Tariff refund process starts April 20
U.S. Customs has now officially announced it will begin accepting requests to refund IEEPA tariffs April 20. If refund requests are submitted properly, Customs says companies can expect to be paid within 60 to 90 days. While the submission process is not overly burdensome, the formal instructions published require several administrative steps to be completed in advance. Also, data to be submitted to quantify the IEEPA tariffs paid need to be reviewed for compliance with substantive restrictions.
The main substantive restriction is a timing issue relating to how long after import Customs believes it has authority to issue refunds. Companies will not be able to seek refunds now for some of the first IEEPA tariffs they paid, essentially because Customs says they were paid too long ago, outside the window of Customs’ authority. For many companies this means the earliest tariffs on imports from China will be an issue. The timing is also such that companies will have to check whether the 125% tariffs they paid on imports from China and the initial “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs will be refunded at this point.
Given this timing issue and other restrictions on the initial opening of the new Customs refund process, companies will still need to work through several key questions on how to get their money back, including:
- What action do we take to get refunds on the earliest tariffs paid?
- How do we protect our refund rights if this refund process lingers on without paying out?
- Are there still any merits to filing a lawsuit?
Porter Wright attorneys are working through these issues with companies and are happy to help. For more information, please contact Corey Norton or any member of Porter Wright’s International Business & Trade group.
