How to get your company a tariff refund

Right after tax season ended came something that companies were much happier to do the paperwork on: tariff refunds.

On April 20, importers could start filing for IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) tariff refunds, and many of them leapt at the chance. Small and large importers alike have used the new Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) portal on the US Customs and Border Protection’s centralized system for processing imports and exports (called ACE, or Automated Commercial Environment).

Still more businesses have plans to file soon. There’s been “a lot of excitement and a lot of inquiries coming our way” about the refunds, Lisa Bradford, consulting coordinator at UHY, told CFO Brew. For CFOs whose companies are planning to file, there are some crucial things to know.

Don’t let it “phase” you. Right now, the CAPE refund program is in Phase 1, and not all claims are eligible. During this phase, companies can file for a refund only for entries (cargo shipments on which duties are assessed) that haven’t yet been liquidated (undergone CPB’s final tally of what’s owed), or have only been liquidated within the past 80 calendar days, Gisele Belotto, trade and customs principal and managed services leader at KPMG, said during an April 21 webinar. Companies can’t file yet for entries that have certain complications, such as those that are in reconciliation, under protest, or under Post Summary Correction review.

More complex entries, or those that were liquidated more than 80 days ago, will likely be handled in later phases of CAPE, Bradford said. CPB hasn’t yet said when Phase 2 will be open or what it will cover, MSN reported.

The Court of International Trade, the body that directed CBP to make the IEEPA refunds, recommends that importers file protests for entries that might be addressed in later phases of CAPE, two attorneys at law firm Squire Patton Boggs noted in an April 22 Reuters column. In fact, there’s a chance that companies will need to file protests in order to be eligible for Phase 2, Belotto said.

Timing matters here, as protests need to be filed within 180 days of liquidation. Therefore companies should audit their entries, Belotto said, and determine which ones are eligible for Phase 1 and which they should protest in anticipation of Phase 2, and draw up a schedule of when to act upon each.

Importers can look at CPB’s guidance, such as its IEEPA refunds page and its CAPE update page, to see what’s eligible, according to a memo by attorneys at law firm Foley & Lardner.

Act fast. Even with the limitations, around three-fifths of the total 53 million import entries subject to IEEPA tariffs are eligible for Phase 1, per MSN. In other words: Lots of companies will be trying to file, and soon.

CPB states that it will issue refunds within 60 to 90 days after a claim is processed, but that timeline may be somewhat optimistic. With “the huge volume of importers who are looking to get their refunds back, that may get pushed out a little longer,” Bradford said.

For both reasons, companies may want to file soon. “We recommend that they move as quickly as possible to get first in the door,” Bradford said.

Be precise. Accuracy is paramount as well as speed, as CBP will be reviewing entries. “Make sure your data is accurate and in compliance with the guidelines that have been provided to date,” UHY principal Charles Clevenger told CFO Brew. Save the documentation to back up any claims you make, especially in cases of more complicated entries involving protests or corrections, in case Customs audits them later on, Bradford added.

Check your enrollment. Some smaller businesses do not have ACE accounts, as they’ve worked through their customs brokers to handle tariffs, lawyer Matthew Seligman told MSN. But brokers are facing so many requests now that they’re asking clients to file for refunds themselves, he added. That’s all the more reason for companies to act fast, as it can take six to eight weeks to register a new ACE account.

Companies should also be sure they’re enrolled in Automated Clearing House, the refunds portal, Belotto said.

Importers may be wondering: Could the CPB run out of money at some point? Not likely, according to a January Reuters report that the Treasury had $774 billion on hand, enough to cover the reported $160 billion to $175 billion in duties collected under IEEPA.