British SMEs with transatlantic trade links have been warned they face a long and uncertain wait before claiming back tariffs wrongly imposed by the United States, after Washington confirmed its long-awaited online refund portal will only process a fraction of outstanding claims when it goes live next week.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will turn on its Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system, known as CAPE, on April 20. In the first phase of the portal, around 63 percent of refund requests are expected to be processed. However, there is not even a tentative timeline for the remaining 37 percent, raising new concerns among cash-strapped importers who have been operating at their own expense for nearly two years.
John Havard, a consultant at accounting, tax and business advisory firm Blick Rothenberg, said the scale of the backlog was “extraordinary” and that uncertainty surrounding the more complex tranche of claims would do little to reassure small and medium-sized businesses that had expected a quick resolution after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
“Many of these remaining cases will be classified as definitive tariffs because the goods in question will have entered the U.S. more than a year before the refund claim was filed,” Havard said. “In such cases, the compensation process will be significantly more complicated. We likely won’t hear anything further until government officials next appear before the International Trade Court to submit their next required progress report.”
The numbers involved are breathtaking. Blick Rothenberg estimates that around 53 million unlawful customs collection transactions were processed during the period in question, with the total refund bill potentially reaching $166 billion (£132 billion). More than 26,000 importers, collectively responsible for about $120 billion in IEEPA tariffs, have already registered with CBP to receive their money back electronically, following a directive from the White House requiring all federal payments to be made via electronic transfer.
The rules as to who can actually make a claim are strict. Only the official importer or U.S. Customs Agent designated by that party is authorized to submit a refund request. Businesses must also have an active account with CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment before they can receive money. Havard said there had been “significant activity” in registering new accounts since the Supreme Court ruling, suggesting many companies were caught flat-footed by the decision.
For those still waiting, there is at least some good news. In an earlier statement to the U.S. Trade Court, a government official confirmed that interest would be paid on any refunded amounts, offering modest compensation for what was shaping up to be a long delay in the checks actually arriving.
For UK exporters and importers with access to the US market, the practical advice is simple: ensure the ACE registration is correct, confirm which party holds importer status for historical shipments and be prepared for a lengthy administrative process. In principle, the claim for reimbursement is no longer doubtful; The mechanisms to get the money back seem to be very similar.
