ACE Functionality for IEPPA Refunds

CBP has informed the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) that its existing entry and refund systems were not designed to process refunds at the massive scale now required.  

To address this, CBP is developing new functionality within ACE to automate and streamline the refund process instead of handling millions of individual entry updates and checks manually. Under the proposed approach, ACE would: 

• Allow importers to file a declaration in ACE for all entries on which IEEPA duties were paid. 

• ACE validates each declaration and automatically recalculates the duty owed without the IEEPA tariffs (with applicable interest). 

• CBP verifies the declaration and processes refunds as soon as practicable. 

• ACE automatically liquidates or reliquidates the shipment 

• ACE automatically aggregates the refunds with interest by importer and liquidation date. 

• The Treasury Department issues IEEPA refunds electronically. 

This approach would significantly reduce complexity, centralize refunds at an importer level, and avoid the need for millions of individual refund transactions. 

As for a timeline, CBP has publicly said that it expects the new ACE refund functionality could be ready in about 45 days from early March 2026 if everything proceeds as planned. That would put the initial operational capability in mid-to-late April 2026 

This process is not finalized and importers may want to continue protesting entries that are within 180 days of liquidation. If you would like assistance in this area, please contact Allyn International at sales@allynintl.com 

At Allyn International, we are committed to supporting the global trade community with strategic, forward-thinking solutions to help navigate today’s complex tariff landscape. If you have questions about tariffs or would like to explore strategies to reduce their impact on your business operations, our team is here to help. Contact us today for a consultation at sales@allynintl.com.  

Contributor: Matthew Dreckman

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About Allyn International

Allyn International is dedicated to providing high quality, customer centric services and solutions for the global marketplace. Allyn's core products include transportation management, logistics sourcing, freight forwarding, supply chain consulting, tax management and global trade compliance. Allyn clients range from small local businesses to Fortune 500 firms. Allyn conducts business in more than 20 languages and has extensive experience in both developed and emerging markets. Highly trained experts are positioned throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. Allyn’s regional headquarters are strategically located in Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.A., Shanghai, P.R. China, Prague, Czech Republic, and Dubai, U.A.E. For more information, visit www.allynintl.com