WASHINGTON, USA — The U.S. government is moving to simplify refunds for hundreds of thousands of companies that paid tariffs recently deemed illegal, officials said Friday.
In a filing with the United States Court of International Trade, Brandon Lord, executive director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s trade policy and programs directorate, said a new system is being developed that should be ready in 45 days and would require minimal submissions from importers.
The filing follows a ruling by Judge Richard Eaton ordering the government to repay all importers the tariffs they paid, with interest, after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down sweeping import taxes imposed by former President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
According to Lord, over 330,000 importers made more than 53 million entries with CBP and paid about $166 billion in tariffs that now must be refunded. Processing these refunds through the existing system would require more than 4.4 million work hours, potentially disrupting CBP’s other critical functions, including revenue protection and national security operations.
The new system will consolidate refunds and interest payments, reduce paperwork for importers, and allow for validations and review periods to resolve discrepancies. However, officials warned that refunds will largely be issued electronically, and most importers have not yet registered for the system.
As of Feb. 6, only 21,423 out of 330,566 importers had completed the setup to receive refunds electronically. CBP cautioned that refunds may be rejected until companies complete the registration process.
If approved by the trade court, the new process could be one of the largest tariff refund efforts in U.S. history.
