The Supreme Court Struck Down IEEPA Tariffs. Your Refund Isn't Automatic.
On February 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs of indefinite scope, invalidating the IEEPA tariffs.
For importers, that isn't a headline. It's a balance-sheet event. On March 4, 2026, the Court of International Trade ordered CBP to refund roughly $166 billion in unlawfully collected IEEPA duties, and it extended that relief to all affected importers, not just the companies that sued.
Here's the part that trips people up: the money is real, but it does not arrive on its own. And the way you claim it changed a few months ago.
What the Court actually decided
The ruling invalidated the tariffs imposed under IEEPA, including:
- The reciprocal tariffs of 10% or higher applied from April 2025
- The fentanyl-related tariffs (10% on Chinese-origin goods; up to 35% on certain Canadian and Mexican-origin goods)
- The additional 40% Brazil tariffs
- The 25% India tariffs applied from August 2025 to February 2026
If you imported during those windows, there's a strong chance you paid duties the Supreme Court has now said were never lawful.
How refunds actually work now: CAPE
CBP built a dedicated process for this called CAPE, short for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries. Phase 1 deployed on April 20, 2026, Phase 2 followed on June 29, and CBP has already paid out more than $40 billion in refunds through it.
What that means in practice:
- You claim your refund by filing a CAPE Declaration. This is the mechanism, and it is not automatic. CBP is not going to review your entries for you.
- Post-summary corrections are prohibited as a way to start an IEEPA refund request. If you still need a PSC for a non-IEEPA issue, file that first, then include the entry on your CAPE Declaration.
- If you already filed a protest for IEEPA purposes and you're within 80 days of the liquidation date, you can withdraw that protest and move the entry onto a CAPE Declaration instead.
If you published or read guidance earlier this year telling you to file a PSC or a protest to recover IEEPA duties, that guidance is out of date.
The entries most at risk: finally liquidated
This is the part worth acting on today.
Refunds on finally liquidated entries fall into Phase 3, and they are being processed only for importers who filed suit at the Court of International Trade. Importers who did not file suit risk delay, or permanent loss of the refund on those entries.
Your entries keep liquidating in the background whether you're watching or not. That's why this gets missed: there is no single global deadline, the clock runs entry by entry, and the entries that go final quietly are the ones that become hardest to recover.
One more detail worth knowing: refunds go to the importer of record who actually paid the duty. If someone else reimbursed you, that's a separate contractual matter.
Don't overlook duty drawback
IEEPA is the loudest opportunity, but it isn't the only one. Duty drawback lets importers recover duties on goods that are exported or destroyed under CBP supervision, including goods used to manufacture products that are then exported. The filing window is five years from the date of importation.
Drawback and IEEPA aren't competing plays. They're different profiles. Drawback requires qualifying export or destruction. IEEPA overpayment hit anyone who imported, regardless of what happened downstream. A proper review looks at both, along with misclassification and missed exclusions, which quietly inflate duty bills every year.
What recovery actually looks like
The process is built to be low-effort and low-risk on your end:
1. A free eligibility review
A short look at your import profile and entry data tells you whether there's recovery potential. No cost, no obligation.
2. Expert analysis and filing
The work is delivered through our tariff recovery partner: licensed customs brokers and trade attorneys who review every entry line by line, verify classification and liquidation status, and file with CBP on your behalf.
3. You get your refund
The model is contingency-based. You pay only from what's actually recovered, and if nothing is recovered, there's no fee. No change to your suppliers, brokers, or day-to-day operations.
Filed isn't the same as funded
Being owed money and having money are not the same thing. Refunds are moving through CAPE, but the broader picture is unsettled: the Department of Justice appealed the CIT's refund order on June 2, 2026, challenging both the universal scope of the relief and the treatment of finally liquidated entries. With well over $100 billion still to be paid out, disbursement on some entries can still stretch out.
That's where advance funding comes in. If your claim has already been filed, you may qualify for capital before the refund arrives, turning a filed claim into working capital for payroll, inventory, or growth instead of waiting on the agency clock. It's optional and subject to review and approval, but for importers who don't want to sit on a receivable, it changes the math.
Real recoveries
Through our tariff recovery partner, importers across industries have recovered significant refunds. A few anonymized examples:
- A pharmaceutical importer recovered $1.8M on misclassified API ingredients from China.
- A high-volume e-commerce seller recovered $650K after systematic IEEPA overpayment was found across 200+ entries.
- A furniture retailer recovered $420K on deemed-liquidation entries eligible for protest refunds.
Every importer's situation is different, and past results don't guarantee future outcomes — but they show the scale of what's often sitting in entries importers assumed were handled.
What to do now
The Supreme Court has already done the hard part. What's left is filing correctly, on the right entries, before the windows close — and the review costs nothing.
If you imported during the IEEPA windows, it's worth a few minutes to check your refund eligibility. You can also learn more about our tariff & duty recovery service.
You already paid these duties. The Court has said they were never lawful. Let's find out how much of it belongs back in your business.
Manalo Advisory Group is not CBP, U.S. Customs, or a government agency, and does not provide legal advice. Tariff recovery is delivered through a specialized partner of licensed customs brokers and trade attorneys. Refund eligibility, amounts, and timing depend on your specific circumstances; advance funding is subject to underwriting and approval. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
