The first tariff refund payments started hitting importers’ bank accounts this week, marking the beginning of a payback process for businesses that overpaid duties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. But for many small companies, collecting that money requires navigating a filing system they cannot access without paid help.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is disbursing approved refunds through ACH direct deposit, the same electronic transfer method it uses for other customs refunds. Importers must have their banking details enrolled in CBP’s system to receive payment. That step is simple. Everything leading up to it is not.
The filing system shuts out most small importers by design
CBP requires all refund claims to be submitted electronically through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI), a direct software connection to the agency’s trade processing systems. The agency’s own drawback FAQs reference the role of a licensed customs broker in preparing and transmitting these filings. For any importer without in-house trade compliance technology, that means hiring an outside broker just to get a refund request into the queue.
Maria Dominguez, who runs a 12-person kitchenware importing business in El Paso, described the cost shock during a National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) webinar in late May 2026. Her broker quoted $450 per entry to prepare and file her IEEPA refund claims. With seven entries eligible for refunds averaging roughly $1,200 each, the broker fees would consume more than a third of her expected recovery. (Dominguez’s account was shared during the webinar; no recording or transcript has been published online.)
“At that point you start wondering if it’s even worth it,” Dominguez said.
Her math is common. According to NCBFAA guidance on drawback-related services, broker fees for drawback-style filings typically start between $300 and $500 per entry, with more complex claims running higher. That range is drawn from the association’s general guidance rather than a formal survey of broker pricing, but it aligns with how trade compliance professionals describe the market. Because CBP’s ABI requirement effectively makes broker involvement mandatory for companies without their own certified software connections, the cost is unavoidable for the vast majority of small and mid-size importers.
Roughly 21% of claims accepted so far, according to trade press reports
Trade publications including FreightWaves have reported that CBP has accepted roughly 21% of refund claims filed so far. As of early June 2026, CBP has not published an official dataset confirming that figure, but it has circulated widely enough to shape expectations across the importing community.
The low acceptance rate likely reflects a mix of factors: incomplete applications, formatting errors in ABI submissions, and mismatches between claimed overpayments and CBP’s entry records. It may also signal stricter eligibility criteria than many filers anticipated. Without an official breakdown of submissions received versus claims approved, the precise reasons remain unclear.
Kevin Yao, a licensed customs broker based in Long Beach, California, put numbers to the problem in a late May 2026 interview with FreightWaves. (The interview was referenced in FreightWaves coverage; a direct article link was not available at the time of publication.) “I’ve filed about 40 IEEPA refund claims for clients since the program opened, and fewer than 10 have come back approved so far,” Yao said. “Some were kicked back for data formatting issues that took five minutes to fix. Others were denied with no clear explanation.”
Yao added that several of his small-business clients had refund amounts under $2,000, making the combination of his fees and the uncertain approval odds a difficult calculation for them.
Federal judges are watching the rollout
This refund program is not running without oversight. The U.S. Court of International Trade has published a notice confirming that CBP informed the court about new guidance on CAPE functionality posted to the agency’s website. CAPE (Cargo, Accounts, and Processing at Entry) is the technical system through which IEEPA refund eligibility is determined and payments are processed. The court notice places the refund rollout within a judicially supervised framework, meaning judges have visibility into how CBP configures and operates the system.
That matters because it creates a paper trail. If acceptance rates stay low or if systemic barriers to small-business access show up in the data, the court has a mechanism to demand explanations or require adjustments. No public docket entry yet sets a firm completion date for the refund program or defines what a successful rollout would look like.
What importers need to do right now
The IEEPA refund program stems from the tariff adjustments that followed the spring 2025 reciprocal tariff actions, when duty rates on certain imports were raised and later reduced. Importers who paid the higher rates before the reductions took effect are the ones eligible for refunds. CBP has posted dedicated instructions on its trade remedies pages describing the program as a distinct pathway with its own documentation requirements and electronic workflows, separate from standard drawback claims.
CBP has not published a specific timeline for how long approved refunds take to arrive after a claim is accepted. Importers who already have ACH enrollment in place should expect the standard CBP electronic disbursement process, which for other refund types has historically taken several weeks from approval to deposit. Filers who have not yet enrolled in ACH may face additional delays.
For any business that believes it overpaid, the steps are concrete but demanding:
- Confirm eligibility. Review entry records against the specific IEEPA tariff adjustments to determine whether duties were overpaid. CBP has not announced a filing deadline, but waiting increases the risk of missing any cutoff the agency may set.
- Engage a licensed customs broker unless your company already has ABI access and in-house compliance staff capable of preparing the electronic filing. Ask for a flat per-entry fee quote upfront and compare it against your expected refund amount.
- Enroll for ACH. Register your banking information with CBP’s ACH refund system so approved payments can be deposited directly. This step can be completed before a claim is filed.
- Document everything. Retain copies of all entry summaries, duty payment records, and broker correspondence. If the court-supervised process leads to audits or additional review rounds, a clean paper trail will matter.
- Check with trade associations. Organizations like the NCBFAA and local Small Business Development Centers may offer guidance or connect importers with brokers experienced in IEEPA filings.
A refund program that rewards the companies least hurt by tariffs
Payments are flowing, and federal judges are watching. On paper, the system works. In practice, the combination of specialized filing requirements, broker dependency, and a reportedly low acceptance rate raises a pointed question: how much of this relief actually reaches the small importers who absorbed the tariff increases most directly?
Large importers with dedicated trade compliance teams and existing ABI connections can file claims at minimal incremental cost. A company with 500 eligible entries and an in-house compliance department recovers nearly every dollar owed. A company like Dominguez’s, with seven entries and no ABI access, loses a third of its refund to broker fees before a single claim is even approved.
As CBP processes additional rounds of claims through June 2026 and the Court of International Trade continues its oversight, the data that eventually surfaces will answer the question the current numbers only suggest: whether this refund program delivered broad relief or quietly funneled most of its benefits to the businesses that needed it least.
