US customs agency says tariff refund system progressing, but payments may take up to 45 days

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The U.S. customs agency said on Tuesday it was making progress in setting up a streamlined process for refunding some $166 billion in tariff collections deemed illegal by the Supreme Court, but that its new system could take up to 45 days to review and process refund applications.

In a filing with the U.S. Court of International Trade, U.S. Customs and Border Protection official Brandon Lord said development of a new refund claims portal, review, processing and refund system is now between 60% and 85% complete. He did not provide a start date for applications, but the agency previously had indicated a 45-day goal, a deadline that ends in late April.

In the declaration filing on Tuesday, Lord said the new system will begin accepting claims in phases, with first priority given to those customs entries liquidated, or finalized, within the preceding 80 days and entries whose liquidation status has been "suspended, extended, or under review."

The initial phase will also accept declarations containing warehouse and warehouse withdrawal entries, Lord said.

The filing also said some 26,664 importers of record had completed the process to receive electronic refunds, representing 78% of entries for which duties or deposits under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act had been paid, an amount totaling $120 billion.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down President Donald Trump's broadest global tariffs under IEEPA, dealing a blow to the central economic policy of his administration.

More than 330,000 importers paid the IEEPA tariffs on 53 million shipments, according to court documents.

The Supreme Court did not provide guidance on refunding the tariff payments that had been collected from importers since February 2025, leaving that matter to the Court of International Trade in New York City.

Many large importers such as FedEx FDX.N sued CBP to protect their right to a refund, which Trump said could take up to five years. Many smaller importers feared the cost of the refund process would outweigh the benefits of trying to get reimbursed.

Judge Richard Eaton of the Court of International Trade earlier this month ordered CBP to begin processing refunds using its existing system, but the agency instead proposed a new process that would be ready to accept refund applications as soon as next month and would not require importers to sue.