New US Tariff Refund System Launches April 20

WASHINGTON — The United States government is set to begin operating a new tariff-refund process on Monday, April 20, 2026, aimed at returning up to $166 billion in duties that were deemed illegally collected. The rollout follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in February that found former President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when imposing the tariffs at issue.

The new platform is called CAPE, and officials said it is designed to simplify how importers receive repayments. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) developed the initial phase of CAPE, which will combine refunds into single electronic payments. CBP said those payments will include interest where applicable.

Preparations for electronic refunds have already advanced for a large share of the eligible total. As of April 9, 2026, about 56,497 importers had completed the required steps to receive electronic repayments, covering $127 billion in refunds. That figure represents more than 75% of the amount eligible for repayment, based on the totals cited for the program.

The scale of the refund effort reflects how widely the tariffs were applied across U.S. trade flows. More than 330,000 importers paid the tariffs on 53 million shipments of imported goods, according to the figures provided. With CAPE opening for claims, many companies are expected to seek repayment at the same time, raising concerns among importers about early-stage performance.

Some importers said they are worried about technical problems and glitches as the system begins handling high volumes. Others pointed to practical hurdles in the registration process, including the need for exact company name matching, which could slow onboarding for some firms. Several importers indicated they may delay filing until the platform appears stable.

Individual companies are also preparing claims tied to specific refund amounts. Basic Fun is seeking $7 million in refunds, while Learning Resources is seeking more than $10 million, and both are getting ready to submit through the new process. The launch of CAPE is intended to consolidate repayments into a more streamlined electronic workflow, but importers said the first phase will be closely watched for reliability as claims begin to arrive.