CAPE Phase 3 requires a lawsuit. We’re filing them now.

In February 2026, the Supreme Court held that tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act between February 2025 and February 2026 were imposed without legal authority. Importers who paid those duties are entitled to recover them, plus interest that has accrued since payment. Recovery is not automatic — it requires a filing through CBP's CAPE system, a formal protest, or litigation, each within its own deadline.

Every customs entry runs its own clock based on its liquidation date. Unliquidated entries and those liquidated within roughly the last 80 days move through CAPE now. Entries liquidated earlier but still within their protest window can pursue a formal CBP protest. Finally liquidated entries go through CAPE Phase 3, which opened October 6, 2026 and is available to importers with their own CIT action and a reliquidation order. CIT actions carry a two-year limitations period, with the earliest IEEPA claims expected to expire in February 2027. Missing one deadline does not necessarily close every pathway, but it does narrow your options.

Almost certainly, yes. Eligibility turns on who is listed as the importer of record on the entry — not on who physically arranged shipping or brokerage. If your company is the importer of record, you likely qualify regardless of who handled logistics.

The importer of record needs an ACE Portal account with refund bank (ACH) information on file — CBP pays IEEPA refunds only by ACH. Only the importer of record or the customs broker who filed the entries can submit a CAPE declaration. We help you get this in place before anything is filed.

The legal right to a refund belongs to the importer of record, not to downstream customers or distributors. Passing costs along does not automatically forfeit that right, though the facts of your specific supply chain matter and we walk through them with you before you commit to anything.

Likely not yet, and possibly not for a while. An entry suspended under an AD/CVD order generally cannot be liquidated until the underlying AD/CVD case is resolved by the Department of Commerce — a separate process that CBP doesn't control and that can take years. CBP has said it is evaluating AD/CVD entries for a future CAPE deployment, but none is scheduled. If your business paid IEEPA tariffs on entries tied up in an AD/CVD suspension, waiting on CAPE means waiting on that other case to close. A CIT action is often the more direct path to recovering the IEEPA portion sooner.

Because CAPE Phase 3 — the only CAPE route for finally liquidated entries — is open only to importers who have their own action at the Court of International Trade and a reliquidation order. Filing puts you on that track; we file the action and coordinate your Phase 3 declaration with you or your customs broker. The court has also certified a class of importers who have not sued, but that case has not produced any order requiring refunds, could take a long time to resolve, and may be appealed by the government. Importers with their own action are not part of the class. A CIT action does not require you to abandon CAPE; the two run in parallel and protect different categories of your refund.

Nothing upfront. The team works on contingency, meaning the fee is a percentage of what is recovered for you, and the initial eligibility evaluation is free and confidential.

We represent you at the U.S. Court of International Trade to pursue the denied claim. Litigation is part of our standard engagement, not a separate referral.