Tariff refund plans take shape as Trump administration outlines a 4-step process.
The Trump administration this week outlined a four-step tariff refund process that could be ready for companies to begin using by later this spring.
The plans were included in a court filing to the US Court of International Trade from Brandon Lord, the executive director of the US Customs and Border Protection’s trade policy department.
The four steps — a claim portal, a “mass processing” step, a review of refund findings, and a final step where “the refunds will be sent electronically to the designated bank account” are currently being built, with the components 40% to 80% complete, Lord said.
The name of the system will be the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) portal. In the six-page filing, Lord expressed hope that the web-based platform will be able to process most refund requests in this “first phase of development” before more functionality is later added for more complicated scenarios.
Performance testing of the platform is set to take place in the coming weeks. Another government filing last week said that the overall system aims to be ready for use in 45 days.