The latest update from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) provides guidance on the process and timing for receiving International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) refunds. The CBP announced an April 20, 2026 (8AM EDT) rollout of the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) tool in the Automated Commercial Environment Secure Data Portal (ACE Portal). For most unliquidated entries, the timeframe for receiving a refund will be around 2 to 3 months from the acceptance of a CAPE Declaration.
Per the CBP, the refund request process requires the following:
- “Importers of Record (IORs) and authorized Customs brokers have an established ACE Secure Data Portal account (ACE Portal account).” To do this, submit Form 5106. If you already have an Ace Portal account, you generally do not need to submit another Form 5106.
- “Refund recipients use the ACE Portal account to provide CBP with bank account information for refunds
- IORs and authorized Customs brokers submit CAPE Declarations in the ACE Portal”
CBP’s update includes guidance on the CAPE tab within the ACE Portal, mass processing, review and liquidation/reliquidation, refunds, protests, post summary corrections (PSCs), and ACH Payments. Highlights include:
- An IOR (or their broker) will need to complete and upload (within the CAPE tab of the ACE portal) a Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file with entries including IEEPA duties. Only entry numbers should be included here. CBP will go through a validations process and either accept or reject entries based on various criteria as listed in the update.
- Mass processing will recalculate duties without IEEPA and include interest.
- Unliquidated entries (with some exceptions) will be scheduled to liquidate 45 days from the CAPE Declaration acceptance date. If the entries have already been liquidated, CBP will “reliquidate” them the next business day.
- Refunds will be distributed in one lump sum. IORs can monitor refunds using the REV-615 CAPE Refunds Trade Report accessible on the ACE Portal. For most unliquidated entries, CBP has announced a 60-90 day timeframe for refund transmittal.
- Protests submitted within 80 days of liquidation can be withdrawn to allow for faster processing.
- PSCs cannot be filed to request an IEEPA refund.
- All refunds related to IEEPA tariffs will be issued electronically from CBP through ACH payments.
Reach out to your experienced Forvis Mazars professional today with questions about your IEEPA tariff refunds.
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