I Sold My IEEPA Refund Rights — What Happens Now?
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TL;DR – Selling your refund rights doesn't automatically remove your obligation to file CAPE. CBP pays the Importer of Record — or whoever the IOR has designated via Form 4811. If your investment firm required a Form 4811 as part of the deal, they may be set up to receive the refund directly. If not, the money comes to you and you remit it per your contract. Either way, you almost certainly still need to file the CAPE Declaration. Check your contract, contact the firm, and don't let CAPE deadlines slip.
What the refund rights market was
Starting in mid-2025, as courts began signaling that IEEPA tariffs were legally vulnerable, a secondary market emerged. Investment firms and hedge funds approached importers with a simple offer: sell us the right to collect your future tariff refund today, and we'll give you cash now.
The math was straightforward on their side. A company that had paid $10 million in IEEPA duties might receive an offer of $2 to $3 million today, in exchange for signing over the right to collect the full refund if the courts ruled in importers' favor. Internal documents from one prominent firm described having already put through a trade representing about $10 million of IEEPA rights, with capacity for several hundred million more.
For importers, the appeal was real. Cash flow was tight. The legal outcome was uncertain. The refund process, if it came, would take months. For some companies, immediate cash was worth more than a larger amount later — or potentially nothing at all.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in February 2026 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump. The refunds are real. CAPE opened April 20, 2026. And now many importers who sold their rights are wondering what they're supposed to do.
The key distinction: what you actually sold
Most of these transactions were structured as an assignment of rights — you transferred your legal right to receive the refund, not your status as Importer of Record. That distinction matters enormously for what happens next.
CBP has one rule for CAPE: only the Importer of Record, or the licensed customs broker who filed the original entries, can submit a CAPE Declaration. The investment firm that bought your refund rights is neither. They cannot log into ACE and file on your behalf.
But here's where it gets more nuanced: CBP allows the IOR to designate a third party to receive the refund payment through CBP Form 4811 (the "notify party" designation). If the investment firm required you to submit a Form 4811 designating them as the notify party — which savvier firms did as part of the transaction — CBP will send the refund directly to them. If they didn't, the refund comes to your ACH account and you remit it per your contract.
Either way, you almost certainly still need to file the CAPE Declaration. Filing is the IOR's job regardless of who receives the money.
Read your contract before doing anything else
Before you file or don't file, pull out the agreement you signed. Look for:
Form 4811 requirements. Did the deal require you to submit a Form 4811 naming the investment firm as the refund recipient? If yes, confirm it's on file with CBP before you file CAPE. If the Form 4811 isn't set up and you receive a large refund that you were supposed to remit, the logistics become more complicated.
Obligations to pursue the refund. Most assignment agreements include a clause requiring you to take commercially reasonable efforts to obtain the refund. If CAPE is the primary mechanism CBP has provided and you don't file, you may be in breach.
Timeline requirements. Some agreements specify deadlines — you may be contractually required to file within a certain window of the refund portal opening.
What happens if the refund is partial. If CAPE rejects some of your entries, what are your obligations? Does the assignment still apply to the portion that comes through?
If the contract is ambiguous, contact the investment firm directly. They have lawyers who have thought through these scenarios and almost certainly have a standard process for CAPE filing coordination.
What happens with the money
There are two scenarios depending on how the deal was structured:
If Form 4811 was submitted: CBP sends the refund directly to the investment firm's designated bank account. You don't handle the money. Your obligation was to file the CAPE Declaration and let the process run.
If no Form 4811: CBP sends the refund via ACH to the bank account registered in your ACE Portal importer account. It arrives in your bank. Your contract then obligates you to transfer those funds to the investment firm per the terms you agreed to.
The investment firm has no direct claim with CBP in either case — they have either a Form 4811 designation or a contractual claim with you. If you receive the refund and don't remit it per your agreement, you're not in a dispute with CBP. You're in breach of contract with the investment firm.
If you haven't filed CAPE yet
File. Your refund rights purchaser almost certainly wants you to. The whole point of their trade was that the refund would come through — that only happens if you file the CAPE Declaration.
Key things to get in order before filing:
Your ACE Portal account must be active with an importer sub-account view. If it's been deactivated, see ACE Account Deactivated — Error 41 and Error 42. ACH enrollment must be complete so CBP can actually send the payment — unless a Form 4811 routes it elsewhere. Your ES-003 report should be pulled with Liquidation Status and Liquidation Date fields included — see How to Pull the ES-003 Report. Any PSCs or classification corrections should happen before you file CAPE, since entries become locked after submission.
On timing: the 80-day liquidation cutoff applies to you exactly as it applies to everyone else. Entries liquidated more than 80 days ago go through Form 19 protest, not CAPE Phase 1. Your contract obligation to pursue the refund likely applies there too — ask the firm whether they expect you to file protests on those entries.
If you're reconsidering — can you back out?
No. An assignment of rights is a legally binding contract. The Supreme Court ruling doesn't void it. If you signed over your refund rights for 25 cents on the dollar and the refund comes in at full value, that's the deal you made. The investment firm took the legal risk that no refund would materialize; it did.
The only possible exceptions would involve fraud, material misrepresentation in the pitch, or unmet contract conditions. Those are questions for a lawyer.
What you can do: if you haven't signed anything yet and are still being approached by firms offering to buy your refund rights, you now have much better information. CAPE is live. The refund process is underway. You can calculate your exact refund from your ES-003 file before making any decision about selling. Liberefund processes your ES-003 in your browser and shows you the exact CAPE-eligible entries and estimated refund — 0.2% of the result, far less than the 70-80% you'd give up by selling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I still need to file CAPE if I sold my refund rights? Almost certainly yes. Only the IOR or their authorized broker can submit a CAPE Declaration. The investment firm cannot file it. Your contract almost certainly requires you to take steps to obtain the refund. Check whether a Form 4811 was part of the deal — if so, make sure it's on file with CBP before you submit.
Can the investment firm file CAPE on my behalf? Not directly. Only the IOR or the customs broker who filed the original entries can submit a CAPE Declaration. However, your licensed customs broker can file on your behalf if you authorize them — and some investment firms have broker relationships to facilitate coordination. Ask the firm what their process is.
What is Form 4811 and does my deal require it? Form 4811 designates a third party as the recipient of CBP refund payments. Sophisticated investment firms often required importers to submit a Form 4811 naming them as the notify party, which routes the refund directly to their account. Check your contract for any reference to Form 4811 or refund designation. If it was required and not yet filed, do it before submitting your CAPE Declaration.
What if I receive the CBP refund and don't send it to the investment firm? Your contract gives them a legal claim to those funds. Not remitting is breach of contract, exposing you to litigation. CBP has no role in enforcing the contract — that's a private legal matter between you and the firm.
Is selling IEEPA refund rights legal? Yes. Assignment of claims is a standard legal mechanism. Congress has not prohibited it. Congressional members have raised concerns about whether specific firms had insider information — but the transactions themselves are legal. Whether any firm acted on nonpublic information is a separate investigation.
I was offered 20-30 cents on the dollar in 2025 and didn't sell. Did I make the right call? Financially yes, in hindsight. You'll receive the full refund plus interest. At the time the offer was made, the legal outcome was genuinely uncertain. The firms that bought at 20-30 cents were taking real legal risk. It worked out for importers who held.
What if my entries are rejected by CAPE? CAPE may reject entries outside the 80-day liquidation window, with account mismatches, or other issues. Your contract obligation typically extends to the refund you actually receive, not a hypothetical maximum. Review the contract for what happens if only a portion of entries are approved.