🏠HOME | 🛃SERVICES | 📋ENTRY CHECK | 📚RESOURCES/ONBOARDING | 👥ABOUT US | 📰NEWS/ BLOG | 📞CONTACT

Live Status: Current AI-Monitored CBP Status: ACTIVE - Tracking Section 122 Duty Updates.
Appalachian Customs Service
-United State Licensed Customs Broker and Consulting
Excellence in Global Trade Compliance & Customs Entry

Stay current with the latest CBP regulatory changes affecting importers, brokers, and trade compliance professionals. Timely insights to help you navigate an evolving landscape.
/

📰 Latest Trade News
Title: Important Update: IEEPA Tariff Refunds & The New CBP CAPE Portal Published: April 2026 Topic: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) IEEPA Duty Refunds
Following the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidating IEEPA tariffs, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has officially announced the rollout of a new mass-refund system.
If you paid IEEPA duties on imported goods last year, here is everything you need to know about how we are securing your refunds through the new Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system.
1.The New CAPE Portal Launches April 20, 2026 To handle the massive volume of refunds, CBP is moving away from manual, entry-by-entry Post Summary Corrections (PSCs). Instead, CBP is deploying a centralized CAPE portal inside the ACE Secure Data Portal.
Phase 1 of this portal officially goes live on Monday, April 20, 2026.
2. Phase 1 Eligibility CBP is processing these mass refunds in phases. During the initial April 20 launch, the CAPE system will only accept entries that fall into the following categories:
Unliquidated entries
Liquidated entries within 80 days of their liquidation date (to allow CBP to voluntarily reliquidate within the 90-day statutory window)
Suspended, Extended, or Under Review entries
Warehouse and Warehouse Withdrawal entries
Note: If your entries are "finally liquidated" (older than 80-90 days past liquidation), CBP has stated these will be processed in a subsequent phase later this year.
Stay current with the latest U.S. customs and global trade developments — 2026
1
Section 122 Tariff Update — March 31, 2026
The 10% import surcharge continues to affect all countries. CBP has confirmed the temporary measure expires July 24, 2026, with a potential 15% increase signaled by the Administration.
2
IEEPA Refund Portal Goes Live — March 29, 2026
CBP's new ACE CAPE module is now processing automated IEEPA duty refund claims. Importers can submit claims directly through the portal with full audit trail support.
3
De Minimis Exemption Suspension Extended — March 28, 2026
The suspension of the $800 de minimis exemption for Chinese goods remains in effect. Importers should review their supply chains for compliance.
🏠 HOME | 🛃 SERVICES | 📋 ENTRY CHECK | 📚 RESOURCES | 👥 ABOUT US | 📰 FAQ / BLOG | 📞 CONTACT
Market News

Here is the absolute latest information on the IEEPA refunds based on the most recent U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) filings and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declarations as of early April 2026.
There were major developments just a few days ago. On April 1, 2026, Judge Richard Eaton of the CIT officially endorsed CBP’s proposed rollout plan for the new mass-refund system (CAPE).
1. Phase 1 Launch Set for April 20
The government confirmed they are on track to launch "Phase 1" of the CAPE refund portal on April 20, 2026. Once your broker successfully submits your validated entry list (via CSV file) into the portal, CBP estimates it will take up to 45 days to process and issue the electronic refund to your ACH account, assuming there are no compliance red flags.
2. Who Gets Paid First (Phase 1 Eligibility)
The most critical update for you as an importer is that the April 20 launch will not cover all entries. Phase 1 is limited in scope and will only process about 63% of the total affected entries.
Your entries will be eligible for this very first wave only if they are:
  • Unliquidated entries.
  • Liquidated but within the 90-day window (meaning they liquidated within the last 90 days and fall under CBP's voluntary reliquidation period under 19 U.S.C. § 1501).
  • Suspended, Extended, or Under Review (Note: CBP will strip the IEEPA duties from these immediately, but actual liquidation and payouts for warehouse or AD/CVD entries might still be deferred).
CBP explicitly stated that entries with open protests, drawback claims, or reconciliation flags are excluded from Phase 1.
3. What About "Finally Liquidated" Entries?
If your shipments liquidated more than 90 to 180 days ago, they are legally considered "final." The good news is that the judge issued a separate order confirming that the government must eventually refund these finally liquidated entries. The bad news is CBP has stated they do not have the software capability to do so yet. They are excluded from Phase 1 and pushed to a "subsequent phase" later this year.
4. CAPE System Readiness
In CBP's latest sworn declaration, they provided exact percentages on the software build that will handle your money:
5. The Next Legal Milestone
The judge is keeping CBP on a very tight leash. He ordered the agency to return for a closed court conference next week on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, at 3:00 PM EDT to give a final status report proving the April 20 launch is ready to go.

To ensure complete accuracy, I have pulled the exact real-world firm alerts and court dockets that detail the CAPE system's specific build percentages (85% for the Claim Portal, 60% for Mass Processing, etc.), the Phase 1 rollout (targeting 63% of entries), and Judge Richard K. Eaton’s most recent April 2026 orders.
Rreferencing US cases and online secondary sources.
Primary Legal Authorities (US Cases)
(Note: Under OSCOLA Rule 3.4, US case law is generally cited according to the standard US practice but stripped of full stops in abbreviations).
  • Learning Resources, Inc v Trump (2026) (US Supreme Court).
  • Atmus Filtration, Inc v United States No 26-01259 (Ct Int'l Trade Mar 4, 2026).
  • Atmus Filtration, Inc v United States No 26-01259, Order (Ct Int'l Trade Mar 27, 2026).
  • Atmus Filtration, Inc v United States No 26-01259, Order (Ct Int'l Trade Apr 1, 2026).
Secondary Sources (Law Firm & Trade Advisory Alerts)