IEEPA Tariff Refunds and the CAPE System: Everything U.S. Importers Need to Know

What Replaced IEEPA Tariffs - and Does It Affect My Refund?

These are legally distinct programs that frequently apply to the same companies. Confusing them costs money.

IEEPA refunds exist because the Supreme Court invalidated the legal authority for the duties. The refund path is the CAPE system (or protest or CIT litigation). Refunds are owed whether or not the goods were ever exported.

Duty drawback is a long-standing U.S. program (established in 1789) that refunds up to 99 percent of import duties when goods are subsequently exported, destroyed, or used in qualifying manufacturing. Drawback operates under separate rules, timelines, and documentation requirements.

Where they intersect. Entries eligible for both IEEPA refunds and duty drawback are exceptionally high-value opportunities. The goal is to capture both refund paths without double-counting the same duty dollars. Both reduce duty expense on the P&L, but they differ in timing, certainty, and documentation.

Strategic coordination. Companies with meaningful export volume should sequence IEEPA CAPE claims and drawback claims together. Pursue both in parallel, not one after the other.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, the Trump administration issued a new tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a 10 percent surcharge on goods from all countries, effective February 24, 2026, for 150 days (through approximately July 24, 2026).

Section 122 is a different statute than IEEPA and is not affected by the Learning Resources ruling. As Covington & Burling and Wiley note, this new tariff does not retroactively reduce your IEEPA refund claim. It does mean most importers will continue paying a baseline tariff layer going forward, which makes capturing the IEEPA refund and optimizing duty drawback more important, not less.