U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has provided a major status update to the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) regarding the ongoing processing of International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariff refunds.
According to a joint report submitted by Brandon Lord, CBP’s Executive Director of Trade Programs, to CIT Judge Richard Eaton, the agency has accepted $104.29 billion in both potential and certified IEEPA tariff refunds for processing since April 20. The processing is being managed under Phase 1 of CBP’s Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system within the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).
Key Data Metrics from the CBP Update
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Successful Entries: As of late June, CAPE declarations passing file validation encompassed 18.1 million entries. These entries successfully met entry-specific validation criteria and have been cleared for the removal of IEEPA duties.
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Rejected Entries: Approximately 4.36 million entries failed entry-level validations. CBP noted these rejections were primarily due to entries exceeding CBP’s 90-day re-liquidation authority, missing the requisite Chapter 99 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) number, or having been previously filed on a prior CAPE declaration.
New ACE Functionality Deployed for Unliquidated & Reconciliation Entries
In a critical development for the trade community, CBP deployed new CAPE functionality within ACE designed to streamline filings for importers and customs brokers.
What’s New: Importers and brokers can now include unliquidated entries (or those liquidated within the preceding 80 days) on a CAPE Declaration that were originally flagged for Reconciliation, even if no formal Reconciliation Entry (Entry Type 09) has been filed yet.
This enhancement has already seen rapid adoption. Within the first 24 hours of deployment, CBP confirmed that 1.6 million entries flagged for reconciliation were successfully transmitted and queued for processing via CAPE.
Looking Ahead
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) Customs Committee, alongside trade counsel Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., continues to closely monitor CAPE system performance and operational updates.
As your compliance partner, Sobelnet will keep you informed of further CBP directives to ensure your entries are optimized for seamless validation and maximum tariff recovery. For questions regarding how these CAPE updates impact your outstanding IEEPA refunds or reconciliation flags, please reach out to our customs brokerage team.
