Michael Smith, “The Long, Winding Road for Trump’s Tariff Refunds” (Tax Notes, March 24, 2026):
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has presented a plan for providing tariff refunds that offers some hope that importers will be able to receive a prompt refund — but several questions remain unanswered.
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CBP filed a declaration in Atmus Filtration outlining its plan to calculate and provide refunds. The declaration states that CBP is designing a new claims portal — Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) — in its recordkeeping software, the Automated Commercial Environment. The new system will have a claims portal, mass processing capacity, and the ability to review and liquidate or reliquidate entries and provide refunds. “These components reflect both how CBP anticipates refund requests will proceed through CAPE and how CBP is structuring its development efforts,” according to the declaration.
According to the declaration, the claims portal was 70 percent complete at the time, the mass processing capacity was 40 percent complete, the review and liquidation process was 80 percent complete, and the refund capacity was 60 percent complete.
