Federal portal opens for Onondaga County businesses seeking tariff refunds

Imported inventory moving through Onondaga County warehouses and storefronts could now come with a refund attached, as U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened a new portal on April 20 for businesses that believe they paid tariffs that should be returned.

The system, called the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, sits inside the Automated Commercial Environment and is designed to streamline requests for IEEPA duty refunds. CBP said the first phase is limited to certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation, so the window is narrow and not every shipment will qualify. Only the importer of record for the listed entries, or the authorized customs broker that filed them, may submit the CAPE Declaration.

For manufacturers, retailers, distributors and contractors in Syracuse and across Onondaga County, the filing process is highly specific. Importers and brokers must already have an ACE Secure Data Portal account and bank information on file for ACH refunds. The declaration is submitted as a CSV file inside ACE, not through ABI, and a single filing can include up to 9,999 entries. CBP says refunds will be paid electronically, and the agency’s guidance says refund bank information is separate from payment bank information.

The national stakes are large. Trade-law sources and court filings put potentially refundable IEEPA duties at roughly $165 billion to more than $166 billion, affecting more than 330,000 importers and more than 53 million entries. CBS News reported that more than 56,000 U.S. importers had already registered by April 9, and that about 82% of IEEPA duty payments, or about $127 billion, are eligible for refunds in the portal’s initial deployment. For a local manufacturer importing components, or a retailer bringing in finished goods, even a partial recovery could ease working capital pressure, help cover payroll or soften price increases.

If CBP approves a claim, the refund is expected to arrive in about 60 to 90 days, but trade lawyers have warned that the process may still take months and face legal or administrative delays. The Main Street Alliance called the launch “progress, but it’s not yet justice,” saying small business owners should not have to jump through hoops to recover money they should never have paid. For Central New York firms, the portal offers a real chance to claw back tariff costs, but only if the records are in order and the filings reach CBP on the government’s terms.