John H. Chun, Partner

On April 20, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("CBP") will launch Phase 1 of its electronic tool for submission of requests for refunds of certain duties paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ("IEEPA"). This tool—known as the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries ("CAPE") tool, found in CBP's Automated Commercial Environment Secure Data Portal ("ACE")—is limited, however, and will only extend to certain categories of duties paid under IEEPA, with later phases to cover other IEEPA-affected imports.

What Phase 1 covers. CBP states that Phase 1 will cover most entries that are unliquidated or up to eighty (80) days past liquidation. It also covers entries with a liquidation status of suspended, extended, or under review, as well as warehouse and warehouse withdrawal entries.

What a filer is required to submit and what happens next. For Phase 1, the filer must submit a CAPE Declaration, which is a comma separated values ("CSV") file uploaded through the CAPE tab in ACE that lists the entry numbers for which IEEPA duty refunds are requested. ACE will then run two sets of validations: first, it will validate the upload itself, including authorization and file formatting, and second, it will validate each entry number in the file against CBP records, including whether the entry exists in ACE and whether at least one dutiable IEEPA Harmonized Tariff Schedule ("HTS") Chapter 99 code was declared on the entry. If the file level checks fail, ACE will reject the CAPE Declaration. If individual entries fail entry-specific checks, ACE will reject those certain entries while continuing to process the remaining entries, and it will provide validation results so the filer can correct and resubmit as needed. For valid entries, ACE will update the entry summary lines to remove the dutiable IEEPA HTS Chapter 99 codes and duties and will recalculate duties without those codes. After CBP review, the entries will be liquidated or reliquidated as appropriate, and any refund will then be issued.

Phase 1 exclusions and later phases. CBP has identified several categories of entries that will not be accepted on a CAPE Declaration in Phase 1, including entries flagged for reconciliation; entries on drawback claims; entries covered by an open protest; entries not filed in ACE or lacking a liquidation status in ACE; certain antidumping and countervailing duty scenarios pending liquidation under applicable rules; and entries for which liquidation is final. The exclusions are being reserved for later phases.

How Should Importers Prepare for CAPE’s Phase 1 Launch?

Given this Phase 1 guidance, importers of record ("IORs") should consider taking the following steps in connection with Phase I refund submissions:

1. Pull the relevant ACE data. As a conservative starting point, use February 1, 2025, as multiple IEEPA duty programs began with executive orders dated February 1, 2025. Use February 23, 2026, as the outer-bound end date because that is when the collection of ad valorem IEEPA duties ceased.
2. Screen entries for Phase 1 eligibility. Once the data is pulled, identify entries that include at least one dutiable IEEPA HTS Chapter 99 code and separate those entries from those that are excluded from Phase 1.
3. Confirm filing access and refund payment setup. Before filing, confirm that the appropriate filer has access to the correct ACE account and that the filer's Automated Clearing House ("ACH") refund banking information on file in ACE is current. Such banking information is separate from any ACH payment information already on file.
4. Prepare a Phase 1 filing strategy and sequencing plan. Each CAPE Declaration is limited to 9,999 entries. It is worth organizing entries into clean filing groups, confirming entry numbers, and eliminating duplicates before uploading. IORs should also sequence filings by likely Phase 1 eligibility and liquidation posture so that entries most likely to be processed promptly are submitted first, while entries that may be accepted but not paid until liquidation are tracked separately.
5. Engage counsel to help protect refund rights. Counsel can assist through all phases of the refund process, including separating Phase 1 eligible entries from excluded categories, planning for entries outside Phase 1 while CBP develops later refund phases, and also evaluating whether and when to file protests with CBP and, if necessary, pursue litigation before the Court of International Trade within required deadlines. An early assessment of these issues is critical to maximizing refund recoveries.

For further background, see Herrick's earlier alert, "Refund Claims for Invalidated IEEPA Tariffs." And, for more detailed CAPE filing instructions, see CBP's April 2026 Quick Reference Guide for CAPE Declarations.

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For more information on this issue or other related matters, please contact:

Barbaros M. Karaahmet at +1 212 592 1570 or [email protected]
John H. Chun at +1 212 592 1546 or [email protected]
Jermaine A. Brookshire, Jr. at +1 212 592 1597 or [email protected]

© 2026 Herrick, Feinstein LLP. HERRICK® is a registered trademark of Herrick, Feinstein LLP. This alert is provided by Herrick, Feinstein LLP to keep its clients and other interested parties informed of current legal developments that may affect or otherwise be of interest to them. The information is not intended as legal advice or legal opinion and should not be construed as such.