IEEPA Refunds: Trick or Treat?

Halloween is approaching and importers are looking for IEEPA tariff refunds. But beware, they may come with a trick. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s most recent status report in the IEEPA tariff litigation provides the clearest picture yet of the new process for obtaining refunds on finally liquidated entries. That’s a treat! 

CAPE Phase 3 covers finally liquidated entries filed by plaintiffs for which the Court of International Trade has ordered reliquidation, including entries subject to a protest. Already it has posted scary big numbers – as of Oct. 23 CBP had accepted 3,960 CAPE Phase 3 declarations covering more than 15.8 million entries. 

CBP is opening Phase 3 on a rolling basis. Currently, plaintiffs that provided valid importer of record numbers before Aug. 14 can file declarations. But beware, when an importer becomes eligible, CBP sends notification to the importer’s counsel, not directly to the importer.

Now here’s the trick: CAPE Phase 3 itself doesn’t give access to all finally liquidated entries. CBP says Phase 3 covers entries of plaintiffs for which the CIT has ordered reliquidation. So, for importers pursuing this route, there’s still a trip to the CIT before getting to CAPE Phase 3. 

Another treat – earlier this month, the CIT certified the Freestyle World case as a class action covering importers that paid the challenged IEEPA duties between Feb. 1, 2025, and Feb. 19, 2026, excluding companies that have filed their own refund suits. If the class ultimately prevails, it could provide qualifying importers a path to refunds without filing individual CIT actions.

But here’s the second trick: class certification isn’t a refund order. The certification is likely to be appealed and could be overturned. Even in the best-case scenario, this route will likely take considerable time before importers actually see any refunds. 

So, this Halloween importers face a choice between two potential treats: pursue an individual CIT action and the developing CAPE Phase 3 process, or potentially rely on the class action. 

But beware of the tricks: one requires litigation, and the other carries uncertainty and a long wait before any money is refunded.