When Will I Get My IEEPA Tariff Refund? Realistic Timeline for 2026
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TL;DR – CBP's "60–90 days" clock starts from acceptance, not from when you upload the file. Before acceptance, validation takes time — currently days to weeks depending on system load. Unliquidated entries then liquidate 45 days after acceptance. Then the refund pays out within 60–90 days. File in late April → realistically expect money in your account mid-July to mid-August 2026, assuming your declaration is clean.
Why "60–90 Days" Is Misleading on Its Own
CBP's published timeline — 60–90 days after acceptance of your CAPE Declaration — is accurate but incomplete. There are three separate clocks running in sequence before money hits your account, and most summaries only mention the last one.
Here's the full sequence:
Clock 1 — Validation. After you upload your CSV to the CAPE tab in ACE Portal, CBP validates the file format and then each individual entry number. Based on community reports from the first weeks of Phase 1, this process is taking days to a few weeks before a declaration reaches "Accepted" status. CBP has not published a formal SLA for this step.
Clock 2 — Liquidation. Once your declaration is accepted, entries need to liquidate before a refund can be issued. For unliquidated entries, CBP targets liquidation within 45 days of acceptance. For entries that were already liquidated within the 80-day window, reliquidation typically happens the next business day after acceptance.
Clock 3 — Payment. After liquidation, the actual ACH refund payment arrives within 60–90 days. This is the clock CBP's FAQ refers to.
These three clocks don't overlap. They run in sequence.
Realistic Dates If You Filed in Late April 2026
| Event | Estimated Date |
|---|---|
| Declaration uploaded | April 25–30, 2026 |
| Declaration accepted | May 10–20, 2026 |
| Unliquidated entries liquidate | Mid-June to early July 2026 |
| ACH refund payment | Mid-July to mid-August 2026 |
This assumes a clean declaration with no entry-level errors, no outstanding CBP debts, and no extended or suspended entries. Each of those factors extends the timeline.
What Makes the Timeline Longer
Extended, suspended, or "under review" entries. These keep their existing liquidation status and don't get force-liquidated on the 45-day CAPE clock. Instead, they refund when CBP processes them through normal channels — no predictable date. If your declaration includes a mix of clean unliquidated entries and suspended entries, expect two separate payments at different times.
Outstanding CBP debts. Before sending your refund, CBP applies it against any legally fixed and undisputed debts you owe — unpaid duty bills, penalties, or other obligations. Your refund may be partially or fully absorbed before anything reaches your ACH account. CBP doesn't send advance notice. Check for outstanding bills in ACE Portal before filing.
ACH not enrolled or wrong account. If ACH bank information isn't correctly set up in your Importer sub-account in ACE Portal, CBP holds the refund indefinitely — no check, no email, no notice. The money sits there until you fix the configuration. See the ACH Setup Guide if you haven't confirmed your enrollment.
Warehouse entries (Type 08). These liquidate at their normally scheduled date, not on the 45-day CAPE clock. If your filing includes warehouse entries, those specific refunds will arrive later than the rest — timing depends on the entry's scheduled liquidation date.
Validation errors on some entries. If your declaration has a mix of valid and invalid entries, CBP processes the valid ones and rejects the rest. The clean entries proceed on the normal timeline. Rejected entries need to be resubmitted on a new declaration and run through the full process again from the beginning.
How to Track Where Your Refund Is
Two ACE Portal reports serve different purposes here, and they're easy to confuse.
REV-615 — Trade CAPE Detail Refund Report. This tracks the processing status of your CAPE Declaration: accepted, pending, refund issued, or rejected at the entry level. It reflects what CBP has processed through CAPE, not what you submitted or estimated going in. Run this periodically after filing to monitor progress. CBP also references the older REV-603 Trade Refund Report for general refund tracking — REV-615 is the CAPE-specific version that became available on April 20, 2026.
ES-701 — Courtesy Notice of Liquidation Report. Once your entries start liquidating, this report shows liquidation activity by entry, including the refund amount and interest amount as separate columns. This is the report to use when you receive your lump sum payment and need to reconcile it against individual entries. Unlike REV-615 which tracks CAPE submission status, ES-701 shows what actually liquidated and for how much.
Both are in ACE Portal's Reports section under Standard Reports.
About the Lump Sum
Your refund doesn't arrive as one line per entry. CBP consolidates refunds by IOR and liquidation date, then sends a single ACH payment per consolidation group. If your entries have different liquidation dates, you may receive multiple payments at different times rather than a single payment for everything.
Each payment covers entries that liquidated on the same date. The ACH transaction itself doesn't include a line-item breakdown. To understand which entries contributed to a specific payment, cross-reference the payment date against your ES-701 report — entries that reliquidated on that date are the ones included.
Interest on Your Refund
CBP adds statutory interest automatically — you don't need to request it. The applicable rate under 19 USC 1505(c) for Q1 2026 is 7% per year for noncorporate importers and 6% per year for corporate importers. Interest runs from the date you originally paid the duty through the date of liquidation or reliquidation.
The interest component is meaningful for large refunds. A $100,000 duty payment made in May 2025 and refunded in July 2026 (14 months) at 7% adds approximately $8,200 in interest. The interest appears as a separate column in the ES-701 report once entries liquidate — CBP calculates it automatically, you don't need to track it at submission time.
For a full breakdown of how interest is calculated and what rates apply, see Interest on Your IEEPA Refund.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the 60–90 day clock start when I upload the file? No. It starts when CBP accepts the declaration — after validation is complete. Add the validation period (currently days to a few weeks based on community reports, with no CBP-published SLA) to the 60–90 days when estimating your actual payment date.
What does "Claim Status: Not Started" mean after I submit? Your declaration was received and a claim number was assigned, but CBP processing hasn't begun. "Not Started" is normal in the days or weeks after submission and doesn't mean something is wrong. Monitor the REV-615 report in ACE Portal for status updates.
Will I get one payment or multiple? CBP consolidates by IOR and liquidation date. If your entries liquidate on multiple different dates, you'll receive a separate ACH payment for each date group. Most importers receive two or three payments rather than a single one.
What if some of my entries get rejected? Rejected entries are excluded from the current declaration but can be resubmitted in a new one. The valid entries in your original filing proceed normally. Rejected entries restart the full timeline from the beginning when you refile.
Does CBP notify me before offsetting my refund against a debt? No advance notice is required. CBP applies outstanding debts before issuing payment. If the offset reduces your refund to zero, you'll see no payment with no accompanying notification. Check for open bills in ACE Portal before filing.
Where does the interest show up? In the ES-701 Courtesy Notice of Liquidation Report in ACE Portal. Once entries liquidate, that report shows the refund amount and interest as separate columns. Your ACH payment includes both — ES-701 is how you break them out afterward.
Can I speed up the process? Filing earlier is the main lever. Beyond that, submitting a clean declaration avoids the need to refile rejected entries, and confirming ACH enrollment before filing prevents payment holds. CBP does not offer an expedite option.