Duty drawback is a U.S. Customs program that refunds 99% of the duties, taxes, and fees you paid when you imported goods that were later exported, destroyed, or returned. It has been on the books since 1789. Most companies who qualify never file because the process — paper claims, ACE submissions, brokerage coordination — was built before software existed. Caspian automates it.
If you import goods into the U.S. and any of the following is true, you almost certainly qualify: you export some or all of those goods, you process them and ship the result internationally, you have customer returns that get re-exported or destroyed, or you destroy unsold inventory. You also qualify under “substitution drawback” if you import and export commercially interchangeable goods, even if they’re not the same physical units. The fastest way to know: 60 seconds with our recovery estimator.
You can file drawback claims for imports that occurred up to 5 years before the export, destruction, or return. That means if you started exporting in 2024, your 2019 imports are still recoverable. This is one of the most overlooked facts in trade — most companies file going forward and leave four years of refund eligibility on the table.
Traditional brokerage drawback takes 6–12 months to even reach Customs, and another 1–2 years for payment. Caspian-filed claims are submitted in days, not months, and Customs typically pays within 30–90 days. For clients who can’t wait, Caspian Refund Advance pays the recovery upfront and we collect from CBP on the back end.
Yes for Section 301 tariffs in most cases — they are eligible for drawback, with specific program-by-program rules under CBP guidance. IEEPA duties, including the recent country-specific tariffs, have shifted eligibility rules — some programs are recoverable, others are not. Caspian’s platform tracks every CBP ruling and tariff change and tells you in real time which of your duties are recoverable and which are not.
A traditional customs broker files entries when goods come into the country. They are not built to find or recover overpayments — that’s a different practice that most brokers either don’t offer or outsource. Caspian is purpose-built to audit your entries for overpayments, file drawback claims, and manage CBP correspondence — with software that does in 90 seconds what a broker does in 90 days. We work alongside your broker, not against them.
We don’t charge upfront. Our pricing is contingency-based on duty drawback recoveries — if Customs doesn’t pay you, we don’t get paid. Trade Audit and Trade Compliance services are priced as platform subscriptions sized to your import volume. Get Your Number and we’ll show you the math on your specific recovery before you commit to anything.
