Last Friday, Judge Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) suspended the immediate enforcement of his earlier order, which had directed CBP to refund IEEPA tariffs on unliquidated and not-finally-liquidated entries. In plain terms: refunds are not happening right away, but the underlying order requiring them still stands.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • The refund order itself has not been overturned. Absent a successful appeal, CBP will still be required to issue most IEEPA tariff refunds—just not immediately.
  • CBP is building new refund functionality in ACE and expects it to be ready in approximately 45 days. Judge Eaton has ordered a status update this week on Thursday, March 12th.
  • A key unresolved issue is whether any refund process will automatically include importers who did not file lawsuits against the government.
  • Only about 6% of importers currently have ACH refunds enabled in ACE. Now is the time to verify that you have access to your ACE Portal account, and that you have registered for electronic refunds through your ACE Portal account. It’s a required step to receive any refund electronically.

We will continue monitoring this situation closely and will be in touch as things develop.