched April 20, 2026. As of April 26, 2026, importers and brokers had submitted approximately 75,300 CAPE declarations covering more than 11.2 million individual entries.

What the volume tells you: the refund process is real, the channel works, and the people who organized their claims early are getting paid. The people sending frantic emails to brokers in May without organized records are not.

What to do based on your refund size

The right tactical approach depends on how much you can recover. Three tiers, each with different operational moves.

Tier 1: $0 to $10M in expected refunds

This is most importers. Five concrete steps:

Step 1: Get an ACE account. ACE is the government portal that holds your import records. You cannot file a CAPE declaration or receive ACH refunds without an ACE Portal account. Add your bank account to enable refunds via ACH instead of paper check.

Step 2: Pull your ES-003 reports. ES-003 is the importer activity report that shows your entries, including the Chapter 99 codes that identify IEEPA duties. Pull the reports from the ACE Importer view in the public folder for the period February 2025 through February 2026.

Step 3: Track claims through a reputable platform or your customs broker. Refund claim tracking is not a job for spreadsheets at any meaningful scale. Use a reputable platform with a real team, or work through your existing licensed customs broker who has CAPE filing capability.

Step 4: Check protest deadlines per entry. For each entry with IEEPA exposure, check the liquidation status and protest deadline. Entries within 80 days of liquidation can go through CAPE Phase 1. Entries within 180 days of liquidation can be protested if they have liquidated. Entries past the 180-day protest window need a different strategy.

Step 5: Organize claims with audit defense in mind. CBP has indicated it may audit IEEPA refund claims. Organize by entry: entry summary, commercial invoice, classification documentation, country of origin documentation, and the duty calculation that supports the refund amount. Be prepared to defend the claim if asked.

Tier 2: $10M to $50M in expected refunds

At this exposure, you should already have ACE and in-house counsel. If not, prioritize that this week.

The two strategic moves:

Strategic move 1: Total your liquidated-and-past-protest exposure. Add Chapter 99 IEEPA codes from your ES-003 reports for the February 2025 to February 2026 window, segmented by liquidation status. The goal is a clear number for past-deadline entries that can no longer be protested administratively.

Strategic move 2: Get a quote from a trade lawyer for the past-deadline portion. International trade firms with relevant practice include Sandler Travis & Rosenberg (ST&R), Grunfeld Desiderio Lebowitz Silverman Klestadt (GDLSK), Venable, and others. Hourly rates in this practice typically run $500 to $1,500. Push back on contingency fees of 15-25%; for class-action-style IEEPA litigation in the CIT, the legal work is substantially copy-paste from prior similar matters and contingency does not reflect the actual effort.

Tier 3: $50M+ in expected refunds

In addition to the Tier 2 steps, engage a tax professional. The refund itself is large enough that the tax treatment becomes significant. The major firms with international trade tax practices include KPMG, Grant Thornton, PwC, EY, and BDO.

Their fees are professional-services rates ($500 to $2,000+ per hour), but the tax planning opportunities on a refund of this size typically justify the engagement. Ask for a free or low-cost initial scoping engagement to understand the savings opportunity before committing to a retainer.

How CAPE actually works

The CAPE process consolidates IEEPA refund processing inside ACE. The mechanics:

Importer or authorized broker submits a CAPE declaration as a CSV file uploaded to the ACE Portal
Each declaration covers up to 9,999 entries
CBP validates the declaration (entry summary alignment, Chapter 99 IEEPA codes confirmed, eligibility checked)
Once validated and accepted, ACE updates the affected entry summary lines by removing the IEEPA Chapter 99 provision and the corresponding IEEPA duties
Following CBP review, entries are liquidated or reliquidated, and refunds are consolidated by Importer of Record (IOR)
Refunds are typically issued within 60-90 days after CAPE Declaration acceptance, unless a compliance concern requires further review

Phase 1 is limited to certain unliquidated entries and entries within 80 days of liquidation. Subsequent phases will expand the scope. Entries already past 180 days from liquidation still need protest or litigation paths.

Comparison: refund paths by entry status

Entry status	Refund path	Timeline	Typical effort
Unliquidated	CAPE declaration in ACE	60-90 days post-acceptance	Low; data preparation only
Within 80 days of liquidation	CAPE Phase 1 declaration	60-90 days post-acceptance	Low; data preparation only
Within 180 days of liquidation, no protest filed	Protest under 19 USC 1514	Varies, typically 6-18 months	Medium; protest writing required
Within 180 days of liquidation, protest filed	Protest pending; await decision	6-18 months for CBP decision	Low; await CBP
Past 180 days from liquidation	CIT litigation	12-24+ months	High; legal engagement

Bottom line: The CAPE channel is the fastest, cheapest path for entries that qualify. Protest is the next-best path for liquidated entries within 180 days. Past 180 days, you are in litigation territory, and the math has to justify the legal cost.

Where most importers are getting tripped up

Three patterns I see in conversations with importers in May 2026:

No ACE account or no ACH details on file. Without ACE access, you cannot file CAPE. Without ACH banking details, you wait longer for paper checks. Both are easy to fix and gate everything else.

No organized inventory of IEEPA-affected entries. The ES-003 report is the source of truth for which entries paid IEEPA duty. Importers without an organized inventory cannot calculate their refund exposure, cannot check protest deadlines, and cannot file CAPE declarations in batches that match CBP's 9,999-entry-per-declaration limit.

Treating the process as open-ended. It is not. Each entry has a protest clock. Each clock is ticking from the date of liquidation. Importers waiting for "the process to mature" are watching their protest windows close on liquidated entries.

GingerControl is AI global trade compliance infrastructure that helps importers, exporters, and customs brokers classify products, simulate tariff costs, and track policy changes. The Tariff Calculator and Classification Researcher together make calculating the IEEPA refund exposure systematic per entry, and the Tariff Briefing keeps compliance teams current on each subsequent CAPE phase as it launches.

What about the audit risk on IEEPA refund claims

CBP has indicated it may audit IEEPA refund claims. For most importers, the audit risk is manageable if the underlying entries were properly classified, properly valued, and properly documented in the first place. The CAPE declaration is not a license to revisit classification or valuation; it removes the IEEPA Chapter 99 layer specifically.

The risk concentrates in importers who:

Used aggressive classification to reduce duty before IEEPA applied
Have inconsistent country of origin documentation across the entries
Have valuation issues unrelated to IEEPA
Submit large CAPE declarations without internal QA on the underlying entry data

For all of these, the right move before submitting CAPE is to run a Product Sandbox-style audit on the underlying classifications and country of origin, fix what needs fixing through normal channels (post-summary correction, prior disclosure if appropriate), and then file CAPE on the cleaned record.

FAQ

How do importers get IEEPA tariff refunds in 2026? By submitting a CAPE declaration through the ACE Portal. CAPE Phase 1 launched April 20, 2026, accepts unliquidated entries and entries within 80 days of liquidation, and processes refunds typically within 60-90 days of declaration acceptance. Importers need an ACE account with ACH banking details to receive refunds.

What is the protest deadline for liquidated IEEPA-affected entries? 180 days from the date of liquidation under 19 U.S.C. 1514. For entries within 80 days of liquidation, CAPE Phase 1 is typically the simpler path. For entries past 80 days but within 180 days of liquidation, formal protest is the path. Past 180 days, the path is CIT litigation.

How does CAPE work for high-volume importers? Each CAPE declaration covers up to 9,999 entries. Importers and brokers submit CSV uploads through the ACE Portal. CBP validates, removes the IEEPA Chapter 99 provision from each entry summary, and consolidates refunds by Importer of Record. Refunds typically arrive 60-90 days after declaration acceptance.

Should I hire a trade lawyer for IEEPA refund claims? For Tier 1 importers (refund exposure $0-10M) with mostly unliquidated or recently-liquidated entries, no. Your customs broker plus CAPE through ACE is the right path. For Tier 2 ($10M-50M) with significant past-protest-deadline exposure, get a quote from an international trade firm. For Tier 3 ($50M+), engage both a trade lawyer and a tax professional.

Should I use a contingency fee arrangement for IEEPA refund litigation? Push back on contingency. For class-action-style IEEPA litigation in the CIT, the legal work is substantially copy-paste from prior similar matters. Hourly arrangements at $500-1,500 typically produce a lower total cost than 15-25% contingency fees for refunds at this scale.

How does GingerControl help importers handling IEEPA refund claims? GingerControl's Tariff Calculator and Classification Researcher help importers quantify IEEPA refund exposure entry-by-entry, audit underlying classifications and country of origin determinations before CAPE submission, and stay current on each subsequent CAPE phase via the Tariff Briefing. We do not file CAPE declarations on behalf of importers; that work is done by your customs broker through ACE.

Will CBP audit IEEPA refund claims? CBP has indicated it may audit, particularly on large claims or claims with inconsistent underlying entry data. The defense is clean documentation: properly-classified entries, consistent country of origin records, accurate valuation, and the audit trail that supports each refunded duty amount.

What if my entries are past the 180-day protest deadline? The path is litigation in the Court of International Trade. The economics depend on the size of the past-deadline exposure. For exposures large enough to justify legal cost, international trade firms (ST&R, GDLSK, Venable, others) handle CIT litigation. For smaller exposures, the math may not support litigation.

If your team is dealing with IEEPA refund claims

If your team is staring at a year of IEEPA-affected entries and trying to figure out the refund process, GingerControl's Tariff Calculator and Classification Researcher help quantify exposure per entry and audit the underlying records before CAPE submission. Your customs broker handles the CAPE filing through ACE.

Try GingerControl

Talk to our team about IEEPA refund quantification, pre-CAPE audit, or post-refund classification cleanup.

References

[REF 1] U.S. Customs and Border Protection, IEEPA Duty Refunds Data cited: CAPE process, ACE Portal channel, refund consolidation by Importer of Record Source: CBP IEEPA Duty Refunds Published: 2026

[REF 2] Thompson Hine SmartTrade analysis Data cited: April 20, 2026 CAPE Phase 1 launch, scope to unliquidated entries and entries within 80 days of liquidation Source: CBP Confirms April 20 2026 Launch of CAPE Phase 1 Published: April 2026

[REF 3] White and Williams analysis of CAPE process Data cited: CSV upload, 9,999 entries per declaration, 60-90 day refund timeline post-acceptance Source: IEEPA Tariff Refunds CBP Launches CAPE Process Published: 2026

[REF 4] Sidley Austin analysis of IEEPA refund claims Data cited: Refund landscape, broker engagement, audit risk Source: IEEPA Tariff Refund Claims Key Considerations Published: April 2026

[REF 5] BDO IEEPA Tariff Refund FAQ Data cited: CBP audit risk on IEEPA refund claims, documentation expectations Source: BDO IEEPA Tariff Refunds FAQ

[REF 6] 19 U.S.C. 1514 protest provisions Data cited: 180-day protest deadline from liquidation Source: 19 USC 1514

[REF 7] Flexport analysis of the SCOTUS IEEPA decision Data cited: February 2026 Supreme Court ruling and refund implications Source: Supreme Court IEEPA Tariff Ruling Published: 2026