---
title: Washington Has Refunded $100 Billion of the Tariffs the Supreme Court Struck Down
description: Customs has paid back $100 billion of the struck-down IEEPA tariffs. Where the rest of the money is, and how an importer claims it.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-08-06T09:27:18.866Z
updated: 2026-08-06T09:27:18.884Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/ieepa-tariff-refunds-100-billion-cbp-cape
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/ieepa-tariff-refunds-dock-111312.webp
categories: Economy
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

The federal government has paid back $100 billion of the tariffs the Supreme Court struck down in February, roughly 60 percent of everything collected under the policy, according to a Customs and Border Protection court filing reported by the BBC. Nearly $29 billion in further claims is still under review, and another $1.6 billion is sitting unpaid because the importers due it have not given customs their banking details.

Penn Wharton Budget Model, the research group at the University of Pennsylvania, put the total at [up to $175 billion in refunds](https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/p/2026-02-20-supreme-court-tariff-ruling/) when the ruling came down, against cumulative collections of $164.7 billion by January 2026, about half of all US customs duties.

Tariffs are taxes on foreign goods entering a country, and neither foreign governments nor overseas exporters pay them. The bill falls on the domestic business bringing the goods in, at the moment they clear customs, and companies usually pass that cost on in retail prices. The money now goes back the same way it came: to the importer that paid the duty, not to the shopper who covered part of it.

## The Court Struck the Tariffs Down in February

The case is Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, decided on 20 February 2026 by six votes to three, with Chief Justice Roberts writing for the Court. The justices held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law the White House had cited as giving the president power to regulate trade in response to an emergency, does not let a president impose tariffs of indefinite scope on his own. The decision did not order immediate refunds. It opened the door to claims from the importers that had paid.

## Claims Run on a Spreadsheet Filed Through the Agency's Portal

Customs processes the money through a tool it calls CAPE. An importer of record, or a licensed customs broker acting for one, files a CAPE Declaration through the agency's ACE portal: a CSV file listing entry summary numbers, up to 9,999 entries at a time. The tool folds thousands of separate refund transactions into one payment into the account customs already holds on file, and the agency expects [about 330,000 importers to file roughly 495,000 declarations](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/08/2026-13771/agency-information-collection-activities-extension-court-ordered-refunds-under-the-international), each taking about an hour. A file that fails its screening comes back to be corrected and resubmitted.

There is a clock on the claim: an importer generally has 180 days from liquidation, the point at which customs finalizes the duty owed on a shipment, to protest and ask for the money back.

## Most Small Importers Will Need a Broker

Only ACE account holders can file a declaration. Customs writes in its own notice that most small businesses do not have an account and use a licensed broker instead, and that it expects them to keep doing so for the refunds. The agency says it may develop a separate route for small firms if ACE and CAPE prove too burdensome for them, and it is taking comments on the process until 8 September 2026.

## Customs Is Holding Refunds Where It Has No Bank Details

The federal government no longer sends paper checks. Refunds go out by Automated Clearing House transfer under a rule customs put in place in January 2026, and the agency says it is holding payment for any filer with no ACH account on file. That is the blockage behind the $1.6 billion the court filing records as unpaid. An importer that believes it qualifies for a Treasury waiver and wants a check has to write to the agency's revenue division.

## New Tariffs Have Replaced the Ones the Court Struck Down

After February's ruling the president brought in a 10 percent universal tariff as a stopgap. That expired late last month and was replaced by tariffs on 60 trading partners, set on the argument that key economic partners have failed to tackle forced labor, days after a 50 percent tariff on Canada. Importers are paying those while they claim back the old ones.

## Amazon Says It Will Pass Some of Its $600 Million Back to Customers

Amazon took about $600 million in refunds in the second quarter, according to its finance chief, Brian Olsavsky. Olsavsky told the company's second-quarter earnings call that Amazon would return some of it to customers where a specific charge applied, and put the rest towards lower store prices. Customs law leaves that choice to each business: the refund belongs to the importer that paid the duty, and nothing obliges it to pass any of the money on.

## FAQ

**Q: Who can claim a tariff refund?**
Only the importer of record that paid the IEEPA duty. A consumer cannot claim anything back, even where a retailer passed the tariff on in the price.

**Q: How does an importer claim an IEEPA tariff refund?**
By filing a CAPE Declaration through customs' ACE portal, listing the relevant entry summary numbers, either directly or through a licensed customs broker. Most small businesses have no ACE account and go through a broker. Payment arrives by direct deposit into the account customs holds on file; the agency no longer issues paper checks except on a written waiver request to its revenue division.

**Q: Are the refunds automatic?**
No. A claim has to be filed, generally within 180 days of the shipment's entry being liquidated. Customs is also holding payment on claims where it does not have the importer's bank details, so a filed claim can still sit unpaid.

**Q: Will the refunds bring prices down?**
Only where the business that receives one chooses to pass it on. Amazon has said it will apply part of its roughly $600 million to specific charges and the rest to lower store prices, but the refund goes to the importer and nothing in customs law requires a price cut.