The Supreme Court said the tariffs were illegal. Companies are asking for their money back. And U.S. Customs officials are saying no.
That's the situation playing out right now, according to reporting by the Financial Times, as the Trump administration works to hold onto as much as $150 billion in tariff revenue collected under authority the nation's highest court has already struck down.
CBP Is Rejecting Refund Attempts, Both Routes
When the Supreme Court ruled last month that IEEPA tariffs were unlawful, importers moved quickly to start recovering what they'd paid. Two main options were available: filing a Post Summary Correction (PSC) to amend entries that hadn't been officially closed yet, and filing formal protests on entries that had already been liquidated.
CBP is blocking both.
According to people familiar with the matter reported by the Financial Times, customs officials are rejecting PSC submissions outright and suspending protest filings, the two primary administrative pathways importers have been using to reclaim their duties. This leaves companies in a holding pattern with no clear path to recovery through the standard administrative process, and pushes an already overwhelmed Court of International Trade to absorb even more cases.
The scale of what's at stake helps explain the pushback. More than 301,000 importers filed roughly 34 million entries subject to IEEPA duties. As of December, nearly 19.2 million of those entries were still unliquidated, meaning the potential volume of refund claims is staggering.
The Administration's Position: This Would Be Too Hard
CBP's argument in court this week was essentially that the refund process would be an undertaking of unprecedented size, one its systems aren't equipped to handle. The agency pushed back on the idea that it could simply reverse course on millions of entries across hundreds of thousands of importers.
Not everyone agrees with that framing. Some trade attorneys have pointed out that CBP already has automated systems in place for processing refunds, and that while the dollar amounts here are unusual, the underlying mechanics of a tariff refund are routine and well-understood. The scale is new; the process isn't.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, has been blunt about the administration's intentions. He suggested publicly that repayments could take weeks, months, or even years to materialize, and expressed doubt that American companies and consumers would ever see the money at all.
Why This Confirms What We've Been Saying: Protect Your Claim Now
This is exactly the scenario that makes a protective refund claim so important.
The assumption many importers made, that the Supreme Court ruling would trigger some kind of automatic or streamlined refund process, is not playing out that way. CBP is not processing PSCs. CBP is not honoring protests. The administrative pathway has effectively been closed off, at least for now, and the legal fight is shifting entirely to the courts.
Michael Williams, an attorney with experience in federal tax refunds, has been clear on this point: the CIT's March 4 order directing refunds is a reviewable decision. A higher court, potentially the Supreme Court itself, could modify or overturn it. Any importer who hasn't formally established their claim in the meantime could find themselves without legal recourse, regardless of what the CIT ultimately orders.
The FT's reporting makes the risk concrete: CBP's rejections are pushing everything into the Court of International Trade, which is already flooded with hundreds of repayment claims. The importers who filed early, who got cases on the docket and preserved their rights through formal action, are far better positioned than those who waited for the administrative process to sort itself out.
Where Things Stand Right Now
On March 4, Judge Richard Eaton of the CIT took a meaningful step, ordering CBP to stop applying IEEPA tariff codes when finalizing importers' entries going forward. That order creates an avenue for importers to secure refunds, but its implementation remains uncertain, with a government appeal widely expected.
A follow-up hearing was scheduled for March 6 to address entries that have already been finalized and how to handle refund claims from importers without active cases before the court.
Even trade attorneys who are confident that refunds will eventually come acknowledge that the how and when are genuinely unknown. As one senior trade lawyer told the Financial Times, the situation is effectively unprecedented, companies are legally entitled to money back, but the mechanism for actually getting it hasn't been established, and the government is actively making it harder to get there through normal channels.
The Bottom Line
The window to act through administrative channels may be closing faster than anyone expected. CBP's rejection of PSCs and protests means the courthouse is now the primary arena, and having a case on file isn't just a good idea anymore, it may be the only real option left for many importers.
If you paid IEEPA tariffs and haven't yet taken formal steps to protect your refund claim, the picture this week is a stark reminder of why waiting carries real risk.
This article is based on reporting by Stefania Palma, Aime Williams, and Peter Foster at the Financial Times, published March 6, 2026. It is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified trade attorney for guidance specific to your situation.