US CBP is opening the third phase of its portal for refunding IEEPA tariffs on Oct. 6. The phase covers finally liquidated entries, for which CBP has completed its final duty calculation. Only plaintiffs in a pending Court of International Trade case that gave CBP a valid importer of record number by July 30 can file, according to a sworn declaration from the agency.
Importers with closed entries that never sued must now decide whether to file their own case at the trade court or wait for a ruling on refunds for non-plaintiffs.
CBP said it will send separate instructions to plaintiffs that provided their importer number after July 30. Those plaintiffs will be able to file on a rolling biweekly basis, according to law firm Troutman Pepper Locke.
CBP had sent about $122 billion in refunds, including interest, to the Treasury for payment as of Sept. 11. Another 20,184 refunds worth about $1.3 billion had not been sent because CBP lacked bank account details for the importer.
Finally liquidated entries account for about $11.4 billion, or 6.9%, of the IEEPA duties CBP collected, Freight Figures reported. The government’s appeal of the trade court’s refund orders is pending at the Federal Circuit, while a motion to extend closed-entry refunds to importers that did not sue remains pending at the trade court.
