Managed tariff refund support for importer teams
Recover Tariff Refunds and Duty Drawback. Managed End-to-End, No Upfront Fee.
Self-submission portals are tools, not strategy. Our AI-guided intake collects what is needed fast, then our experienced attorney-backed team runs triage, pathway decisions, filing coordination, and deadline control end-to-end.
No upfront fee (standard contingency model) · Incentive-aligned · Automated intake · Managed filing · Proactive updates
Why act now
IEEPA
Supreme Court ruled tariffs unauthorized (Feb 2026)
CAPE
CBP refund processing launched Apr 2026
Deadlines Active
Filing windows narrowing — delay reduces recovery options
Legal landscape update
Why this matters now
A tariff refund is money returned to a U.S. importer when duties were overpaid, misapplied, or imposed without legal authority. There are three pathways: duty drawback under 19 U.S.C. § 1313 (for goods later exported, used in manufacturing, or destroyed), formal protests (challenging the classification or valuation of a specific entry), and IEEPA-based refunds now available following a landmark Supreme Court ruling.
On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court held 6-3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. Every IEEPA tariff paid between April 2025 and the ruling is now potentially refundable. In parallel, CBP launched CAPE in April 2026, the processing channel for these refund claims. Filing windows are active and narrowing now.
Importers who triage by deadline first and run all eligible pathways in parallel recover more than teams waiting for further clarity. The legal question is settled. The execution question is what remains.
Compare your options
DIY Portal vs. Managed Execution
| Criteria | DIY Portal Submission | Tariff Refund HQ |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs the process | Your internal team | AI-Powered with attorney oversight |
| Pathway decision | You determine CAPE, protest, or drawback | We triage every entry and route by best-fit pathway |
| Deadline tracking | Manual — your team monitors per entry | We track and escalate by deadline risk, entry by entry |
| Filing execution | You prep, package, and submit | We coordinate with your broker and file on your behalf |
| Error & rework risk | You absorb sequencing mistakes and filing gaps | We flag issues before submission, not after |
| Legal escalation | Not available | In-house attorney oversight for complex or disputed entries |
| Document readiness | You organize and reformat records | We build a document readiness plan from what you have |
| Status visibility | Depends on the portal | Milestone email updates + live portal tracking |
| Internal team burden | High — ops/compliance time fully consumed | Low — focused checkpoints only (intake, approvals) |
| Upfront cost | Varies by portal | $0 — standard contingency, paid from recovery only |
| Audit trail | Whatever the portal generates | Auditable file trail maintained throughout |
| Minimum entry size | Set by portal rules | No minimum — we triage by deadline risk, not dollar threshold |
What we handle for you
- ✓Entry-level pathway mapping (CAPE / Protest / Drawback)
- ✓Document collection plan and readiness packaging
- ✓Deadline tracking and escalation by entry
- ✓Filing coordination with broker and legal stakeholders
- ✓Status monitoring and follow-through management
Who executes and oversees the process
In-house attorneys: Highly experienced staff attorneys oversee compliance strategy, issue framing, and regulatory escalation where required.
Operations specialists: Intake-to-filing workflow, evidence packaging, and milestone control.
Broker coordination: Structured data requests and status synchronization to keep records submission-ready.
Our process
Five Steps to Recovery
AI-Guided Intake
Submit company and entry context through fast guided intake.
Entry Triage
We classify entries by CAPE, protest, drawback, or legal review path.
Managed Filing
Expert-led team executes filing workflows with coordination.
Continuous Updates
Receive email updates and check live status in your portal.
Recovery
No upfront fee — paid from funds recovered under contingency.
Proven execution
Case Patterns We Handle
Multi-entry importer with mixed liquidation posture
Built a tiered queue: near-deadline entries first, documentation cleanup in parallel, and regulatory escalation only where legal posture required.
Broker data fragmentation across periods
Reconstructed entry records into a filing-ready package map, reducing avoidable rework loops before submission.
Unclear pathway between protest and drawback
Ran entry-level decision tree and split execution by pathway to preserve filing rights while maintaining evidence quality.
What Your Team Does vs What We Do
Your team
- →Complete intake and provide records access
- →Review key legal/financial decisions
- →Approve final filing actions
Typical internal effort: focused checkpoints, not full process management.
Our team
- ✓Run triage, pathway decisions, and filing package assembly
- ✓Manage broker/counsel coordination and deadline escalation
- ✓Deliver milestone updates and portal status tracking
Process objective: remove administrative burden while preserving rigor and visibility.
Supreme Court Ruling Impact
IEEPA Tariff Refund Calculator
In 2025, the U.S. President used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs on imported goods. On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled these tariffs unconstitutional. The U.S. government must now refund an estimated $127 billion to $175 billion in illegally collected tariffs. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is launching a new digital portal called CAPE (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries) on April 20, 2026, for importers and customs brokers to claim their 100% refunds via ACH.
Enter the total customs value of goods you imported while the IEEPA tariffs were active.
Rates varied wildly based on origin and product. Base universal tariffs were 10%, North American tariffs hit 25% to 35%, and some Chinese reciprocal tariffs reached up to 145%.
Your Estimated Supreme Court IEEPA Refund
Phase 1 of CBP's CAPE Portal opens April 20, 2026. Get expert help filing your CSV declarations before the backlog grows.
⚠ Time-sensitive
Deadlines Can Permanently Reduce Recovery
Filing windows are not uniform across entries. Once specific windows close, available remedies can narrow or disappear. We triage by deadline risk first, then run lower-risk processing work second.
- →Clock-risk entries are prioritized first
- →Near-final liquidation entries are escalated early
- →Document gaps are resolved on a deadline-weighted queue
Free Download: IEEPA Tariff Refund Checklist
Don't miss the 80-day CAPE portal window. Download our comprehensive, one-page readiness checklist to ensure your entries are fully prepared for submission.
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Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a tariff refund?
A tariff refund is money returned to a U.S. importer when they've overpaid customs duties, or when the legal basis for those duties is later invalidated. This includes duty drawback refunds (where imported goods are later exported or destroyed), protest-based refunds (where the classification or valuation was wrong), and IEEPA-based refunds now available following the Supreme Court's February 2026 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, which held that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.
What is duty drawback?
Duty drawback is a federal refund program under 19 U.S.C. § 1313, administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), that allows importers to recover up to 99% of duties, taxes, and fees paid on imported goods that are later exported, used in manufacturing exported goods, or destroyed. The program has existed for over 200 years and covers all industries. It is separate from, and can run alongside, protest and IEEPA refund claims.
What is CAPE, and am I eligible?
CAPE (CBP's Accelerated Payment Entry) is the CBP processing channel launched in April 2026 to handle the volume of refund claims created by the Learning Resources v. Trump ruling. If your company paid IEEPA tariffs between April 2025 and the date the Supreme Court vacated them, you likely have active CAPE-eligible entries. Eligibility depends on entry-level facts including liquidation status, whether you filed a protest, and whether deadlines have passed — which is exactly why triage comes before filing.
What is an IEEPA tariff refund?
IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) tariffs were levied by the Trump administration starting April 2025 on goods from most countries. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on February 20, 2026, that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. As a result, companies that paid IEEPA tariffs are now entitled to refunds on those entries. The refund process runs through CBP's CAPE channel and, where applicable, through formal protests — both of which have hard filing deadlines.
What is the difference between a protest, CAPE, and drawback?
These are three distinct legal pathways, and many importers qualify for more than one. A protest challenges the original classification, valuation, or legal basis of a duty entry and must be filed within 180 days of liquidation. CAPE is the CBP processing track for IEEPA refund claims following the Supreme Court ruling. Duty drawback is a separate statutory program that applies when imported goods are exported, used in manufacturing, or destroyed — it can be filed regardless of whether you also have protest or IEEPA claims. Choosing the wrong pathway, or filing them out of sequence, can permanently forfeit recovery rights.
How much can I recover?
It depends on your import volume, the tariff categories that applied to your goods, your export activity, and which refund pathways you qualify for. Under duty drawback alone, companies can recover up to 99% of eligible import duties. IEEPA refunds are separate and can represent significant additional recovery for companies that paid tariffs between April 2025 and the court ruling. Companies typically recover anywhere from low six figures to several million dollars across all pathways combined.
What are the filing deadlines I need to know about?
Filing windows are not uniform and vary by entry. For protests, the standard window is 180 days from liquidation of each entry — miss it and that entry's recovery rights are gone. CAPE filing windows are tied to when entries liquidated and are narrowing now as months pass since the ruling. Drawback claims have their own multi-year lookback window but are also subject to export matching deadlines. The single most common reason companies lose recovery is waiting for "more clarity" while deadlines close. Triage by deadline risk first is how we structure every engagement.
What documents do I need to get started?
You don't need everything organized before you reach out. We work with whatever your team has available: import entry summaries (CBP Form 7501), commercial invoices, bills of lading, packing lists, export documentation (SED / AES filings), broker-filed entry packets, and ERP exports from systems like SAP, Oracle, or NetSuite. Our intake process is designed to identify what exists, flag what's missing, and build a document readiness plan before any filing work begins.
How does pricing work?
We operate on a standard contingency model — no upfront fee. Our compensation is a percentage of funds actually recovered, so our incentives are fully aligned with your outcome. If we don't recover, you don't pay. The exact percentage schedule is set in the written engagement agreement and decreases as total recovery value increases. There are no setup fees, subscription fees, or hourly billing.
How long does it take to get my refund?
Timeline varies by pathway and entry complexity. For CAPE-eligible IEEPA entries, CBP processing timelines are still developing as the program is new. For protest-based claims, resolution typically takes several months after filing. For duty drawback, from the time we begin to when a claim is filed is typically weeks, with CBP payment following within 3-6 weeks under accelerated payment. We give each client a deadline-weighted filing schedule at intake so you know what to expect per entry, not just in aggregate.
Can I pursue multiple refund pathways at the same time?
Yes, and in many cases you should. A company that imported goods, paid IEEPA tariffs, and later exported or destroyed unsold inventory may simultaneously qualify for IEEPA refunds via CAPE, protest claims on specific misclassified entries, and duty drawback on exports or destroyed inventory. Running these in parallel requires careful sequencing — some filings can affect others if not structured properly. This is one of the core reasons managed execution outperforms DIY portal submission for companies with complex import histories.
What if my broker originally filed the entries?
That's the most common situation. We coordinate directly with your broker to obtain entry packets, liquidation status, and relevant documentation. You don't need to become the middle person in that process — we handle the data requests and synchronize with them as part of our intake-to-filing workflow. Your broker relationship stays intact; we add a layer of legal and operational management they typically don't provide.
Ready to start?
Let Our Attorney-Backed Team Run This For You
Get a managed refund plan with pathway mapping, deadline priorities, and document requirements. No upfront fee under our standard contingency model.
Risk-control commitment: clear scope, milestone updates, and audit-ready documentation.