Input Stories

Customs and Border Protection has issued instructions for importers seeking to submit International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff refund requests using the agency’s new automated system. Importers of Record and brokers can start submitting claims on April 20—after which the system will validate claims and pay out refunds and interest together in lump sums.

Here’s what manufacturers should know about the process.

How the system works: The new Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system, as the name suggests, consolidates refunds instead of processing them on an entry-by-entry basis.

• The system will recalculate duties as if the IEEPA duties were never owed. A projected refund will be the difference between the duties, taxes and fees paid on the entry summary and the recalculated total.

Liquidated versus unliquidated: Once the mass processing is complete, unliquidated entries will be set to liquidate 45 days from the CAPE declaration acceptance date.

• The only exceptions will be entries in suspended, extended or under review liquidation status.
• Meanwhile, liquidated entry summaries will reliquidate the next business day.

Phase 1: At this stage in the deployment of the CAPE system, only unliquidated entries, and those that are up to 80 days past their liquidation date, will be processed.

• A number of more complex cases won’t be processed until later in the rollout, as will other liquidated entries.

The wait: According to CBP, valid Phase 1 IEEPA refunds will be issued within 60 to 90 days following acceptance of a CAPE declaration—unless a compliance concern activates further CBP review.

• As mentioned earlier, individual entry refunds will be consolidated and paid in one lump sum.
• In addition, any unpaid debts to CBP will be deducted from the refund.

Learn more: CBP will maintain updated information about the rollout on its site.