How to Get Your Tariff Refunds

Today’s post is an important one for importers looking to get tariff refunds.

The key takeaway for shippers will be to make sure they’re registered with CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), where importers will file an electronic declaration for entry of goods on which they paid International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) -based duties. If importers do not properly complete electronic refund enrollment, their refunds will be rejected.

Let’s get into details…

The CBP’s electronic refund proposal is not officially accepted and adopted as it will need to be by the Court of International Trade, but indications are that it will be.

Judge Richard Eaton, a senior judge of the Court of International Trade, ordered on Wednesday, March 4th “imports in liquidation process be charged without IEEPA tariffs and any imports already liquidated with IEEPA duties charged get reassessed without them.”

In more layman’s terms, the judge wrote, “These duties must now be refunded with interest, and the clock is ticking.”

In a hearing on Friday, March 6th, the CBP presented its concerns with immediately and manually processing the tariff refunds to what’s estimated to be over 330,000 importers who’ve paid IEEPA tariffs. That’s when the CBP presented the automated proposal. It estimated 45 days for setting up the process in ACE.

Judge Eaton sounded open to CBP’s proposal and, according to reporting by Zach Schonfeld in an article in the Hill, ordered a Thursday update on the progress.

The CBP’s proposal would mean shippers do not need to sue the Trump Administration for refunds to IEEPA tariffs. Importers would file electronically for the refunds and, rather than physical checks from the CBP, receive their refunds electronically through the government’s Automated Clearing House (ACH).

Here’s a quick bullet-point layout of the process:

• Importers file a declaration in ACE that lists imports for which they paid IEEPA duties
• ACE validates shipments and recalculates duties, removing IEEPA tariff charges
• Refunds (with interest) are aggregated
• Refunds are issued electronically through ACH

Emphasizing the takeaway at the top of this post, shippers should make sure their ACE portal account is active and up-to-date. Making sure their ACH refund authorization is properly configured will be important too.

This is an evolving situation that we’re keeping an eye on here at Universal Cargo. We’ll continue to keep shippers updated in our blog.