Customs and Border Protection Aims For May 11 To Issue First Refunds

On April 28, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) updated the U.S. Court of International Trade on its progress in implementing a refund system for IEEPA tariffs. In two filings submitted that day, Brandon Lord, Executive Director of Customs and Border Protection's Trade Policy and Programs Directorate, stated that Customs and Border Protection is targeting “on or about” May 11 to begin issuing its first refunds. This update follows the April 20 launch of the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system, which is intended to streamline refunds by combining them rather than processing each entry individually.

CAPE Refund Program: Progress and Remaining Challenges

As of April 26, approximately 1.74 million of the 11,222,927 validated entries have been processed and are moving toward a refund. However, about 16% of applications have been denied due to validation errors, and importers continue to report technical issues, including ongoing tariff charges on some adjusted entries without a clear refund plan.

Phase 1 of the CAPE refund program applies only to recent or still-pending cases, leaving roughly 37% of affected duties, worth about $166 billion, without a defined path to refund. Although a March 4 court order directed CBP to refund those entries, the government has not yet detailed how it intends to do so.

The U.S. Court of International Trade has requested another status report by May 12, 2026. RVIA will share additional updates as they become available.

Additional Resources

To read the latest Court of International Trade filing, click here. 

Additional information on the refund portal, including FAQs, is available here.

The RV Industry Association will continue to provide information as it becomes available. For a comprehensive overview of tariffs currently enacted, view the tariff tracker. 

Please contact Samantha Rocci, Director of Federal Affairs (srocci@riva.org), with questions or for more information.