What Is the Status of IEEPA Refunds? CAPE Phase 3, Liquidated Entries and the Appeal

What is the status of IEEPA refunds? Seven months after the US Supreme Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not allow the President to impose tariffs, US Customs and Border Protection has accepted claims for roughly $134.7 billion and sent about $122 billion in certified refunds to the Treasury, and on 15 September 2026 it told the Court of International Trade that the next stage of its refund system, CAPE Phase 3, will open on 6 October 2026. Phase 3 is the route for the hardest cases: entries that are "finally liquidated" and that CBP says it cannot reopen without a court order. It is open only to importers that have sued, and the government is still asking the Federal Circuit to confirm that everyone else must do the same. This analysis sets out where the refund programme stands, how the system works, who is eligible, the deadlines now running and what replaced the invalidated tariffs, for general counsel, finance teams and the international trade advisers who support them.

Where IEEPA refunds stand in September 2026

The short answer is that most of the money has been processed, but a legally difficult tail remains. According to the figures CBP filed with the court and summarised by C.H. Robinson on 17 September 2026, more than 286,000 CAPE declarations have been submitted and more than 201,000 accepted, covering about 27.2 million entries. The refunds accepted into CAPE, potential and certified, total about $134.7 billion, and about $122 billion, including interest, has been transmitted to the Treasury for payment.

The scale of the whole exercise is larger. CBP's declaration put the universe at roughly 53 million entries across 330,000 importers and an estimated $166 billion in duties. The pace has slowed sharply: Treasury data reported by Yahoo Finance show refunds of $49.1 billion in June, $33.4 billion in July and $10.5 billion in August 2026, when tariff revenue of $23.3 billion exceeded refunds for the first time since April.

Measure	Figure	As reported
Total IEEPA duties in scope	About $166 billion	CBP declaration, 15 Sept 2026
Entries and importers affected	About 53 million entries, 330,000 importers	CBP declaration, 15 Sept 2026
CAPE declarations submitted / accepted	286,000+ / 201,000+	CBP, September 2026
Refunds accepted into CAPE	About $134.7 billion	CBP, September 2026
Certified refunds sent to Treasury	About $122 billion, including interest	CBP, September 2026
Refunds held for missing bank details	20,184 refunds worth $1.3 billion	CBP, September 2026
Estimated Phase 3 refunds	About $11.4 billion (6.9% of the total)	Supply Chain Dive, 17 Sept 2026

For companies with US import operations and advisers in the United States, the practical picture is therefore split. Recent, unliquidated entries have largely been dealt with. What remains is concentrated in older entries, failed filings and money that cannot be paid until an importer fixes its banking details.

How the Supreme Court ruling created the refund obligation

The refunds exist because the Supreme Court decided on 20 February 2026, in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, together with Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc., that "IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs". The case had been argued on 5 November 2025. Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the Court; Justices Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh dissented.

Two sets of tariffs fell. The first were the drug trafficking tariffs: a 25% duty on most Canadian and Mexican imports and a 10% duty on most Chinese imports, a live issue for anyone advising in Canada, Mexico or China. The second were the "reciprocal" tariffs imposed to address trade deficits, a duty of at least 10% on imports from all trading partners, with higher rates for dozens of countries. The US Chamber of Commerce's guidance adds some other IEEPA tariffs applied to goods from Brazil and India to the refundable list.

The Court's reasoning matters for what comes next. It held that the power to "regulate ... importation" in 50 U.S.C. §1702 does not include the power to tax, noting that when Congress delegates tariff powers it does so expressly and with strict limits. The ruling did not touch IEEPA's other powers, including blocking and prohibiting transactions, which remain the statutory base for many programmes handled by sanctions and OFAC specialists. Nor did it address how refunds should be paid. That question was left to the Court of International Trade and to CBP, which is why the refund story since February has been a mixture of administrative engineering and litigation.

How do IEEPA refunds work? The CAPE system explained

IEEPA refunds work through CAPE, the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, a function inside CBP's Automated Commercial Environment that processes refunds in bulk rather than entry by entry. According to CBP's IEEPA duty refunds page, the importer of record, or the licensed customs broker that filed the entries, submits a CAPE declaration through the ACE Portal as a CSV file listing entry numbers only, with up to 9,999 entries per declaration.

Several conditions apply before any money moves:

• Verified access. The filer must have a verified ACE Portal account and be the importer of record or its authorised broker.
• Bank details. All refunds are paid electronically by ACH to a US bank account. CBP issues no paper cheques and pays nothing without current ACH details on file.
• Only IEEPA lines. Entries must carry the IEEPA provisions in Chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule.
• Netting. CBP nets over and under payments across the entry, so a declaration can produce a bill if other duties are owed, and outstanding debts can divert a refund.
• Finality of the filing. Once accepted, a declaration cannot be amended, entries cannot be removed, and the filer cannot pursue a prior disclosure or protest on the IEEPA issue for the same entries.

CBP says valid refunds typically issue within 60 to 90 days of acceptance, with interest under 19 U.S.C. §1505 running from the date of deposit to liquidation or reliquidation. It does not send email updates; filers track status through ACE reports. The error rate has been significant. By mid-August, The Conference Board reported that about 30% of declarations had failed validation, and 5.02 million entries had failed for reasons such as incorrect dates, missing tariff codes and duplicates. Brokers and logistics and carriage advisers have been central to fixing those errors.

The three CAPE phases at a glance

CAPE has been rolled out in phases, each covering a harder category of entry. Phase 1 opened on 20 April 2026 and Phase 2 on 29 June 2026. Phase 3 was first targeted for 20 August 2026 but was delayed, according to Foley & Lardner, by programming constraints. It now has a fixed date.

Phase	Opened	Entries covered	Who can file
Phase 1	20 April 2026	Unliquidated entries and entries within 80 days of liquidation	Any importer of record or its broker
Phase 2	29 June 2026	Entries flagged for reconciliation where no reconciliation entry has been filed	Any importer of record or its broker
Phase 3	6 October 2026	Finally liquidated entries covered by a court reliquidation order	Only plaintiffs in pending IEEPA refund cases at the Court of International Trade

CBP has also said that later work will address other categories, including reconciliation entries already on file, drawback entries, warehouse entries and entries under open protests. Those entry types are excluded from the current process, which is why some importers with complex supply chains have received only part of what they expect.

What CAPE Phase 3 changes on 6 October 2026

CAPE Phase 3 lets eligible importers claim refunds on finally liquidated entries for the first time through the administrative system. On 15 September 2026, Brandon Lord, CBP's Executive Director of Trade Programs, filed a declaration with the Court of International Trade confirming the 6 October deployment. As summaries of the declaration explain, three conditions must all be met:

1. the entry has completed final liquidation;
2. the filer is a plaintiff in a pending Court of International Trade case seeking IEEPA refunds; and
3. the entry falls within the scope of a court reliquidation order.

Timing within Phase 3 depends on paperwork already done. Importers that gave CBP a valid importer of record number by 30 July 2026 can file Phase 3 declarations from 6 October; those that did so later must wait for further CBP instructions. Supply Chain Dive estimates Phase 3 refunds at about $11.4 billion, or 6.9% of all IEEPA duties, and quotes Pete Mento of Baker Tilly warning importers to "read the eligibility requirements before telling your CFO to start spending the refund".

That warning is well placed. Phase 3 is a processing channel, not a new legal entitlement. It implements court orders already made for particular plaintiffs; it does not extend refunds to finally liquidated entries of importers that have not sued. Finance teams working with accounting advisers should therefore separate expected Phase 3 receipts, which depend on litigation status, from Phase 1 and Phase 2 amounts that are already in the pipeline.

Finally liquidated entries: why timing decides who gets paid

Finally liquidated entries are the centre of the dispute because US customs law gives CBP only a short window to reopen a liquidation on its own. Liquidation is CBP's final computation of the duties owed on an entry. Under 19 U.S.C. §1501, CBP may voluntarily reliquidate within 90 days of liquidation. Separately, under 19 U.S.C. §1514, an importer may protest certain CBP decisions within 180 days of liquidation.

CAPE uses an 80-day line to leave CBP time to act inside its 90-day window. Entries within 80 days of liquidation go through Phase 1. Entries liquidated more than 80 days earlier are treated as finally liquidated, and the government's position, described by Thompson Hine, is that a court order is needed before CBP can reliquidate them.

The protest route is not a clean answer. Protests under §1514 challenge decisions CBP itself made, and there is a real argument that collecting a tariff the President ordered is not such a decision. CAPE also refuses to process entries under open protests, so an importer that filed a protective protest may need to withdraw it before using CAPE. The result is that the date on which an entry liquidated, and whether the importer went to court, can decide whether a refund arrives through CAPE, through litigation or not at all.

Entries typically liquidate around ten to eleven months after entry, so many 2025 imports have now moved from the easy category into the difficult one. For importers that stopped tracking their entries after filing a Phase 1 declaration, a reconciliation exercise against ACE liquidation data is the first practical step.

Litigants and everyone else: the refund litigation split

The refund litigation has divided importers into two groups: those with their own case at the Court of International Trade, who can now recover on finally liquidated entries, and those without one, whose position depends on an appeal. On 4 March 2026 Judge Richard Eaton issued an initial refund order, and the court went on to order CBP to refund IEEPA duties on unliquidated, non-finally liquidated and finally liquidated entries, without regard to whether the importer had sued. The government filed a notice of appeal to the Federal Circuit on 29 May 2026, arguing that universal relief exceeded the court's jurisdiction and equitable authority.

On 17 July 2026 Judge Eaton ordered CBP to "reliquidate, without regard to IEEPA duties, any and all of Plaintiffs' entries that have been liquidated for more than 80 days". The lead case became Freestyle World, Inc. v. United States, and more than 3,700 refund cases were transferred to it. That order is what CAPE Phase 3 now implements.

Once being a plaintiff became an advantage, filings accelerated. Bloomberg Law reported more than 200 new refund suits after 20 July 2026, against about 35 a week or fewer through most of June, and estimated that $10 billion to $11 billion in duties sits on entries that need court action. Greg Husisian of Foley & Lardner told the publication that "people started filing" once the benefit of being a litigant became clear.

Two open questions will settle the position of non-litigants. The first is the Federal Circuit appeal, which was still pending in mid-September with no argument date announced. The second is class certification in V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. United States, argued on 6 August 2026 but not yet decided. Importers weighing whether to sue should take advice from litigation specialists familiar with the court.

The deadlines that matter now

The deadline most likely to bite is the limitation period for a lawsuit, not a CBP filing date. Refund suits at the Court of International Trade are brought under its residual jurisdiction in 28 U.S.C. §1581(i), which is generally subject to a two-year limit under 28 U.S.C. §2636(i). There is significant uncertainty about when that period starts, and commentators have warned that for some entries it could expire as early as February 2027.

Deadline or window	Source	Why it matters
90 days after liquidation	19 U.S.C. §1501	CBP's own power to reliquidate voluntarily; CAPE uses 80 days as its cut-off
180 days after liquidation	19 U.S.C. §1514	Protest period, though its use for IEEPA claims is contested
Two years from accrual	28 U.S.C. §2636(i)	Limit for §1581(i) refund suits; start date uncertain
30 July 2026	CBP	Importer of record number cut-off for filing on the first day of Phase 3
6 October 2026	CBP declaration, 15 Sept 2026	CAPE Phase 3 opens for eligible litigants

Because class certification is undecided, importers cannot safely assume that a class action will preserve their rights. Where finally liquidated entries represent material sums, the conservative course many advisers describe is to calculate the earliest possible accrual date for each tranche of entries and file before it.

Who is eligible to receive tariff refunds?

Only the importer of record, the party that paid the duty to CBP, can receive an IEEPA refund. As CBS News put it in August, there is no way for consumers to recover money from customs directly; they benefit only if the importer or carrier chooses to pass money on. CBS reported that UPS expects about $5 billion in refunds and that FedEx is issuing $800 million to customers.

For cross-border groups, the importer of record question is often less obvious than it looks. A non-US exporter selling on delivered duty paid terms may have acted as a non-resident importer of record and will be the refund claimant, but it must still meet CAPE's requirements, including a verified ACE account and ACH payment to a US bank account. Where a US subsidiary, distributor or customer was the importer of record, the refund belongs to that entity as a matter of customs law, whatever the commercial arrangements say.

Those commercial arrangements are where the next disputes lie. Customers that paid tariff surcharges are pressing for a share, and class actions have been filed against large retailers and manufacturers, including the consumer class action seeking a share of Ford's tariff benefit. Whether those claims succeed will turn on contract terms and consumer law rather than customs law, but importers receiving refunds should review surcharge clauses and price-adjustment mechanisms before deciding how to account for the money.

Selling the claim and pricing it into deals

Some importers have chosen certainty over waiting by selling their refund rights. Retail Dive reported in August that claims traded at 30 to 40 cents on the dollar before the Supreme Court ruled and about 60 cents afterwards. American Eagle Outfitters sold $68.9 million of claims for $18.6 million, and The Children's Place sold $38.2 million of claims to Alnus Investors for $25.7 million. BJ's Wholesale Club was sued in April over an alleged withdrawal from a sale of about $29 million of claims to Oaktree.

Those prices show how the market valued timing and litigation risk. Claims on finally liquidated entries held by non-litigants carry the most uncertainty, and Phase 3 does nothing to reduce it. Sellers and buyers working with banking and finance advisers need to address who controls the CAPE filing, who bears the cost of any lawsuit and what happens if a refund is netted against other duties.

Refunds have also become a deal point in M&A. Mayer Brown notes that there is no standard answer to who should benefit, since that depends on whether the target absorbed the tariffs or passed them to customers. In a share deal the buyer controls the target's broker relationships and portal access, so a seller wanting the refund needs cooperation covenants; in an asset deal the seller may keep importer of record status and pursue the claim itself. Corporate and M&A advisers are now drafting specific provisions on claim pursuit, approval rights, cost allocation and customer negotiations.

What replaced IEEPA: Sections 122, 301 and 232

IEEPA refunds do not mean lower tariffs going forward, because the administration moved to other statutes that expressly allow duties. On the day of the ruling, 20 February 2026, the President signed Proclamation 11012 imposing a 10% surcharge on most imports under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, effective 24 February. Skadden reports that on 7 May 2026 the Court of International Trade held the surcharge unlawful in Oregon v. United States and Burlap and Barrel, Inc. v. United States, but limited relief to three plaintiffs; the government appealed the next day and obtained a temporary stay on 12 May.

Section 122 is capped at 150 days, and the surcharge expired on 24 July 2026. The same minute, new Section 301 duties took effect. Holland & Knight describes duties of 10% on economies with forced labour import prohibitions and 12.5% on those without, across 60 economies, with exclusions for Section 232 products, USMCA-eligible goods and certain inputs. A challenge was filed at the Court of International Trade on the first day.

Authority	Status at 17 September 2026	Refund position
IEEPA tariffs	Invalidated on 20 February 2026	Refundable through CAPE, subject to liquidation and litigation status
Section 122 surcharge (10%)	In force 24 February to 24 July 2026; held unlawful by the CIT for three plaintiffs, on appeal	No general refund; depends on the appeal
Section 301 forced labour duties (10% or 12.5%)	In force from 24 July 2026; challenged at the CIT	Not refundable
Section 232 duties	Unaffected by the ruling	Not refundable
Earlier Section 301, Section 201, AD/CVD	Unaffected by the ruling	Not refundable

For non-US exporters, the lesson is that US tariff risk has moved from one statute to several, each with its own procedure and litigation track. It sits alongside other trade measures on the horizon, such as the EU's carbon border tariff and continuing EU scrutiny of imports from China.

What importers should do before 6 October

The most useful work for the next three weeks is a clear map of every IEEPA entry and its status. A practical checklist drawn from CBP's guidance and the court record:

• Reconcile the numbers. Compare IEEPA duties paid with amounts accepted in CAPE using ACE reports, and identify entries rejected, excluded or not yet filed.
• Fix banking details. Check ACH enrolment; $1.3 billion of refunds is waiting only for bank information.
• Sort entries by liquidation date. Separate entries within 80 days of liquidation from finally liquidated entries, since the routes differ.
• Decide on litigation. For material finally liquidated entries, weigh a §1581(i) action against waiting for the Federal Circuit and class certification rulings.
• Check Phase 3 readiness. Litigants should confirm their importer of record number was lodged by 30 July 2026 and that their entries fall within the reliquidation order.
• Review contracts. Look at surcharge clauses, customer pass-through claims and any claim-sale or M&A provisions before booking the money.
• Beware scams. CBP says it never charges refund fees and warns of unsolicited approaches.

When the sums are significant, or the importer of record sits outside the United States, it is time to bring in professional help: customs counsel for the court strategy, tax advisers for the treatment of refunds and interest, and cross-border advisers where the refund has to be shared along a supply chain. So what is the status of IEEPA refunds? Most of the money is moving, the older entries now have a route for litigants from 6 October, and the rights of everyone else rest with the Federal Circuit.

Frequently asked questions

What is the status of IEEPA refunds?

As of September 2026, CBP has accepted about $134.7 billion of IEEPA refund claims into CAPE and sent about $122 billion, including interest, to the Treasury for payment. CAPE Phase 3, for finally liquidated entries of importers that have sued, opens on 6 October 2026. The rights of non-litigants depend on a pending Federal Circuit appeal.

How do IEEPA refunds work?

The importer of record or its broker files a CAPE declaration in the ACE Portal, listing entry numbers in a CSV file. CBP recalculates duties without the IEEPA tariffs, nets any other amounts owed and pays the refund with interest by ACH to a US bank account, typically 60 to 90 days after the declaration is accepted.

Who is eligible to receive tariff refunds?

Only the importer of record, the party that paid the duty to CBP, can receive an IEEPA refund. That may be a non-US company acting as a non-resident importer. Consumers and downstream buyers cannot claim from CBP; they benefit only if the importer shares the money or a court orders it under a separate claim.

What is CAPE Phase 3?

CAPE Phase 3 is the stage of CBP's refund system for finally liquidated entries, those liquidated more than 80 days earlier. It opens on 6 October 2026 and is limited to plaintiffs in pending Court of International Trade refund cases whose entries are covered by a court reliquidation order.

Do I need to sue to get a refund on finally liquidated entries?

At present, yes, if you want to use Phase 3. The Court of International Trade ordered refunds for all importers, but the government has appealed and says CBP cannot reliquidate finally liquidated entries without an importer-specific order. Until the Federal Circuit rules, or a class is certified, non-litigants have no confirmed route.

What is the deadline to file an IEEPA refund lawsuit?

Refund suits under 28 U.S.C. §1581(i) are generally subject to a two-year limit under §2636(i). When that period starts is uncertain, and some commentators have warned that for certain entries it could run out as early as February 2027. Importers with material finally liquidated entries should calculate dates conservatively.

Are IEEPA and Section 232 tariffs the same?

No. IEEPA tariffs were imposed under emergency economic powers and were struck down on 20 February 2026. Section 232 tariffs are imposed on national security grounds under the Trade Expansion Act and were not affected by the ruling, so they are not refundable. Section 301, Section 201 and anti-dumping duties also remain in force.

How do I check my tariff refund?

CBP does not send email updates. Filers track progress through ACE Portal reports, including the CAPE entry summary and trade refund reports, and a report of ACH-rejected refunds. Refunds generally reach the bank account three to five weeks after liquidation or reliquidation.

Can a company sell its IEEPA refund claim?

Yes. Several retailers have sold refund rights to investors. Retail Dive reported prices of about 60 cents on the dollar after the Supreme Court ruling, up from 30 to 40 cents before it. Sale terms need to deal with control of the CAPE filing, litigation costs and netting against other duties.

Sources

1. Supreme Court of the United States: Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, No. 24-1287 (20 February 2026)
2. US Customs and Border Protection: IEEPA Duty Refunds
3. Thompson Hine SmarTrade: CBP confirms October 6, 2026 launch of Phase 3 of the IEEPA tariff refund process (16 September 2026)
4. C.H. Robinson: CBP reports major progress on IEEPA refunds; CAPE Phase 3 launches October 6 (17 September 2026)
5. Leyton: CAPE Phase 3 set to launch October 6 (17 September 2026)
6. Supply Chain Dive: CBP to expand IEEPA tariff processing in October (17 September 2026)
7. Thompson Hine SmarTrade: CIT orders CBP to process IEEPA tariff refunds for Phase 3 finally liquidated entries (21 July 2026)
8. The National Law Review: IEEPA tariff refunds, critical developments, Phase III delays and action steps (11 September 2026)
9. Foley & Lardner via The National Law Review: Securing refunds for finally liquidated entries (3 September 2026)
10. Morgan Lewis: Tariff refund battle continues, government appeals order (17 June 2026)
11. Troutman Pepper Locke: Government plans to appeal universal IEEPA tariff refund order (2 June 2026)
12. Bloomberg Law: Tariff lawsuits surge as importers see path to blocked refunds (11 August 2026)
13. Yahoo Finance: The US government's $166 billion tariff refund process is quickly tapering off (11 September 2026)
14. The Conference Board: Policy backgrounder, tariff refunds update (13 August 2026)
15. CBS News: How consumers can get a refund for Trump tariffs struck down by Supreme Court (14 August 2026)
16. Retail Dive: Retailers, eager for cash, sell off rights to potential tariff refunds (4 August 2026)
17. Mayer Brown: Tariff refunds as a new deal point for M&A dealmakers (15 May 2026)
18. Skadden: US Trade Court strikes down Section 122 tariffs (20 May 2026)
19. Holland & Knight: New Section 301 forced-labor tariffs imposed on 60 countries (30 July 2026)
20. Clearit: Who is eligible for an IEEPA refund? (30 April 2026)
21. US Chamber of Commerce: IEEPA tariff refunds guide and FAQ for small businesses
22. 19 U.S.C. §1501, Voluntary reliquidations (Cornell LII)
23. 19 U.S.C. §1514, Protest against decisions of Customs (Cornell LII)
24. 19 U.S.C. §1505, Payment of duties, fees and interest (Cornell LII)
25. 28 U.S.C. §2636, Time for commencement of action (Cornell LII)

About this article

This analysis was researched and written by The Corporate INTL Newsroom, which covers cross-border legal, regulatory and business developments for lawyers, professional advisers and financiers in over 150 jurisdictions. It has been checked against the Supreme Court's opinion, CBP's published refund guidance, the reported contents of CBP's 15 September 2026 court declaration, the relevant statutes and primary reporting. The declaration itself and the parties' Federal Circuit briefs were not reviewed in full. This article is general information, not legal advice; for advice on a specific matter, consult a qualified adviser. Last reviewed 17 September 2026. For more analysis like this, visit the Corporate INTL newsroom or subscribe to Corporate INTL.