headline: CBP says new tariff refund system will be ready in 45 days, covering $166 billion slug: 2026-03-06-cbp-tariff-refund-system…

  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday it is developing a streamlined process to refund approximately $166 billion in tariffs pai…
  • The filing comes two days after Judge Eaton ordered the government to begin repaying all importers — with interest — following the Suprem…
  • As of March 4, Lord said, more than 330,000 importers had made over 53 million entries with CBP, collectively paying about $166 billion i…
  • Under the existing system, Lord estimated, completing all refunds would require more than 4.4 million man hours — a workload he said is n…

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday it is developing a streamlined process to refund approximately $166 billion in tariffs paid by more than 330,000 importers, with the new system expected to be operational within 45 days. Brandon Lord, executive director of CBP’s trade policy and programs directorate, described the plan in a filing with the U.S. Court of International Trade, where Judge Richard Eaton must approve the process before any refunds proceed.

The filing comes two days after Judge Eaton ordered the government to begin repaying all importers — with interest — following the Supreme Court ruling that struck down sweeping import taxes President Donald Trump imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Eaton wrote that “all importers of record” were “entitled to benefit” from that ruling.

The scale of the refund task

As of March 4, Lord said, more than 330,000 importers had made over 53 million entries with CBP, collectively paying about $166 billion in tariffs now subject to refund.

Under the existing system, Lord estimated, completing all refunds would require more than 4.4 million man hours — a workload he said is not feasible to handle by redirecting current CBP staff. Doing so, he said, would “severely disrupt” other agency functions, including revenue protection and national security operations.

The new system, Lord said, would streamline and consolidate refund payments and apply system validations to minimize errors, with a review period for CBP to resolve discrepancies with importers and confirm no outstanding enforcement issues or unpaid revenue.

“This new process will require minimal submission from importers,” Lord wrote in the filing.

Electronic enrollment gap

A significant practical obstacle stands in the way of fast disbursement. CBP moved to electronic-only refund processing as of Feb. 6, but most importers have not yet enrolled in the system. Of the 330,566 importers who paid the tariffs, only 21,423 had completed setup for electronic refunds, Lord said.

“Until importers complete the process to receive refunds electronically, the refunds will be rejected,” he said.

The agency said the new system is designed to ease that enrollment burden, though Lord did not provide specifics on how the electronic signup process would be simplified. Judge Eaton has yet to approve the plan.