Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intends to launch its online tool for tariff refunds, the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE), on its import and export processing system, Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), on April 20.
The first phase of CAPE deployment will be limited to unliquidated entries and certain entries that have not yet exceeded 80 days of liquidation, the agency confirmed last week.
Importers eager to get the refund ball rolling have been waiting with bated breath on the tool’s development, and many have filed suits in the Court of International Trade in a bid to secure their rights to swift paybacks.
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However, shoppers that paid higher prices as a result of heightened duties are unlikely to see the benefits of importer refunds.
CNBC’s CFO Council quarterly survey, released Monday, indicated that chief financial officers at companies across multiple sectors have no plans to pass along the billions of dollars in refunds they may be entitled to, even though their customers bore the brunt of tariff increases over the course of the past year.
While 12 out of the 25 executives queried between March 23 and April 2 said their employer plans to apply for tariff refunds when the government unveils its process, zero touted their intention to directly reimburse consumers. Six said outright that they wouldn’t be passing along refunds to shoppers, seven said they weren’t sure and 12 answered “not applicable” when asked.
The CFOs also aren’t counting on the government’s speed in executing the refunds; 10 said they believe it could take a year or more to get their money back, and just three believe the refunds will be doled out in 2026. Notably, 12 of the 25 executives said they don’t plan to apply for tariff refunds at all.
CBP is painting a more optimistic picture of the refund process. In a statement released Friday, the agency said importers and authorized brokers could anticipate that valid refunds of International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs would “generally” be issued within 60-90 days of an accepted declaration on the CAPE platform—unless a concern about compliance holds up the process by prompting a review.
Consternated consumers are also unlikely to see any happy returns from the federal government, either, as the $2,000 tariff dividend check scheme trotted out by President Donald Trump in November appears to have lost steam. Trump initially said that middle- and lower-income American households could see a cut of the government’s tariff revenue sometime around the middle of 2026.
But the White House has let that rousing rhetoric slip away in recent months.
Since then, several state officials have taken the matter into their own hands, though those efforts have yet to move the needle.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul in March sued the administration for tariff refunds on behalf of both the state’s importers and consumers, while Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Bessent demanding $1,745 for each of her state’s households. California Governor Gavin Newsom and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker also made similar public demands of the administration.
Washington lawmakers have thrown their support behind consumer rebates, too, though political hurdles abound with a deeply divided Congress.
Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) in March introduced the American Consumer Tariff Rebate Act of 2026, which proposes the return of more than $230 billion in IEEPA tariffs through rebate checks to American consumers, a bill that has since been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats introduced the Tariff Refunds for Working Families Act, which would create a tax rebate program for both individuals and families. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Finance.
