In his update March 20, 2026, CIT Judge Richard Eaton acknowledged ongoing uncertainty around CBP’s ability to implement timely reliquidation of entries subject to IEEPA tariff refunds, noting that the agency is still developing its CAPE (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries) based refund process and that relief for already liquidated entries remains unresolved. As entries continue to liquidate in the interim, importers face the risk that refunds may not be automatically issued, particularly for entries that have become final.
It is important to distinguish two key timelines: CBP has authority to reliquidate entries within 90 days of liquidation, after which entries are considered final and generally cannot be administratively reopened; however, importers retain the right to file a protest within 180 days of liquidation to preserve their claims. Considering this uncertainty, importers should immediately consider filing protests on entries that have been liquidated for more than 90 days (and therefore fall outside CBP’s reliquidation window) but remain within the 180-day protest period, as a means of safeguarding potential refund eligibility. We are continuing to monitor developments related to the CAPE system, including the anticipated CBP update on March 31. WSSA can assist with processing protests and provide analysis and feedback. Please contact us to learn more about our services at info@wssa.com.
As mentioned above, the next update on the CAPE system is expected on March 31. The CIT has confirmed that CBP/US Customs is making acceptable progress on the completion of the process, and Judge Eaton will review the expected update around 2pm on the 31st. As of March 19, CBP reported that various segments of the system are in progress, with the Claim Portal 73% complete, the Mass Processing component 45% complete, the Review and Liquidation/Reliquidation segment 80% complete, and the Refund portion 63% complete. We will provide a further updates on the 31st.
