Why Your IEEPA Tariff Refund Won’t Arrive Automatically: 4 Mistakes Costing Importers Millions

By Jeb Singer, Managing Partner of Singer Law Group and Co-Founder of Singer Tariff Recovery

The Supreme Court’s February 20, 2026 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump created a major recovery opportunity for U.S. importers that paid tariffs imposed under the

International Emergency Economic Powers Act. But the ruling did not create an automatic refund process. Importers should not assume that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will identify every affected entry, calculate the amount owed, and send the money back without any action from the business.

The recovery process begins with the importer’s own customs records. Companies need to identify which entries included IEEPA duties, confirm the correct Importer of Record, review

Automated Commercial Environment data, determine the liquidation status of those entries, and understand which recovery path applies. In some cases, the appropriate path may involve the CAPE refund process. Other entries may require a different administrative or legal approach depending on their status.

That distinction matters because the potential recovery is significant. Singer Tariff Recovery has identified more than $160 billion in potential IEEPA refunds across affected imports. For an individual company, however, the relevant question is not the size of the national refund pool. The real question is which of the company’s own entries qualify, how much IEEPA duty was actually paid, and whether the records support a timely and accurate recovery.

Companies that approach this as a customs-data project, rather than simply waiting for a refund, will be in a much stronger position to protect their recovery rights.

Quick Answer: Are IEEPA Tariff Refunds Automatic?

No. The Supreme Court decision created the basis for eligible importers to pursue recovery of affected IEEPA duties. Still, CBP does not simply issue blanket refunds to every company that paid those tariffs.

The Importer of Record still needs to identify the affected entries, confirm the IOR information, isolate IEEPA duties from other tariff programs, review ACE records, determine each entry's status, and follow the applicable recovery process. For applicable entries, this may involve a CAPE filing process within ACE. Other entries may require a different procedural path.

The ruling created the opportunity for recovery. The importer’s customs records determine what that opportunity actually looks like for the business.

Why the Supreme Court Decision Did Not Automatically Refund Your Tariffs

It is easy to understand why many importers assumed the Supreme Court ruling would result in automatic payments. CBP collected the duties in the first place; the government has customs records for the underlying entries, and the Court concluded that IEEPA did not authorize the tariffs at issue. From a business perspective, the government should reverse the charges and return the money.

Customs recovery is more complicated than that because every import entry has its own record and procedural status. Each entry identifies an Importer of Record, tariff classifications, duty amounts, entry dates, broker information, liquidation status, and other information that can affect the recovery. A company with a small number of clean entries may therefore have a very different process from an importer with thousands of entries spread across several related entities, customs brokers, and ports.

That is why importers should not begin by asking how much refund money they expect to receive. The stronger starting point is identifying which entries actually belong in the recovery population and what those records show.

A company may have paid millions of dollars in tariffs during the relevant period, but that does not mean every dollar belongs in the IEEPA refund calculation. Customs entries must be separated, reviewed, and organized before management can trust the recovery estimate.

Mistake #1: Assuming the Company That Paid the Invoice Is the Importer of Record

One of the first issues Singer Tariff Recovery looks at is the Importer of Record. The

company that ultimately paid for imported goods or absorbed the tariff cost is not necessarily the entity identified in CBP records as the Importer of Record.

This can happen for several reasons. A company may have imported through a related entity, a third-party importer, a supplier, a customs broker arrangement, or a different corporate structure. Large organizations may also use several IOR numbers across different business units or subsidiaries. If the company begins preparing a recovery based only on internal accounting records, it can easily assume that the wrong entity is entitled to pursue a particular entry.

The customs records should control that review. For each potentially affected entry, the importer should confirm the IOR name and number shown in the entry data, then compare that information with the entity pursuing the recovery. If several related companies appear in the records, separate entries by the actual Importer of Record rather than grouping them under a parent company for convenience.

This review can expose issues early enough to address them. A company may discover that some entries were filed under an older IOR number, that a related entity appears as the importer on part of the entry population, or that internal records do not match what CBP shows. Those discrepancies are much easier to identify before you submit a filing than after the recovery process has begun.

The broader point is simple: do not assume the company that paid the commercial invoice is automatically the company reflected in the customs record. Start with the entry data and build the recovery from there.

Mistake #2: Treating CAPE Like a Simple Refund Form

CAPE should not be treated like a one-time form that can be completed quickly and forgotten. The process depends on the accuracy and organization of the entry data behind the declaration.

Before preparing an applicable CAPE filing, the importer should understand its affected entry population, ACE access, Importer of Record information, liquidation status, customs broker relationships, and supporting documentation. This becomes increasingly important for companies with large import volumes because the same recovery portfolio may include entries handled by several brokers, several IORs, and several different procedural statuses.

Some entries may remain unliquidated. Others may already be liquidated. Some may be subject to an existing protest or another administrative process. Treating all of those entries as though they belong in the same bucket can create unnecessary problems.

A strong CAPE filing process therefore starts with organization. Importers should identify the entry number, entry date, IOR, country of origin, HTS classification, IEEPA duties paid, other duties on the same entry, customs broker, entry status, liquidation status, and any other information needed to determine the appropriate next step.

Once that information is organized, the company can separate the entries that appear appropriate for CAPE from those requiring additional review.

Post-filing monitoring matters as well. Submitting a declaration does not mean the recovery process is finished. Importers should continue tracking the filing through ACE and review any validation or processing issues that arise. If a declaration is not progressing as expected, the company should determine whether the problem involves data, entry status, IOR information, supporting documentation, or another procedural issue.

The refund process should therefore be treated as an ongoing recovery project, particularly for companies managing a large number of affected entries.

Mistake #3: Waiting Until Liquidation or a Protest Deadline Becomes the Problem

Customs deadlines are one of the main reasons importers should start reviewing their entry population now rather than waiting for the refund process to settle.

Not every entry has the same procedural status, and not every recovery pathway uses the same deadline. Importers should identify the liquidation status and liquidation date of each affected entry and then determine what recovery process applies to that particular entry.

Where a customs protest is the applicable path, the 180-day protest period can become critical. Missing an applicable protest deadline can affect the importer’s ability to preserve its recovery rights.

That does not mean every IEEPA refund is governed by a single 180-day deadline. It means that importers should not assume the Supreme Court decision stopped the customs clock for every entry.

Some entries may be appropriate for CAPE. Others may have an existing protest or require another administrative step. Still others may raise a legal issue that qualified customs counsel should evaluate separately.

The practical solution is to build a deadline calendar from the customs data. For each entry under review, the company should know its status, liquidation information, current recovery path, and any date that may require action.

For importers with thousands of entries, this cannot be managed reliably through scattered broker emails or memory. Organize entries into a working recovery portfolio so the company can see which claims need attention and when.

Waiting until an entry is approaching or has passed an important deadline is one of the easiest ways to turn a potential recovery into a preventable problem.

Mistake #4: Mixing IEEPA Tariffs With Section 301, Section 232, and Other Duties

The Supreme Court ruling did not convert every tariff an importer pays into an IEEPA refund claim.

A single customs entry can include several different categories of duties. An importer may have paid IEEPA tariffs, Section 301 duties, Section 232 duties, ordinary customs duties, antidumping duties, countervailing duties, or other charges during the same period.

Do not combine those amounts simply because they appear on the same entry or the company reports them together as tariff expense internally.

The IEEPA recovery analysis should isolate the duties imposed under IEEPA. Other tariff programs operate under different legal authority and may have their own recovery mechanisms.

This is especially important when management begins estimating the size of the opportunity.

A CFO may see that the company paid $10 million in tariffs and reasonably ask whether that means the business is entitled to a $10 million refund. The answer depends entirely on what makes up that $10 million.

The company should separate the IEEPA duties from the rest of the tariff expense before treating any number as a potential refund.

Other categories may still present recovery opportunities. For example, qualifying Section 301 duties may support a separate duty drawback analysis in appropriate circumstances.

That is a different process from an IEEPA tariff recovery and should be tracked separately.

Separating those programs gives the company a more accurate recovery estimate and prevents management from building expectations around duties that do not belong in the IEEPA claim.

What Importers Should Do Now

The strongest place to begin is with the customs data.

Importers should pull the relevant ACE records and identify the potentially affected entry population. From there, the company should confirm the Importer of Record for each entry, isolate the IEEPA duties, separate other tariff programs, review liquidation status, identify any existing protests or administrative activity, and organize each entry according to the recovery path that may apply.

This work creates a reliable recovery population rather than a rough estimate based on tariff expense.

Some entries may be ready for the applicable CAPE process. Others may require additional documentation or continued monitoring. Some entries may need a different administrative path, while others may raise legal issues that customs counsel should review.

The key is to make those determinations from the customs records rather than assumptions.

For a CFO or supply chain director, this approach also creates a cleaner internal reporting process. Management can see what entries are under review, what duties are potentially recoverable, what stage each entry has reached, and what additional action may be required.

That is much more useful than a single headline number without entry-level support.

Why ACE Data Matters More Than Your Accounts Payable Records

Accounts payable records can show how much money the business spent. ACE data shows how CBP recorded the underlying imports.

They are related, but they are not the same.

A company’s accounting system may show millions of dollars in tariff expense for a particular year. The customs records identify which entries produced those payments, which entity served as Importer of Record, what tariff authority applied, and where each entry currently stands in the customs process.

For an IEEPA recovery, the customs record is where the analysis needs to begin.

The finance records should then be reconciled back to those entries so the company has a clear audit trail between the customs payment and the expected recovery.

For every entry, management should be able to trace the process from the original import to the IEEPA duty paid, the relevant IOR, the current entry status, the applicable recovery pathway, and the eventual refund.

That chain is particularly important for companies with several importing entities or customs brokers because it creates a consistent record across the entire recovery portfolio.

When entry data and financial records align, the company has a much stronger foundation for pursuing and tracking the recovery.

What Happens After You File a CAPE Declaration?

Submitting a CAPE declaration is an important step, but it should not be treated as the end of the recovery process.

After filing, the importer or authorized party should continue monitoring the declaration and

the related entries through ACE. The available reporting tools can help identify whether the filing has moved through validation and processing or whether an issue requires attention.

If a declaration does not progress as expected, the company should determine the cause of the delay.

The issue may involve entry data, Importer of Record information, liquidation status, supporting documentation, or another validation problem. In some situations, the entry may need to be handled through another recovery path.

Post-filing monitoring is particularly important for large importers because a problem affecting one set of entries may not affect the entire portfolio. The company needs enough visibility to identify which entries are moving properly and which ones require additional

attention.

This is why the recovery should be managed as a process rather than a filing event.

The work begins with the customs data, continues through the filing, and does not end until the company understands what happened to the affected entries and the resulting recovery.

Your Refund May Be Valuable Before the Government Pays It

A potential IEEPA recovery can represent a significant amount of working capital that the business has already paid out but has not yet received back.

That raises a separate business question: what is access to that capital worth today?

Some importers may be comfortable waiting through the recovery process. Others may have immediate uses for the money, including inventory purchases, payroll, supplier payments, debt reduction, expansion, or other operating needs.

For qualifying anticipated recoveries, advance funding for tariff refunds may allow a company to access capital before the underlying refund process is complete.

Funding should come after the recovery analysis, not before it.

The company should first understand what the customs records support, which entries appear eligible, how much IEEPA duty is involved, and where those entries stand. Once the entry data supports the potential recovery, management can evaluate whether accessing part of that anticipated value sooner makes financial sense.

Companies should also review the terms of any funding arrangement carefully. Companies should understand the cost, recourse provisions, treatment of delays, and what happens if the ultimate recovery differs from the original estimate.

Advance funding can be a useful working-capital tool, but it does not replace the need for a well-supported tariff recovery.

How Singer Tariff Recovery Approaches an IEEPA Refund Review

Singer Tariff Recovery begins with the entries because customs records determine what the business can actually recover.

The initial review focuses on identifying potentially affected entries, confirming Importers of

Record, isolating IEEPA duties, examining liquidation and entry status, and organizing the portfolio by the next applicable step.

That process gives the importer a clearer picture of the potential recovery before it builds expectations around a refund amount.

Jeb Singer is the Managing Partner of Singer Law Group and Co-Founder of Singer Tariff Recovery. Through Singer Tariff Recovery, Jeb works with U.S. importers to evaluate tariff recovery opportunities and organize the customs records, entry data, and administrative processes behind those recoveries.

Singer Tariff Recovery is a separate non-legal services company affiliated with Singer Law Group. Its work focuses on tariff assessment, consulting, and recovery-related services.

When an entry raises a legal issue involving protests, deadlines, preservation of claims, litigation, or another legal remedy, qualified customs counsel should evaluate that question.

For the administrative recovery process, the approach remains straightforward. Identify the entries, confirm the Importer of Record, determine what IEEPA duties were paid, understand the status of each entry, and then determine what needs to happen next.

That entry-level review is what turns a potential refund into a recovery process the company can actually manage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the Supreme Court strike down the IEEPA tariffs?

Yes. On February 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.

For importers that paid the affected duties, the decision created a significant potential recovery opportunity. The ruling itself, however, does not determine the amount any

individual importer may recover or complete the administrative work associated with that recovery.

Will CBP automatically send my company an IEEPA tariff refund?

Importers should not assume that the Supreme Court ruling means CBP will automatically calculate and send every affected refund.

Businesses still need to identify the relevant entries, confirm the Importer of Record, determine the IEEPA duties paid, review entry and liquidation status, and understand the applicable recovery path.

The Supreme Court decision created the legal basis for the recovery opportunity. The customs records determine what that opportunity looks like for the individual importer.

What is CAPE?

CAPE stands for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries.

It operates within the ACE environment as an administrative process for applicable IEEPA duty refund declarations.

Importers should not treat CAPE as a standalone form. Before preparing a declaration, start by understanding the underlying entries, ACE access, Importer of Record information, duty data, liquidation status, and supporting records.

What happens if the Importer of Record is wrong?

Confirm the Importer of Record directly from the customs entry data before the company finalizes its recovery population.

If internal records identify one entity while CBP records identify another, the importer must understand the discrepancy before moving forward.

This is particularly important for organizations that import through several related entities, suppliers, or IOR numbers. Organize the recovery based on the actual importer shown in the

customs records.

Do all tariff payments qualify for an IEEPA refund?

No. Importers may have paid several different types of tariffs and duties during the same period.

IEEPA duties should be separated from Section 301, Section 232, antidumping and countervailing duties, ordinary customs duties, and other charges.

Another tariff program may offer a different recovery opportunity, but you should not automatically include that amount in the IEEPA refund calculation.

Is there a 180-day deadline to claim my IEEPA refund?

No universal 180-day deadline applies the same way to every IEEPA refund entry.

The 180-day period matters when a customs protest is the applicable recovery path. That is why importers should review each entry's liquidation status, liquidation date, existing protests, and procedural posture.

The Supreme Court decision did not eliminate the need to monitor customs deadlines.

Can my business receive money before CBP finishes processing the refund?

Potentially. Advance funding may be available for qualifying anticipated recoveries.

The company should first determine what the customs records support and then evaluate the funding terms separately.

Before deciding whether advance funding makes sense, management should understand the cost, recourse, treatment of delays, and what happens if the eventual recovery differs from the original estimate.

The Biggest Mistake Is Waiting for the Refund to Find You

The Supreme Court ruling created an opportunity for importers that paid affected IEEPA duties, but it did not complete the recovery process.

The work begins with the entries.

The business needs to know which entity served as Importer of Record, which entries contain IEEPA duties, how much was paid, where those entries stand, which recovery pathway applies, what deadlines need attention, and what records support the claim.

Until those questions are answered, a potential refund is still only an estimate.

Singer Tariff Recovery helps importers organize the recovery process from the customs records forward. The goal is to identify the affected population, understand the entry status, and give management a clear view of the next steps rather than leaving the company waiting for a refund that may require additional action.

If your company paid IEEPA duties, contact Singer Tariff Recovery for a no-upfront-cost customs entry review. We can assess the available entry data, identify the potential recovery population, and organize next steps to pursue applicable refunds.

For qualifying anticipated recoveries, advance funding may also be available for companies that want to evaluate whether accessing part of that capital sooner makes sense.

The refund may not arrive automatically. A careful review can tell you what needs to happen next.

Contact Singer Tariff Recovery for a no-upfront-cost customs entry review. We can help assess your potential recovery, identify issues that may need attention, and give your team a clearer path forward before important entry and liquidation deadlines pass. For qualifying anticipated recoveries, advance funding options may also be available.