The Numbers Behind the May 11 Launch
According to filings submitted to the U.S. Court of International Trade by Brandon Lord, CBP's Executive Director of the Commercial Programs Directorate at the Office of Trade, the CAPE refund system has already processed a massive volume of claims since opening on April 20, 2026.
As of 8:00 p.m. ET on April 26, 2026:
75,306 CAPE Declarations filed by importers and customs brokers
47,315 declarations passed file validation (about 63% acceptance rate)
11,222,927 entries submitted through the system in under one week
1,740,000 entries have reached the active refund stage
First refunds expected to hit importer ACH accounts on or about May 11, 2026
The system has been operational nearly continuously since launch, with only an 18-minute pause on April 20 when CBP reconfigured resources to optimize processing capacity.
Why This Matters
The Supreme Court struck down IEEPA tariffs in a 6-3 decision on February 20, 2026, in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump. CBP stopped collecting IEEPA duties for entries on or after February 24, 2026. But importers who paid those duties between February 1, 2025 and February 23, 2026 had no clear path to getting their money back until CAPE went live.
CAPE is not optional. CBP is not proactively refunding anything. If you paid IEEPA duties and you do not file a CAPE Declaration, the refund stays with the government.
The math is significant. Total IEEPA collections were approximately $166 billion across 53 million entries. CBP estimates Phase 1 of CAPE will cover about 63% of eligible entries, with additional phases planned for entries that fall outside the Phase 1 scope.
What May 11 Actually Looks Like
The first refunds will be issued through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system directly to bank accounts registered in the importer's ACE Portal account. There are no paper checks. CBP discontinued paper refund issuance effective February 6, 2026.
Refunds will be consolidated by Importer of Record (IOR) and by liquidation date, not paid out entry by entry.
An importer with hundreds of accepted entries will receive one consolidated payment, including statutory interest calculated at the IRS quarterly rate from the date of duty payment to the date of refund.
The full refund timeline is:
60 to 90 days from accepted CAPE Declaration to refund disbursement (typical case)
Up to 30 to 60 additional days if the claim enters "Information Requested" status
Refunds for suspended or extended entries will be paid at the time of liquidation
For Phase 1 specifically, only certain unliquidated entries and entries within 80 days of liquidation are eligible. CBP is developing Phase 2, expected in summer 2026, to address the remaining categories.
Why 37% of Claims Are Failing Validation
The 75,306 declarations filed have not all gone through cleanly. About 37% have failed file validation, which means they were rejected before CBP even reviewed the underlying refund eligibility.
The most common rejection reasons reported by industry sources:
1. Filer code mismatch Only the IOR or the licensed customs broker who originally filed the entries can submit a CAPE Declaration. If the wrong entity files, the system rejects automatically.
2. ACH refund banking not configured Refunds are paid only via ACH. If the importer's ACE Portal account does not have current bank account information attached, even an accepted CAPE Declaration cannot result in payment.
3. Entry number formatting errors CAPE requires 11-character alphanumeric entry numbers. Dashes are stripped automatically, but other special characters or formatting errors trigger rejection. The CSV file must follow the exact CBP template structure.
4. Duplicate entries within a declaration Each entry number can only appear once per CAPE Declaration. CBP rejects the entire file if duplicates are present.
5. Missing or outdated CBP Form 5106 The importer profile in ACE must match CBP records exactly. Importers who have not filed a current Form 5106 may see claims rejected at the identity validation stage.
What to Do Right Now if You Have Not Filed
If your company paid IEEPA duties and you have not yet submitted a CAPE Declaration, the timing still works in your favor. There is no Phase 1 cliff date. You can file at any time as long as your entries fall within the eligible scope.
Action steps before filing:
Confirm ACE Portal access for the IOR account. If your ACE access is dormant, expect 5 to 10 business days to restore it.
Verify ACH banking enrollment through the ACE Portal. Refunds cannot be paid without a valid U.S. bank account on file.
Pull entry data for the IEEPA window. Eligible entries are those with at least one IEEPA-attributable Chapter 99 HTS code on the entry summary. Section 232, Section 301, MPF, and HMF are not refundable through CAPE.
Confirm filing authority. Either you (as the IOR) or your customs broker filed the original entries. That same party files the CAPE Declaration.
Prepare the CSV file using the CBP-provided template. One column, header row, 11-character alphanumeric entry numbers, no duplicates.
Submit through the CAPE tab in your ACE Portal account.
What to Do if Your Claim Was Rejected
If you submitted a CAPE Declaration before April 26 and received a rejection notice, the issue is almost certainly fixable. Common remediation steps:
For filer code rejections: Confirm with your customs broker that they are the entity submitting the declaration. If you are the IOR filing direct, verify your entries were not filed by a broker.
For banking rejections: Update your ACH refund enrollment in the ACE Portal Importer Sub-Account View, confirm your CBP Form 5106 is current, and resubmit.
For format rejections: Re-download the CAPE Upload Template from the ACE Portal, re-enter your entry numbers in clean 11-character format, save as .csv, and resubmit.
For duplicate rejections: Review your declaration for repeated entry numbers. Each entry can only appear in one accepted CAPE Declaration across the entire system.
Resubmissions are accepted with no penalty. The system does not limit the number of CAPE Declarations a single filer can submit.
What Is Not Covered by Phase 1
CAPE Phase 1 has clear limits. The following entry categories are explicitly excluded from Phase 1 and will be addressed in later phases or through alternative legal remedies:
Entries flagged for reconciliation
Entry Type 09 Reconciliation Summary entries
Entries subject to Antidumping or Countervailing Duties (AD/CVD)
Entries that have been finally liquidated outside the 80-day voluntary reliquidation period
Entries currently suspended or under CBP review
Warehouse entries pending withdrawal
For finally liquidated entries, the U.S. Court of International Trade has ordered CBP to reliquidate without regard to IEEPA duties, but the operational mechanism is still being developed. CBP has indicated Phase 2 will address these entries, with a target rollout in summer 2026.
In the meantime, importers with finally liquidated entries can pursue traditional protest procedures under 19 U.S.C. § 1514, but those filings have a strict 180-day window from the date of liquidation.
The Federal Circuit Appeal Risk
One factor every importer should be tracking: the U.S. government has until approximately June 7, 2026 to file an appeal of Judge Eaton's universal IEEPA refund order with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
If the government appeals and obtains a stay pending appeal, CAPE refund processing could be paused for some or all claims still in the queue. Practitioners widely expect the government to appeal once the CIT lifts its current suspension of the underlying order.
For importers, this argues for filing Phase 1 CAPE Declarations sooner rather than later. Claims that have already entered the active refund stage are less likely to be affected by a future stay than claims still in the validation queue.
What Is and Is Not Refundable
There is consistent confusion about which duties are refundable. The Supreme Court ruling and the CAPE process apply only to IEEPA duties. The following are not refundable through CAPE:
Not refundable:
Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, copper, autos, semiconductors, lumber, pharmaceuticals
Section 301 tariffs on China-origin goods
Section 122 surcharge (the 10% replacement tariff effective February 24, 2026)
Anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD)
MPF, HMF, and standard customs fees
Refundable through CAPE:
IEEPA duties under HTS 9903.01.xx codes (fentanyl tariffs, reciprocal tariffs, Brazil tariffs, Russian oil tariffs on India)
Statutory interest accrued from date of payment to date of refund
The key indicator on your CBP Form 7501 is the Chapter 99 HTS code. If your entry shows codes in the 9903.01.xx range, you have IEEPA-attributable duties. If your entry shows Section 301 codes (9903.88.xx) or Section 232 codes (9903.79–9903.95 range), those are separate tariff regimes not covered by the ruling.
What Comes After May 11
The May 11 first-refund milestone is the start of an extended payment cycle, not a single event. Refunds will continue rolling out as CBP processes the validated claims in the queue.
Watch for these milestones over the next 90 days:
May 11, 2026: First refunds disbursed via ACH
June 7, 2026: Government appeal deadline for IEEPA refund order
Mid-June 2026: CBP expected to publish updated CAPE Phase 1 statistics
July 24, 2026: Section 122 surcharge expires (separate from IEEPA refund process)
Summer 2026: CAPE Phase 2 expected to launch for entries excluded from Phase 1
Bottom Line
The CAPE refund process is not automatic, not universal, and not without operational pitfalls. But for the first time since the Supreme Court ruled in February, real money is about to flow back to real importers.
If your company paid IEEPA duties between February 1, 2025 and February 23, 2026, you have eligibility. If you have not filed a CAPE Declaration yet, file now.
If you filed and were rejected, fix the issue and resubmit. If you have already received an acceptance notice, watch your ACH-enrolled bank account starting May 11.
The Gateway Lines tariff calculator and IEEPA refund estimator are free tools that help importers identify eligibility and size potential refund amounts before committing to the full filing process. Both are available without signup at tariff.gatewaylines.com.