finance
CBP's CAPE Portal Processes Over 75,000 Tariff Refund Requests Since April, 15% Rejected
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has processed more than 75,000 refund requests through its new CAPE system, with about 15% rejected. The portal, launched to comply with a Supreme Court ruling on President Trump's emergency levies, experienced initial glitches but is now operational. Businesses report mixed experiences, including submission errors and account issues.
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U.S. businesses and other importers since launching its Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries tariff refund system, known as CAPE, on April 20, 2026.
Roughly 15% of those requests have been rejected, according to the agency. U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated in a filing with the Court of International Trade on April 29, 2026.
The CAPE system was launched to comply with an order following the Supreme Court's February 2026 ruling that struck down emergency levies imposed by President Trump. Businesses may only seek refunds for tariffs imposed by the Trump administration under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
In the first phase of the refund process, CAPE is only accepting applications for tariffs that have been finalized by CBP or estimated duties that can still be estimated.
CAPE experienced glitches when it launched on April 20, 2026. The functionality was not available for use by importers and their brokers for an 18-minute period that day, when CBP paused the ability to submit declarations to reconfigure resources and optimize processing, Lord said in the filing. Despite these issues, the portal is running as intended, CBS News reported.
Nick Richards, a partner at law firm Greenspoon Marder who has advised clients seeking tariff refunds, told CBS News that some businesses are likely making errors in their claims submissions. 'There are parameters, and I would imagine some of the submissions are outside of that scope,' Richards said.
