In a filing last week with the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said tariff refund requests issued since April 20 are expected to begin being fulfilled on or about May 11.
The CBP said approximately 21% of total entries have been accepted for the removal of International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs. CBP said approximately 3% of entries are in the refund stage process. The Treasury Department will issue refunds.
RVIA said as of April 26, approximately 1.74 million entries have been processed and are moving toward a refund. Approximately 16% of applications have been denied due to validation errors.
In the court filing, concerns regarding customers’ experiences with the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system used to file refund requests were discussed. Among the problems was difficulty accessing the system due to long wait times to reset usernames and passwords. Other concerns included over-registered training events and confusion regarding which importer is required to make a CAPE declaration.
To resolve issues, CBP will issue guidance, including updating the Frequently Asked Questions section of its website.
RVIA said the first phase of the CAPE refund program leaves approximately 37% of cases, worth approximately $166 billion, without a defined path to refund.
The U.S. Court of International Trade requested a status report from CBP by noon Eastern on May 12.
