As we reported on April 10, the U.S. Court of International Trade had endorsed CBP's tariff refund plan and set April 20 as the Phase 1 launch date for the CAPE system — the portal importers will use to claim refunds on IEEPA duties now deemed unconstitutional. Today, the timeline became official.

CBP filed its court-mandated status report with Judge Richard Eaton at noon EDT this morning. Thompson Hine's SmarTrade blog confirmed that the filing contained a direct confirmation: Phase 1 of the CAPE (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries) system will go live on April 20, 2026 — six days from today. The court will review the status report in a closed conference this afternoon.

For the roughly 26,000 importers of record that have already enrolled in CBP's electronic funds transfer system — a prerequisite for receiving refunds — the portal opening is the moment they've been waiting for. For those who haven't completed enrollment, today marks the final practical window to do so before the clock runs without them.

What CAPE Is and What Phase 1 Covers

CAPE was built inside CBP's Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) to handle what would otherwise be an administratively impossible task: processing refunds on an estimated $166 billion in IEEPA tariff duties paid across hundreds of thousands of import entries since the tariffs first took effect in 2025.

Phase 1 covers approximately 63% of eligible entries — specifically, certain unliquidated entries and entries currently within 80 days of liquidation. Forvis Mazars reported that the system's component completion rates as of last week stood at:

  • Claim portal: 85% complete
  • Review and liquidation: 80% complete
  • Refund processing: 75% complete
  • Mass processing: 60% complete

CBP's expected processing timeline: 45 days after accepting a CAPE Declaration to refund and liquidate, barring any compliance review flags. Supply Chain Dive noted that entries with compliance concerns will take longer and that the 45-day estimate should be understood as the baseline, not a guarantee.

Who Is Excluded from Phase 1

Not all entries qualify for Phase 1. Crane Worldwide Logistics' trade advisory outlined the primary exclusions: reconciliation entries, drawback claims, entries currently under active protest, and certain antidumping and countervailing duty cases with pending liquidation instructions. Importers in these categories will need to await subsequent CAPE phases, which CBP has not yet publicly scheduled.

The 80-day window carries a statutory teeth: under 19 U.S.C. § 1501, entries liquidated within 80 days of original liquidation must be reliquidated by day 90. Miss that window, and the refund opportunity disappears under existing customs law. The Mallory Group emphasized that importers with entries approaching that window should be prioritizing their CAPE preparation immediately rather than waiting until the portal actually opens.

The Class Action Shadow

One reason some larger retailers have taken a cautious posture toward the CAPE filing process: litigation risk. As Endcap reported on April 5, plaintiffs' attorneys have begun arguing that retailers who passed IEEPA tariff costs through to consumers may face class action exposure if they now receive government refunds for those same duties. The legal theory is that refunds on illegal duties should flow back to the end consumer, not remain with the retailer that passed the cost through in pricing.

Morgan Lewis' March advisory has been circulating widely among retail legal teams, and Duane Morris noted that retailers need to assess their specific exposure before deciding how aggressively to pursue refunds. For retailers with large consumer-facing businesses, the class action risk is real — though experts are divided on whether it will materialize into significant litigation.

The practical guidance most customs attorneys are offering: the processing clock starts when you file, not when you decide. Waiting costs money, and the legal exposure from filing is currently speculative while the financial benefit is concrete.

The Adjacent Deadline: Section 301 Comment Period Closes Tomorrow

With today's attention rightly focused on CAPE, it's worth flagging that the Section 301 USTR public comment period — which Endcap covered on April 5 as representing the next wave of potential tariff exposure — closes tomorrow, April 15.

Retailers who haven't yet submitted comments on the USTR's two new Section 301 investigations (excess manufacturing capacity affecting 16 countries; forced labor affecting 60 countries) have roughly 24 hours to do so. Duane Morris' combined advisory walks through both the CAPE process and the Section 301 comment mechanics in a single document that retail trade teams should have on their desks today.

The two processes are legally and practically distinct — CAPE is about recouping past costs, Section 301 comments are about shaping future costs — but both deadlines land in the same 48-hour window. It's a genuinely compressed moment for retail compliance teams.

The Action Checklist for This Week

For retail import teams, CBP's official CAPE information page and the Forvis Mazars readiness breakdown offer the most actionable checklists. In summary:

  • Confirm EFT enrollment with CBP (required to receive any refund)
  • Audit which of your entries fall within Phase 1 eligibility (unliquidated, or within 80 days of liquidation)
  • Identify entries approaching the 80-day/90-day statutory window and prioritize those
  • Engage your customs broker to map the filing sequence
  • File immediately when the portal opens April 20 — the 45-day clock starts at filing

Six days. The money is there. The system is almost ready. The only question is whether your team is.