CBP continues to make progress on processing refunds related to IEEPA duties, with nearly $130 billion in potential and certified refunds accepted for processing through the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system as of July 31st.
Of that amount, CBP reports that approximately $100 billion has already been completed through the CAPE Refund component.
So far, 252,496 CAPE declarations have been submitted, with 178,213 passing the initial file validation process. CBP noted that declarations can fail these validations for several reasons, including:
- A mismatch between the importer of record and filer
- An incorrect or invalid entry number
- A .CSV file that does not match the template provided in the ACE portal
The declarations that passed file validation represent approximately 25.1 million entries with IEEPA duties that were accepted for removal through CAPE. More than 17 million of those entries have already been liquidated or reliquidated without IEEPA duties.
What’s Causing Some Entries to Fail?
CBP identified several common reasons entries are not making it through the entry-level validation process. These include:
- The entry date is outside CBP’s 90-day reliquidation authority
- The entry does not include a Chapter 99 HTS number used to assess IEEPA duties
- The entry was already included on a previous CAPE declaration
There is also approximately $1.6 billion in refunds that have not yet been transmitted to the Treasury Department because the importer of record or designated party has not provided ACH account information.
Reconciliation Entries Continue to Move Forward
As of July 31st, approximately 2.2 million entries flagged for reconciliation had been successfully filed in CAPE and are set for processing.
Bottom line: The refund process continues to move forward, but CBP’s latest numbers show that accurate entry information, properly formatted CAPE submissions, and complete banking details remain important to avoiding delays.
We’ll continue to monitor CBP’s updates and share additional information as the refund process develops.