On March 12th, Customs provided more details on what the anticipated process of IEEPA refunds is looking like. The director of trade programs, Brandon Lord, stated there will be a portal for importers and customs brokers to file claims for entries containing IEEPA refunds known as Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE.
According to the update, brokers will be able submit claims for all entries containing IEEPA tariffs for each importer. Customs will then validate information within that file and use a mass processing program to remove the IEEPA HTS numbers to run duty calculations. This will then allow Customs to review and liquidate and reliquidate entries after an unknown period of time to allow Customs to manually review, if needed. The program will also be able to calculate interest owed to the importers as well.
To expedite the refund process, those entries will begin liquidating Monday through Thursday, rather than just on Fridays, which is the norm.
It does mention that importers and brokers will need to give CBP a bank account for direct deposits, so make sure you sign up for an ACE portal account, if you haven’t done so already. Once you have an account, follow the instructions to set up the ACH refund tab.
Since final details and guidance from Customs about the actual process has yet to be released, we have not determined the fee schedule for filing at this time.
Wasatch will continue to monitor the progress through available outlets and update importers as details are disclosed.