CAPE Phase 1 Launched April 20: What It Covers, What It Doesn't, and What to Do Right Now

CBP launched Phase 1 of the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) refund tool inside the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) at 8 a.m. EDT on April 20, 2026. The portal is live. The first refund declarations are being filed. The mechanism that did not exist for the first two months after the Supreme Court ruling now exists.

Here is what the launch actually covers, what it does not, and what importers should be doing this week.

What Phase 1 Covers

Phase 1 of CAPE is limited to two categories of entries:

1. Certain unliquidated entries that included IEEPA duties.
2. Certain entries within 80 days of liquidation.

Filings happen through a new CAPE tab in the ACE Portal. The submission format is a CSV file — what CBP is calling a "CAPE Declaration." A single CAPE Declaration can include up to 9,999 entries that the same broker filed on behalf of various importers of record.

According to CBP's court declarations, roughly 82% of the approximately $166 billion in IEEPA duties collected from more than 330,000 importers across 53 million entries between April 2025 and February 2026 — about $127 billion including statutory interest under 19 U.S.C. § 1505(c) — is eligible for refund through Phase 1. That leaves roughly 18% outside Phase 1 scope. Those entries still need protests or CIT actions.

What Phase 1 Does Not Cover

Entries past the 80-day post-liquidation window are not in Phase 1. The administrative pathway for those entries is the CBP protest under 19 U.S.C. § 1514, which has a hard 180-day clock from the date of liquidation. Once that window closes, the only remaining pathway is CIT litigation under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i).

CBP has not announced timing for Phase 2. Importers with entries that fall outside Phase 1 should not wait for it.

Processing Timing

CBP estimates that valid Phase 1 refunds will be issued 60 to 90 days following acceptance of the CAPE Declaration, unless a compliance concern triggers further review. That is the post-acceptance window. It does not include the time to validate, format, and file the Declaration in the first place — which depends on the importer's data readiness.

What This Changes About Strategy

For importers whose IEEPA exposure is concentrated in unliquidated or recently-liquidated entries, CAPE Phase 1 is now the primary path for those entries. Filing a CAPE Declaration is faster and lower-cost than filing protests one at a time.

For importers whose exposure spans entries past the 80-day window, CAPE does not change the strategy. Those entries still need protests filed inside the 180-day window or CIT actions to preserve rights afterward.

For most mid-sized importers, the entry portfolio spans both. The right move is a CAPE filing for the Phase 1-eligible entries plus a protest or CIT filing for the rest.

Compliance Risk on CAPE Submissions

CBP has been clear that compliance concerns can extend the 60-90 day processing window. A CAPE Declaration with classification errors, valuation inconsistencies, or eligibility flags will trigger additional CBP review. For high-value claims, the cost of a CAPE Declaration that gets pulled for review can be measured in months of delay.

CAPE is a faster pathway. It is not a forgiving pathway.

What Tariff Refund Solutions Is Doing on CAPE

We are filing CAPE Declarations for clients beginning the week of April 20. Our process: pull ACE entry data under Power of Attorney, classify each entry by Phase 1 eligibility, validate HTS codes and IEEPA flags, format the CAPE Declaration to CBP's CSV spec, and file. Entries outside Phase 1 scope move to the protest or CIT pipeline in parallel.

Our administrative fee is reduced by 50% on CAPE recoveries — net to client between 92.5% and 96% of the gross refund.

What to Do This Week

1. Pull your ACE entry data for all imports between April 2025 and February 2026.
2. Identify which entries fall into Phase 1 scope: unliquidated, or liquidated within the past 80 days.
3. For Phase 1-eligible entries: prepare the CAPE Declaration. Validate HTS codes and IEEPA duty flags. Submit through ACE.
4. For entries outside Phase 1: move them into the protest or CIT pipeline immediately. Do not wait for Phase 2.
5. Track liquidation dates on a rolling basis. Entries currently outside the 80-day Phase 1 window may liquidate into it, or may cross out of the 180-day protest window.

CAPE Phase 1 is the most important development since the Supreme Court ruling. It does not eliminate the protest and CIT pathways — it sits alongside them. Importers who treat CAPE as the only pathway will leave 18% of their exposure on the table.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. CAPE eligibility depends on specific facts of each entry. Consult a qualified trade attorney for guidance specific to your situation.