Importers who overpaid tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) are suing for refunds in record numbers and the reason comes down to timing, not just money.
Since July 20, 2026, hundreds of new refund lawsuits have been filed at the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), a sharp jump from the roughly 35 or fewer filed per week through most of June. For businesses still waiting on refunds tied to the tariffs the Supreme Court struck down in February, understanding why this surge is happening and whether a lawsuit is even necessary has become a pressing question.
Here’s how refunds are working. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processes most IEEPA tariff refunds automatically through its Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system, launched in April 2026. But CBP has taken the position that it cannot issue refunds for entries that were finalized, or "liquidated," more than 80 days before a refund request, without a court order authorizing it.
Government estimates put the group of late-liquidated entries at roughly $10 to $11 billion of the approximately $166 billion collected under the invalidated duties, or about 7% of the total. That may not sound like a large amount. But for the importers affected, it's the difference between getting a refund automatically and having to hire a lawyer to get one at all.
Two developments help explain the timing of the lawsuit surge:
In its August 10 opening brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the government made a notable concession: It will not appeal the individual reliquidation orders CIT judges have issued to importers who filed their own lawsuits. In plain language, that means importers who sue are getting their late-liquidated refunds, and the government isn't fighting that anymore.
What the government is still fighting is broader—whether the CIT can issue universal injunctions that would require refunds for importers who never sued at all. The government argues those sweeping orders conflict with the Supreme Court's 2025 decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., which held that nationwide injunctions generally fall outside federal courts' equitable powers.
That distinction matters for importers’ strategy. It's no longer a question of if individual litigants get paid, it's a question of whether everyone else must sue too or whether they can eventually piggyback on a favorable appellate ruling.
For importers who haven't sued, the outcome of the broader government appeal still matters a great deal. If the government loses that appeal, importers who never filed suit could still end up receiving their refunds automatically. But that resolution could take a year or more to resolve, which is exactly why some companies with liquidated entries are choosing to sue now rather than wait and see.
Despite the surge, filings remain a small fraction of the businesses affected. The CIT reported roughly 3,700 total refund suits as of mid-July, against an estimated 330,000 importers who paid IEEPA duties. A few reasons for this stand out:
If your business has entries that were finally liquidated and you haven't received a refund through CAPE, don't assume the money will show up automatically. Given the uncertainty around the Federal Circuit appeal's timeline, importers with meaningful amounts at stake should evaluate whether filing suit at the Court of International Trade is the faster and safer path to recovery.
For businesses that aren’t Importers of Record, they may overlook that they may have a refund option for the increased tariff cost handed down to them by their shippers who imported the goods. While they can’t pursue the options discussed in this article, it’s possible for these businesses to obtain these refunds, but time is extremely limited.
For more information on any of these situations, contact Frost Law at (410) 497-5947 or schedule a confidential consultation to discuss your tariff refund options.
Importers who overpaid tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) are suing for refunds in record numbers and the reason comes down to timing, not just money.
Since July 20, 2026, hundreds of new refund lawsuits have been filed at the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), a sharp jump from the roughly 35 or fewer filed per week through most of June. For businesses still waiting on refunds tied to the tariffs the Supreme Court struck down in February, understanding why this surge is happening and whether a lawsuit is even necessary has become a pressing question.
Here’s how refunds are working. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processes most IEEPA tariff refunds automatically through its Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system, launched in April 2026. But CBP has taken the position that it cannot issue refunds for entries that were finalized, or "liquidated," more than 80 days before a refund request, without a court order authorizing it.
Government estimates put the group of late-liquidated entries at roughly $10 to $11 billion of the approximately $166 billion collected under the invalidated duties, or about 7% of the total. That may not sound like a large amount. But for the importers affected, it's the difference between getting a refund automatically and having to hire a lawyer to get one at all.
Two developments help explain the timing of the lawsuit surge:
In its August 10 opening brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the government made a notable concession: It will not appeal the individual reliquidation orders CIT judges have issued to importers who filed their own lawsuits. In plain language, that means importers who sue are getting their late-liquidated refunds, and the government isn't fighting that anymore.
What the government is still fighting is broader—whether the CIT can issue universal injunctions that would require refunds for importers who never sued at all. The government argues those sweeping orders conflict with the Supreme Court's 2025 decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., which held that nationwide injunctions generally fall outside federal courts' equitable powers.
That distinction matters for importers’ strategy. It's no longer a question of if individual litigants get paid, it's a question of whether everyone else must sue too or whether they can eventually piggyback on a favorable appellate ruling.
For importers who haven't sued, the outcome of the broader government appeal still matters a great deal. If the government loses that appeal, importers who never filed suit could still end up receiving their refunds automatically. But that resolution could take a year or more to resolve, which is exactly why some companies with liquidated entries are choosing to sue now rather than wait and see.
Despite the surge, filings remain a small fraction of the businesses affected. The CIT reported roughly 3,700 total refund suits as of mid-July, against an estimated 330,000 importers who paid IEEPA duties. A few reasons for this stand out:
If your business has entries that were finally liquidated and you haven't received a refund through CAPE, don't assume the money will show up automatically. Given the uncertainty around the Federal Circuit appeal's timeline, importers with meaningful amounts at stake should evaluate whether filing suit at the Court of International Trade is the faster and safer path to recovery.
For businesses that aren’t Importers of Record, they may overlook that they may have a refund option for the increased tariff cost handed down to them by their shippers who imported the goods. While they can’t pursue the options discussed in this article, it’s possible for these businesses to obtain these refunds, but time is extremely limited.
For more information on any of these situations, contact Frost Law at (410) 497-5947 or schedule a confidential consultation to discuss your tariff refund options.
