A refund system for businesses to claim refunds for Trump administration tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down launched Monday, with importers and their brokers able to begin submitting claims through an online portal operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Feb. 20 that Trump imposed the tariffs without the constitutional authority to do so. Trump had imposed the tariffs in April, setting new import tax rates on products from almost every other country and citing the U.S. trade deficit as a national emergency that warranted invoking a 1977 emergency powers law. Although the court majority did not address refunds in its ruling, a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade determined that companies subjected to the tariffs were entitled to money back.
Scale of Tariffs and Refunds
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in court filings that over 330,000 importers paid a total of about $166 billion on over 53 million shipments. As of April 14, 56,497 importers had completed registration and were eligible for refunds totaling $127 billion, including interest.
Processing refunds will take 60 to 90 days after approval, and not all tariffs are immediately eligible. The first phase of the refund system is limited to cases in which tariffs were estimated but not finalized or within 80 days of a final accounting.
Launch Day Challenges
Rebecca Melsky, co-owner of the clothing brand Princess Awesome in Washington, D.C., said she was unable to register for a portal account Monday despite trying to submit her company information using two different web browsers. Princess Awesome imports some of its clothes from factories in Bangladesh, China, India and Peru, and Melsky estimated the company paid $32,000 in tariffs under the emergency powers law.
“My expectations have been pretty low about whether we were actually going to see any money back to us,” Melsky said. “I’m heartened by the fact that there’s any system at all, but I’m only slightly more optimistic than I was last week, which was not very.”
Meghann Supino, a partner at the law firm Ice Miller, advised clients to carefully list in their declarations all document numbers for forms describing imported goods and their value. “If there is an entry on that file that does not qualify, it may cause the entire entry to be rejected or that line item might be rejected by Customs,” she said.
Justin Angotti, an associate attorney in the international trade practice at Reed Smith, reported that his clients’ declarations were ultimately accepted Monday, even if it took a few attempts. “So far, Customs has been very responsive in trying to troubleshoot the issue,” Angotti said.
Consumer Refunds Uncertain
Tariffs are paid by importers, and some companies pass the costs to consumers through higher prices. The refund system will reimburse businesses directly, and companies are not obligated to share proceeds with customers. However, class-action lawsuits against companies including Costco and Ray-Ban maker Essilor Luxottica aim to force companies to reimburse shoppers.
Delivery companies like FedEx and UPS that collected tariffs directly from consumers may provide more direct refunds to shoppers. FedEx said it would begin filing claims on April 20 and would return refunds to customers when received from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “Supporting our customers as they navigate regulatory changes remains our top priority,” FedEx said in a statement.