Firms seeking refunds face new Customs deadline

There is a new deadline for U.S. importers to file for electronic refunds if the Supreme Court rules President Donald Trump‘s IEEPA tariffs are illegal.

U.S. Customs published details of a new electronic refund process on Jan. 2, established as part of a March 25 Trump executive order on modernizing government payments and phasing out physical checks. 

A Supreme Court ruling on the legality of the Trump tariffs could come as early as this Friday. The mandatory deadline for importers to sign up in order to receive electronic refunds through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network with Customs is Feb. 6.

The new digital Customs system is called ACE (Automated Commercial Environment), a secure electronic portal allowing businesses to file import/export data, manage trade information, and comply with regulations. ACE will manage the ACH refunds.

Prior to this, importers had to manually set up an account in the ACH network with Customs to pay duties or receive funds by email. Once that email was received by Customs, someone in the agency had to enter the data and then confirm the account had been set up, according to Lori Mullins, director of operations at Rogers & Brown Custom Brokers.

“At this scale, Customs could not do that, so they had to create an electronic process,” said Mullins.

On December 15, U.S. Customs announced $200 billion had been collected in new tariffs imposed by President Trump during his second term.

Mullins said it is imperative for importers to make sure they set up their accounts before the Feb. 6 deadline to avoid any lapse in potential refunds from Customs.

“The window Customs provided was short, so with a possible SCOTUS ruling coming in January, and Customs no longer issuing paper checks, the time to get the electronic ACH set up for possible refunds is now,” Mullins said.

Beyond the effective date of Feb. 6, Customs would no longer issue physical checks as the agency has in the past.

Lawyers representing the Trump administration argued before the nation’s highest court that it would be a “mess” for importers to be refunded. American importers have countered that argument, telling CNBC that tariff refunds would be relatively simple.

Importers pointed to U.S. Customs paperwork that clearly details the tariffs they pay on goods brought into the U.S. CNBC has reviewed tariff collection paperwork to verify these claims.

“On every customs entry, we detail specific line items that indicate the duty/tariff rates we are paying,” said Rick Muskat, CEO of footwear company Deer Stags.

On Customs entry summaries, importers identify the specific product code, country of origin, and type of tariffs being paid.

If the tariffs are ruled illegal, the Court of International Trade has the legal authority to require refunds are paid to U.S. importers and retain jurisdiction over claims for refunds for a two-year statute of limitations period.

Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical of the administration’s position in oral arguments, but the Trump administration has also said it has options to continue to levy tariffs using other legal means if SCOTUS rules against its current policy.

“We are optimistic that SCOTUS will rule favorably on behalf of the importing community but we know that it is very likely that any refund process could still take some additional time,” Mullins said. “We are also aware that the administration has other tools in its arsenal that it can and likely will deploy if IEEPA is declared unconstitutional, and we anticipate that 2026 could continue to bring uncertainty to sourcing for imports into the U.S. if that is the case,” she added.