First Wave of Illegal-Tariff Refunds Starts Reaching U.S. Business Accounts

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the first wave of refunds for tariffs ruled illegal by the Supreme Court will reach some American businesses' bank accounts on Tuesday. The payouts mark the beginning of a phased effort to return billions of dollars collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a process expected to stretch across months.

The Details

More than 330,000 importers paid approximately $166 billion in IEEPA tariffs, according to Customs figures cited in court filings and news reports. The scale of the refund operation is enormous, involving more than 53 million individual refund transactions.

As of April 26, at least 75,000 businesses had applied for refunds, according to a court filing cited by ABC News. Earlier filings showed that 56,497 importers had completed the steps needed for electronic refunds as of April 9, indicating that claims were already building before the online portal became available. The figures reflect different reporting dates and possibly different stages of the filing process.

Not every claim is approved. CBP has rejected about 15% of submitted claims, typically because of incorrect information or because ineligible shipments were included, according to a CBP spokesperson quoted by ABC News. Businesses whose claims are rejected may need to correct their filings and resubmit.

The first phase of the refund rollout is limited in scope. It covers certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation, according to the Associated Press via U.S. News. These restrictions mean many businesses with older or already-finalized entries may not see immediate payouts.

Shipping companies that served as customs brokers have said they intend to pass qualifying refunds through to their customers. FedEx, UPS, and DHL have all indicated they plan to pass along qualifying tariff refunds once they receive money back from CBP, Business Insider reported.

FedEx said in a statement: "FedEx is committed to working expeditiously to issue refunds for IEEPA tariffs paid to its customers for whom it served as customs broker as soon as it begins receiving refunds from CBP."

For some businesses, the refund timeline remains an immediate worry. Brad Jackson, co-founder of After Action Cigars, told The Hill via Yahoo Finance that the extended process undermines its purpose. "A refund process that takes several months to complete doesn't solve the cash flow problem that it is supposed to fix," Jackson said.

Context

The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling on Feb. 20, 2026, holding that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. The decision eliminated the legal basis for several tariff programs imposed under the Trump administration.

Because normal liquidation and protest channels were considered too burdensome for the volume of refunds involved, CBP and the Court of International Trade built an ACE-based refund process specifically to handle the load. With IEEPA ruled an invalid basis for the tariffs, the agency became responsible for returning the collected funds. More than 53 million refund transactions were expected across the system, far exceeding what standard procedures could manage.

Refunds are expected to be processed in phases. Early guidance said approved claims could still take 60 to 90 days to be issued in many cases, according to The Hill via Yahoo Finance. That suggests businesses that do not receive funds in this first wave could be waiting well into the summer.

The Tax Foundation estimated the IEEPA tariffs cost the typical American household about $700 last year, ABC News reported. However, consumers are unlikely to receive direct retroactive refunds from most retailers.

What's Next

Businesses that submitted claims will now wait to see whether their refunds arrive in the first wave or are held for a later phase. The first phase is limited to certain unliquidated entries and entries within 80 days of liquidation, meaning not all filers will see immediate funds.

For those whose claims are approved but not included in the initial rollout, early guidance still points to a 60- to 90-day window for issuance in many cases. Shipping carriers including FedEx, UPS, and DHL have committed to passing refunds through to customers once they receive the funds from CBP, though that adds an additional step before the money reaches importers.

CBP's rejection rate of about 15% also means some businesses may need to resubmit corrected claims before they can expect any payout.