Refund Portal for Tariffs Ruled Unconstitutional
A customs agent wears a patch for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, Oct. 27, 2017, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)
A new refund process for importers who paid certain tariffs is set to begin Monday, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that President Trump exceeded constitutional authority when he used emergency powers to impose them.
Starting at 8 a.m., businesses and customs brokers will be able to file refund requests through an online system run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This marks the first phase of what officials describe as a complex rollout that could eventually extend repayment to some consumers who indirectly absorbed the cost of the tariffs on imported goods.
To participate, companies must submit detailed records identifying shipments that were subject to the now-invalidated import taxes. The tariffs in question involved billions of dollars collected from importers before being struck down. If a claim is approved, CBP estimates that payments will take between 60 and 90 days to be issued.
The government plans to handle reimbursements in stages, prioritizing more recent payments first. Officials also warned that administrative checks, technical requirements, and procedural hurdles could slow down processing, meaning any downstream refunds to customers would likely take even longer to materialize.
The Supreme Court ruled in a 6–3 decision on February 20 that President Trump had overstepped constitutional limits last April when he set new tariff rates on goods from nearly all trading partners. The justification for the tariffs had been a declared national emergency tied to the U.S. trade deficit, invoked under a 1977 emergency powers law.
While the Supreme Court did not specifically address whether refunds should be issued, a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade later concluded that companies that paid the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act framework were entitled to reimbursement.
According to filings from Customs and Border Protection, more than 330,000 importers collectively paid roughly $166 billion across over 53 million shipments affected by the tariffs.
However, not all of those payments qualify for immediate repayment under the first stage of the program. Eligibility is currently limited to cases where tariffs were estimated but not finalized, or where final accounting occurred within an 80-day window.
To access the system, importers must register with CBP’s electronic payment platform. As of April 14, more than 56,000 importers had already completed registration, making them eligible for potential refunds totaling about $127 billion, including interest, according to the agency.
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