CAPE Filing Errors That Permanently Block Your IEEPA Refund

TL;DR – Not all CAPE errors are recoverable. Some close the refund permanently: the 80-day liquidation window, excluded entry types, and expired Form 19 deadlines have no override. Others lock your ability to fix errors after filing — once CAPE accepts an entry, Post Summary Corrections are blocked until liquidation (Error Code 864). Audit your ES-003 before submitting.

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1. Liquidated more than 80 days ago

This is the most common source of permanent refund loss in Phase 1, partly because the cutoff doesn't appear anywhere on the CAPE submission screen.

Phase 1 only accepts entries liquidated within 80 days of your filing date. Liquidation is when CBP formally finalizes an entry — duties are official, the record is closed. It happens automatically, typically around a year after the entry date, and CBP does not send a notification when it occurs.

Past the 80-day cutoff, the entry is ineligible for Phase 1. There is no override and no exception process within CAPE.

One remaining path: Form 19 protest. Under 19 U.S.C. §1514, you have 180 days from the liquidation date to file a protest. If you're past the 80-day CAPE window but still inside the 180-day protest window, file the protest first — not the CAPE declaration. The protest preserves the claim while you wait for Phase 2 or CBP guidance on older entries. See Form 19 protest deadlines.

If both windows have closed, there is no remaining administrative path. The refund on that entry is permanently gone.

How to check: Pull your ES-003 from ACE Portal with the Liquidation Date field enabled. That date, measured against your planned filing date, tells you exactly which entries are at risk. A blank Liquidation Date field means the entry is unliquidated — generally eligible for Phase 1.

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2. Open or suspended protest on the entry

CBP states this explicitly in the CAPE error table: entries on open or suspended protests are not eligible for Phase 1.

The block applies regardless of what the protest was about. A valuation dispute from two years ago, an unresolved classification challenge — if the protest is open or suspended, CAPE rejects the entry. It doesn't matter whether the protest has any connection to IEEPA duties.

Withdrawing a protest clears the entry for CAPE, but gives up whatever the protest was intended to accomplish. That tradeoff requires a deliberate decision, not a quick fix.

The practical problem: most importers have no visibility into which protests their broker has filed and whether they're still open. If your business has had any customs dispute — classification, valuation, or otherwise — in the past few years, ask your broker to confirm protest status before building the Declaration.

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3. Excluded entry types

Four entry types are categorically excluded from CAPE Phase 1:

• TIB — Temporary Importation under Bond (Type 23)
• Duty Deferral
• Reconciliation (Type 09)
• Drawback (Type 47)

These don't come back as "Needs Review." They trigger a rejection. The issue typically shows up when a broker pulls every China entry from a date range and passes the full list to CAPE without filtering by type — ineligible types look identical to eligible ones in the raw list. Most workflows catch this, but confirm with your broker, particularly if your business does any TIB or drawback work.

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4. HTS rate period mismatches

This doesn't block the entry — it produces an incorrect refund calculation.

9903.01.63 at 125% applied only from April 10 through May 13, 2025. After May 13, the rate changed. Entries coded 9903.01.63 outside that window don't carry the 125% rate. The refund CBP calculates will not match an estimate based on that rate.

9903.01.24 had a rate change effective November 10, 2025. Entries with this code filed within a few weeks of that date need the exact entry date verified before the refund amount is confirmed. The rate that applied on the actual entry date governs what gets refunded.

For low-value entries, the difference is minor. For entries with high duty amounts, the gap is significant. Verify date context before including these in a Declaration.

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5. Post Summary Corrections are locked after CAPE accepts the entry

This is the most operationally dangerous error category, because it doesn't block the refund — it blocks your ability to correct anything once you've filed.

Once CAPE accepts an entry, Post Summary Corrections on that entry are blocked until that entry liquidates. CBP Error Code 864, CSMS #68397097: PSC NOT ALLOWED — REFUND REQUESTED.

The block covers the entire entry, not just the IEEPA lines. If there's a data error on the entry summary — wrong entered value, incorrect HTS sequence, goods value on the IEEPA line instead of the commodity line — it cannot be corrected. You also cannot set up Form 4811 (to route the refund to your broker) after CAPE accepts the entry. That configuration must be in place before filing.

The standard workflow — catch a data error, file a PSC, move on — does not exist once CAPE is involved. The entry is frozen until liquidation.

Correct sequence: Identify data errors on target entries. Correct them via PSC. Confirm the PSC has processed in ACE. Then include the entry in the CAPE Declaration.

For PSC routing and Form 4811 setup, see PSC before CAPE.

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6. You are not the Importer of Record

CAPE refunds go to whoever is listed as the Importer of Record (IOR) on the entry. If that entity is a carrier or logistics provider — not your company — the refund goes to them.

This affects more importers than it appears to on paper. FedEx Logistics, UPS, and Amazon file as IOR on certain shipment types — FedEx DDP air freight, UPS-brokered entries, some Amazon-fulfilled inventory. If a carrier name is listed as IOR on your CF-7501, you are not in a position to file CAPE on that entry directly.

Some carriers have stated they will pass refunds back to the party that paid the duties. How that process works in practice — timeline, applicable fees, documentation required — varies by carrier and is not fully defined as of this writing.

How to check: The IOR field on the CF-7501 for each entry is the authoritative source. You can also add an IOR column to your ES-003 report. If the entries in question don't appear in your ES-003 under your EIN at all, you are not the IOR and cannot file CAPE for those entries. See Am I the Importer of Record? for a full walkthrough.

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7. Non-IEEPA tariff codes in the declaration

CAPE covers IEEPA duties only. Those are classified under HTS codes in the 9903.01.xx and 9903.02.xx ranges.

Three other programs that appear similar in the data but are not IEEPA:

Section 301 (China tariffs) — HTS 9903.88.xx. Not IEEPA. There is no current refund mechanism through CAPE for Section 301 duties. An entry can carry both Section 301 and IEEPA lines; CAPE will process the IEEPA portion and leave the Section 301 duties in place.

Section 232 (steel and aluminum tariffs) — HTS 9903.80.xx and 9903.81.xx. Not IEEPA.

Section 122 — a 10% surcharge effective February 24, 2026, classified under 9903.03.xx. Categorically not CAPE-eligible. Entries with this code are rejected with NO IEEPA HTS ON ENTRY. Many importers are unaware this code exists. See Section 122 vs IEEPA.

If your broker filters entries by country of origin (China) rather than by HTS code range, non-IEEPA entries will end up in the Declaration and trigger rejections. This is correctable before you file — it becomes a locked problem only after CAPE accepts other entries in the same batch and the PSC block applies.

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Before you submit: a pre-filing checklist

The entries that cause the most damage aren't the ones CAPE catches and rejects. They're the ones CAPE accepts — while a permanently barred entry generates no refund, or a data error locks into place the moment acceptance occurs.

Before building the Declaration:

1. Pull your ES-003 with the Liquidation Date field enabled
2. Filter out entries liquidated more than 80 days before your filing date — check their Form 19 window separately
3. Confirm with your broker which entries have open or suspended protests
4. Exclude TIB, Duty Deferral, Reconciliation, and Drawback entry types
5. Verify HTS ranges — 9903.01.xx and 9903.02.xx only
6. For entries with 9903.01.63 or 9903.01.24 codes near known rate-change dates, confirm which rate applied to your entry date
7. Check the IOR on any entry that moved DDP or through a carrier-brokered service
8. Review entry data on high-value entries for errors that would require a PSC — the correction window closes at CAPE acceptance

Liberefund automates this audit against your ES-003 — it flags permanently barred entries, rate period mismatches, and excluded types before you touch the portal. Free to run.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I withdraw a protest and then file CAPE on that entry?

Yes. Withdrawing an open protest removes the eligibility block. The tradeoff is that withdrawing gives up whatever the protest was contesting. Evaluate whether the CAPE refund amount on that entry outweighs the value of the protest before withdrawing. Talk to your broker before taking action.

What happens to liquidated entries that are past the 80-day window but inside the 180-day protest window?

They cannot be included in CAPE Phase 1. File a Form 19 protest to preserve the claim before the protest deadline closes. CBP has indicated that Phase 2 will address certain entries outside Phase 1 scope, but has not confirmed whether protested entries will be processed through Phase 2 or a separate mechanism. Filing the protest is the conservative move while details remain undefined.

If I include an excluded entry type in my Declaration by mistake, does it affect the rest of the entries?

No. Entry-level rejections don't affect the rest of the Declaration. The excluded entry gets rejected; the other entries process normally. Download the Claim Details file after submission to see which entries were accepted and which were rejected.

Is there any way to correct a data error on an entry after CAPE accepts it?

No, during the CAPE processing period. Error Code 864 blocks PSCs until the entry liquidates. If you discover a data error after acceptance, email IEEPARefunds@cbp.dhs.gov with the entry number and describe the issue — CBP may have an exception process for specific circumstances, but no general PSC path exists.

Does CAPE have a submission deadline?

No. Unlike Form 19 protest (180 days from liquidation), CAPE Phase 1 has no published submission deadline. The time pressure is on Form 19 protests for entries outside Phase 1 scope — those have hard deadlines. Entries eligible for Phase 1 can be submitted at any point while the portal is open.

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Sources: CBP CAPE FAQ (cbp.gov/trade/programs-administration/trade-remedies/ieepa-duty-refunds), CSMS #68397097, 19 U.S.C. §1514.