U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s official IEEPA refund page warns of scammers targeting importers. Source: cbp.gov

Filer Beware

The Race Against Your Broker, Why You Should File Your IEEPA Tariff Refund Yourself

In this race, winning could depend on knowing who is running with you and who is running against you.

If you imported goods into the United States between April 2025 and February 2026, the federal government owes you money. The Supreme Court said so. But whether you actually get that money, how much of it you keep, and how long you wait for it may depend on something nobody is talking about: who files first.

The Race Started with Most of the Participants in the Stands

On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA tariffs were collected without legal authority. The Court of International Trade ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to build a refund mechanism. CBP responded with CAPE, the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system, which went live on April 20, 2026 inside the ACE Secure Data Portal.

Here is the part CBP buries in its technical guidance: both the Importer of Record and their original customs broker can file a CAPE Declaration. The system accepts whoever files first. The second filing on the same entry number triggers an automated error: Duplicate Entry Number Prohibited. That filing is rejected. No appeal, no workaround, no second chance on that entry.

Per CBP’s own CSMS guidance, duplicate entry numbers are prohibited not just within a single declaration but across all previously submitted declarations in the system. Once an entry number is locked, it is locked.

Most small importers do not know this, many of their brokers do.

What Your Broker May or May Not Tell You

Let’s be clear about something before going further. The customs brokerage industry runs on reputation. Brokers who have spent years building relationships with their importer clients are not, as a rule, looking to exploit a refund process at their clients’ expense. If your broker has been in regular contact with you about the CAPE process and has walked you through what they are doing on your behalf, you are likely in good hands.

But here is what you need to understand regardless of that relationship. Just because you used a customs broker does not mean they are automatically filing your CAPE Declaration. The logistics industry has many layers. Some are multi-billion dollar companies with their own container ships, and some brokers are agents working for larger firms to fill containers. Some handle the shipping documentation and nothing else. Some are actively filing IEEPA refunds for their entire client book. Others are waiting. Others assume you already know you need to file.

You should never assume your broker is handling it. Reach out and ask directly, even if you have already received communication from them about the process. Ask specifically: have you filed a CAPE Declaration on my entries, or do I need to do that myself?

If they are filing on your behalf, ask what fees they are charging. According to trade compliance firm GingerControl, contingency fees in the range of 15 to 25 percent of the recovered amount are being quoted by brokers and trade attorneys for IEEPA recovery work. On a $50,000 refund, that is $7,500 to $12,500 in fees for a process that costs nothing to file yourself.

One more complication worth noting. Many importers have used different brokers for different shipments over the course of a year. Each of those brokers handled different entries and each could theoretically file the entries they processed. Coordinating who has filed what across multiple brokers is significantly more complicated than simply filing all of your entries yourself first.

You have the legal right to file your own CAPE Declaration. If you file before your broker does, the refund comes directly to your ACH account, in full, with no fees subtracted.

The Real World Villain

There is a second category of first-filer risk with a real villain.

CBP published a fraud warning on its official IEEPA refund page the day the CAPE portal launched. The warning reads, in part: “With the launch of CAPE, CBP expects that scammers will attempt to use social media, email, and other communication methods to secure account information from importers in order to interfere with the process of refunding IEEPA.” CBP created a dedicated fraud reporting email, IEEPAFraud@cbp.dhs.gov, before the portal even opened. Agencies do not create dedicated fraud reporting channels unless they have already modeled the risk internally.

The mechanism for IEEPA fraud is structurally identical to the tax return identity theft schemes that have plagued American taxpayers for more than a decade. In the tax version, a fraudster obtains a Social Security number and files a return before the legitimate taxpayer does. The IRS system sees the duplicate and rejects the second filing. The legitimate taxpayer discovers the problem when their own return bounces back.

In the IEEPA version, a fraudster obtains an importer’s entry numbers and either gains access to an existing ACE account or, in the case of importers who have never set up their own ACE account and have always relied on their broker, sets up a fraudulent account using the importer’s IOR number and entry data before the legitimate importer does.

The resolution process is not fast. According to the National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2025 annual report to Congress, identity theft victims waited an average of more than 21 months for the IRS to resolve their cases and issue refunds. The Taxpayer Advocate has called these delays “unconscionable.” The CAPE system uses the same first-filer-wins architecture. The legal framework for recovering a misdirected IEEPA refund is not yet tested.

The One Step Every Importer Should Take Today, Regardless of Everything Else

Before we talk about whether you should file yourself or leave it to your broker, there is one action item that applies to every importer in every situation: set up your own ACE Secure Data Portal account if you do not already have one.

This single step does two things simultaneously. It gives you the ability to file your own CAPE Declaration and receive your ACH refund directly. And it locks your IOR number to your verified account, making it significantly harder for a fraudster to file using your entry numbers.

Setting up an ACE account costs nothing and takes less than 30 minutes. CBP provides instructions at cbp.gov. Once your account is active, you can check the status of any filing on your entries through the REV-615 CAPE Refunds report inside ACE. CBP does not send you a notification when a filing is made. You have to go look. But having the account means you can.

Whether you ultimately file yourself or leave it to your broker, having your own account gives you visibility into your claim status, your refund amount, and whether anyone has already filed on your entries. Without it you are running a potato sack race blindfolded.

Phase 1, Phase 2, and Why Acting Now Still Matters

The refund process is structured in phases and understanding the difference matters before you decide how urgently to act.

Phase 1, which is open now, covers unliquidated entries and entries that liquidated within the prior 80 days. These are the cleanest entries in the system and CBP built Phase 1 to process them first. If your entries fall into this category, the window to file them under Phase 1 is open today and those entries are aging daily.

Phase 2 will address the more complex scenarios, including entries subject to antidumping and countervailing duties, reconciliation entries, and entries that have already been finally liquidated. The Court of International Trade ordered CBP to reliquidate all entries without IEEPA duties, including finally liquidated ones. Phase 2 is how CBP intends to fulfill that order for the entries it could not process in Phase 1. CBP has not announced a Phase 2 timeline. This will be clarified in future articles.

For Phase 1 entries the math is simple. Filing costs nothing. CBP provides guidance on their website and several free information sources have been established online to help small and medium importers self-file. The refund, plus statutory interest, is waiting.

The customs brokerage industry has served American importers well for decades. Your relationship with your broker matters and should be maintained. But this particular process, at this particular moment, has a structural feature that rewards whoever files first, regardless of who the money belongs to.

Set up your ACE account today. File first. Then call your broker.

Omar El Adli is the founder of TariffGuru.com, a federal trade recovery consultancy providing free and low cost tools for small and medium U.S. importers navigating the IEEPA tariff refund process. TariffGuru.com is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.