Tariff Refund Process

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) is not yet able to refund the reciprocal tariffs struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, the agency told the U.S. Court of International Trade on March 6.

CBP cited the volume of tariffs, estimated at about $166 billion, and technical limitations as reasons for the delay.  As of March 4, 2026, over 330,000 importers have made a total of over 53 million entries involving IEEPA tariffs.

The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the CBP system that tracks imports and processes tariff payments, will have to be adjusted.  The new process, which CBP plans to have in place within 45 days, will automate many steps that would otherwise be performed manually when issuing refunds. Under the new system:

• Importers will file a declaration in ACE listing the affected entries
• The system will automatically validate and re-calculate the duty owed and process refunds (with interest)
• Refunds will be aggregated (with interest) by importer
• CBP will certify the refunds and the Treasury Department will issue the refunds electronically

For more information, consult CBP’s enrollment process here.