UPS has asked the US Court of International Trade to force Customs and Border Protection to re-liquidate entries hit by the emergency IEEPA duties and pay refunds plus accrued interest. The Loadstar reported the filing on 10 November2. For buyers, the case points to the problem at the centre of IEEPA refunds. The money goes to the party that filed the entry, not always the party that paid the duty.
UPS filed the action on Friday with United Parcel Service Oasis Supply Corp and UPS Supply Chain Solutions2. It covers entries where UPS was the importer of record, which lets the company claim directly from CBP. UPS said customers bore the cost in many of those cases and that it would pass on any recovered funds2. For a buying team, the split matters: the entity named on the entry is the one CBP pays.
The money is moving, unevenly. UPS had received about $500m under CBP's refund programme. By the start of October it had passed on around $230m, with $270m still owed to customers, according to its quarterly filings as reported by The Loadstar2. CBP had certified approximately $127.7 billion of refunds by October 23. Nearly $1 billion was held up by a banking-information bottleneck3.
Refunds follow the importer of record
CBP runs refunds through CAPE, a function inside ACE, its customs system4. It batches CAPE refunds by liquidation date and by importer of record1. That design explains most of the confusion buyers face. If your forwarder, express carrier or broker cleared the goods in its own name, the deposit lands with that company. Your claim is against them, not CBP. Start with the CBP Form 7501 for each entry and match the importer of record number to the entity that funded the duty1.
Finally liquidated entries need a court order
CBP's programme has run in phases. Phase 1 in April covered unliquidated entries and certain entries liquidated within the previous 80 days. Phase 2 followed in June2. Phase 3 opened last month and covers entries already finally liquidated. CBP says it can only process those refunds where the importer has a Court of International Trade order for re-liquidation2. The agency describes CAPE as handling valid requests "as authorized by court order or applicable law"4.
An entry that liquidated months ago will not move on a form alone. It needs litigation, which is why UPS went to court rather than filing another declaration2. If your broker says an old entry is in the queue, ask which phase it falls into and whether anyone has applied for an order.
Interest, protests and the clock
Interest comes with the refund, but not as a separate line. CBP says the deposit for an entry includes the refunded duty plus applicable interest. That can be netted against other duties owed on the entry after liquidation or reliquidation1. Filers can track progress with the ES-022 report in the ACE Portal. It links a CAPE declaration to the underlying entry and refund numbers and separates principal from interest1.
If the recalculated amount looks wrong, CBP says you can protest under 19 U.S.C. § 1514. The protest must be filed within 180 days after liquidation or reliquidation1. CBP says it will aim to reliquidate within 90 days of the original liquidation if it finds an error. Its centres will not discuss individual refund amounts outside a filed protest1.
Banking details are the other block. CBP's guidance covers ACH enrollment requirements4, and nearly $1 billion was stuck on banking information as of late October3.
DDP deals: the claimant may be your supplier
Buyers on delivered duty paid terms often assume they hold the refund because the duty was in the price. Usually they do not. Under CBP's rule taking effect on 5 January, foreign importers of record face new conditions and brokers must verify that clients qualify as US importers of record5. Buyers should establish who is named as importer of record and which broker files the entry. According to CargoTrans co-CEO Nunzio De Filippis: "You have to ask them who is the importer record, who is the customs broker, what does that arrangement look like, and does it meet the new requirements?"5.
Contract wording decides who keeps the money. Check who was liable for the duty and who was entitled to a refund, rebate or windfall if the duty fell away. A carrier that received the money and passed on only part of it, as UPS's figures show, faces customer claims2.
Common questions
Who gets the IEEPA refund, the importer of record or the buyer who paid the duty?
CBP pays the importer of record. CAPE refunds are batched by liquidation date and importer of record1. If your carrier or broker filed in its own name, it receives the money and your recovery runs through your contract or commercial claim with that party2.
How do I claim a refund on an entry that has already liquidated?
For finally liquidated entries, CBP says it needs a Court of International Trade order for re-liquidation before it can repay the duty2. UPS took that route for its own entries, including those already finally liquidated2. Without an order, the entry stays where it is.