Most tariff refunds facing denial if importers don’t opt in

[NEW YORK] The vast majority of importers who paid US$166 billion in tariffs that were overturned by the US Supreme Court risk not getting refunds because they have not signed up for electronic payment, the Trump administration told a judge.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) raised the issue in a Tuesday (Apr 14) filing at the Court of International Trade, which is overseeing the government’s massive refund effort. Only about 20 per cent of the roughly 300,000 firms eligible to receive electronic refunds have signed up for the process, CBP said. The agency has previously said that it will reject non-electronic refund requests.

“CBP continues to issue messaging to the trade community regarding this new requirement and to provide information about how to complete the process to receive electronic refunds,” Brandon Lord, a CBP executive director, said in the filing addressed to Judge Richard Eaton in Manhattan.

The scramble for refunds started immediately after the Supreme Court ruled Feb 20 that Trump unlawfully used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or Ieepa, to impose tariffs on goods entering the country. The 6-3 decision did not address the question of refunds, leaving it to the lower courts to hash out.

Greg Husisian, a partner at Foley & Lardner representing companies seeking about US$1 billion in Ieepa refunds, said that the mandatory opt-in for electronic payments makes sense because CBP has been moving towards such transactions for some time. He said that most bigger companies have likely already signed up, but that may not be the case for smaller firms.

“A smaller company may not even know about it,” Husisian said.

Lord said that CBP is nearing completion of a new online portal for importers to request refunds. While the process will be largely automated, importers must still sign up for electronic payments, and only 57,000 have so far done that, Lord said.

Before the new process was announced, Eaton expressed concern at a court hearing about any plan to issue refunds that requires importers to request their money back rather than have it automatically sent back by the government based on the existing data.

It’s unclear if the judge could request or order any changes, or if the plan may face challenges from importers. The government in theory, could also appeal to block Eaton’s orders on the matter. Any disagreement could lead to a new wave of appeals.

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Eaton held a hearing on the matter on Tuesday that was closed to the public. Another hearing on the process is set for Apr 28, which will also be closed to the public.

Importers are awaiting their Ieepa refunds even as a fresh legal battle has emerged over a new set of 10 per cent global tariffs Trump issued under a different law after his Supreme Court loss. BLOOMBERG