IEEPA Tariff Refunds: What CAPE Phase 3 Means for Importers With Finally Liquidated Entries
Customs has refunded more than $106 billion in IEEPA duties, but entries that are already finally liquidated follow a different and riskier path. Here is where each importer stands.
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CAPE Phase 3 is the part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's IEEPA refund process for finally liquidated entries. It is not open to everyone. Per law firm guidance, it covers only importers who sued at the Court of International Trade and hold a reliquidation order. Importers without a lawsuit are not eligible today.
Most importers have heard that IEEPA tariff refunds are flowing. That is true for entries that are still open or recently closed. It is not yet true for older entries that Customs has finalized. Laneage covers trade policy and the operational side of importing, and this explainer is for importers, brokers and finance leads trying to sort out which bucket their entries fall into.
What Are the Three CAPE Phases?
CAPE stands for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries. It is a function inside the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the system importers and brokers use to file with Customs. CAPE exists to return duties collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) after courts struck those tariffs down.
Phase 1 launched on April 20, 2026. According to Thompson Hine's trade update, it covers IEEPA duties on unliquidated entries and on entries no more than 80 days past liquidation. Phase 2 followed on June 29 and covers reconciliation entries. Phase 3 is aimed at finally liquidated entries, the ones that completed the 314-day liquidation cycle and the 180-day protest period.
The key point is that the first two phases are administrative. Customs can process them on its own authority. Phase 3 is different, because Customs says it cannot reopen a finally liquidated entry without a specific court order.
It helps to know how the money moves. An importer or its broker files a CAPE declaration listing the entries that carried IEEPA duties. Customs validates the list, certifies the refund amount and sends it to the Treasury Department, which pays by electronic transfer. Refunds include interest, and Customs has said valid claims are generally paid 60 to 90 days after a declaration is accepted.
The legal backdrop is a Supreme Court ruling from February 2026 that struck down the IEEPA tariffs. That ruling set up the refund process, but it did not say how entries that were already closed should be handled. Phase 3 is the part of the system trying to answer that question.
Who Can Use Phase 3 Right Now?
Only importers with active Court of International Trade (CIT) cases and an individual reliquidation order can use Phase 3. Coppersmith's guidance puts it bluntly: no active litigation means no eligibility. Reliquidation means Customs reopens a closed entry and recalculates the duty owed.
The details matter. The Coppersmith compliance briefing says plaintiffs must have submitted a valid importer of record number to Customs by July 30, 2026. It also says Phase 3 was set to deploy on October 6.
The timeline has not been clean, and that is worth flagging. A Barnes & Thornburg alert, summarized in the National Law Review, reported that on August 25 Customs said Phase 3 was temporarily delayed while it built new validations. Sources do not agree on whether the October 6 date held, so check Customs' own CAPE notices before you plan around it.
Where Does the Money Stand So Far?
The scale is large. The Barnes & Thornburg alert says more than $106 billion in refunds had been sent to the Treasury Department under Phases 1 and 2. Earlier in the process, Customs said it had certified roughly $71 billion by June 29, so the pace of certification has been steady.
The same alert flags a quieter problem. About $1.7 billion is stuck because importers have not registered ACH payment details with Customs. ACH is the electronic bank transfer system, and Customs must pay refunds electronically. A refund with no bank account on file simply waits.
In our reading of the guidance, this is the easiest money to recover. It does not need a lawsuit or a protest. It needs a finance team to log into ACE, confirm the banking details and make sure the CAPE declaration covers every eligible entry.
The postal de minimis delay is a reminder that customs rules keep shifting, and that clean entry records pay off.
Brokers play a large part here. A customs broker files most entries on an importer's behalf and holds the entry history. Ask yours for a report that lists every entry with IEEPA duties, its liquidation status and whether it appears in a CAPE declaration. Gaps in that report are where refunds go missing.
Which Option Fits Which Entry?
The right path depends on the entry's status. The table below shows the main routes and the catch that comes with each.
| Entry status | Main route | Key catch |
|---|---|---|
| Unliquidated | CAPE declaration (Phase 1) | ACH enrollment required |
| Liquidated within 80 days | CAPE declaration (Phase 1) | Window is short |
| Reconciliation-flagged | CAPE declaration (Phase 2) | Limited scope |
| Past 80 days, inside 180-day protest window | CBP protest | Customs does not process CAPE claims while a protest is on file |
| Finally liquidated | CIT suit, then Phase 3 | Plaintiffs only |
Protests deserve special care. A protest is a formal challenge filed with Customs, and it must come within 180 days of liquidation. The National Law Review summary notes that Customs is not currently processing CAPE claims for entries with a protest on file. That means a protest can slow a refund that CAPE might otherwise have paid.
Coppersmith's advice on this point is cautious. Do not withdraw IEEPA-only protests until you hold a reliquidation order and your counsel has confirmed Phase 3 eligibility. Withdrawing too early can leave an entry with no live path at all.
What Deadlines Should Importers Watch?
The firmest deadline is the two-year limit on suits under the CIT's residual jurisdiction, found in 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i). The clock runs from the entry date. According to the Barnes & Thornburg example, entries made on April 5, 2025 would face an April 5, 2027 cutoff, and some deadlines arrive as early as February 2027.
That timing creates real pressure. Importers who are waiting for a ruling may run out of time before the ruling arrives. A decision from the Federal Circuit, where the government is appealing the CIT's universal refund order, is still pending.
The government argues that the CIT exceeded its authority and that Customs needs importer-specific orders. If it wins, importers who never sued could be shut out of refunds on finally liquidated entries. A class action motion before the CIT offers a possible second route, but no ruling had issued when the alert was written.
Deadlines also differ by entry, because each entry has its own date. An importer with hundreds of entries across two years may find that its earliest ones expire months before its latest. Sorting entries by date and tackling the oldest first is the simplest way to avoid missing a window.
Here are the steps most trade lawyers describe as a sensible order of operations. They are general information, not legal advice.
- Confirm ACH enrollment in ACE for every importer of record number you use.
- File CAPE declarations for all unliquidated and recently liquidated entries.
- List finally liquidated entries that carried IEEPA duties, with entry dates.
- Ask trade counsel whether to file at the CIT before your earliest two-year deadline.
- Keep IEEPA-only protests in place until eligibility is confirmed.
How Should Ecommerce Importers Plan Their Cash?
Treat refunds as a possible upside, not as budgeted income. Timing has already slipped once, and legal outcomes are open. A planning model should show three cases: refunds arrive on schedule, refunds arrive late, and refunds on finally liquidated entries never arrive.
Small importers face the hardest choice. A CIT suit costs money, and the payoff depends on the value of the entries. A brand that paid $20,000 in IEEPA duties on closed entries may decide differently from one that paid $2 million. Counsel can run that math with real entry data.
Duty costs are still moving for other reasons. Our guide to the US-China tariff truce shows that landed-cost assumptions can change within weeks.
Sellers who ship abroad face similar moving parts. The EU parcel duty is one more cost line that deserves its own scenario in a cash plan.
The Takeaway for Importers
Phase 3 is real, but it is narrow. It serves plaintiffs with court orders, not every importer with an old entry. For everything else, the refund path runs through CAPE declarations, ACH enrollment and, in some cases, a protest.
At Laneage, our editors will keep tracking the Federal Circuit appeal and any new Customs notices. Your next step this week is to confirm ACH enrollment, pull a list of finally liquidated entries with IEEPA duties, and ask your trade counsel about the earliest two-year deadline. This article was fact-checked against public sources as of October 28, 2026, and it is not legal advice.
