Supreme Court Kills IEEPA Tariffs: A Refund Roadmap for Direct Importers

By: David F. Gremillion, J.D. LL.M. (Taxation)

Who was impacted?

If your company directly imports products from overseas—especially from countries like China, Canada, or Mexico—and paid “IEEPA tariffs” since 2025, you may now be entitled to significant refunds. The U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) have ruled that these IEEPA‑based tariff programs were unlawful and ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to remove the duties and return them to eligible importers.

Jeffords Anthony PLLC helps direct importers quantify potential IEEPA refunds, prepare for CBP’s automated refund process, and—when needed—work with Court of International Trade‑barred counsel to protect and pursue claims.

Which IEEPA tariffs and countries were affected?

The Supreme Court invalidated all tariff programs imposed under IEEPA beginning in 2025. Those programs included:

• Fentanyl‑related IEEPA tariffs on imports from China, Canada, and Mexico.

• Additional country‑specific IEEPA tariffs on certain imports from Brazil and India.

• Broad “reciprocal” IEEPA tariffs that applied extra duties to imports from nearly all other countries, based on perceived trade imbalances.

These decisions mean IEEPA tariffs collected on covered imports from China, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, and many other countries must be removed through liquidation or reliquidation, and eligible importers are due refunds with interest.

For direct importers bringing in finished goods, components, or raw materials from these countries, the potential recovery can be substantial.

How will CBP issue IEEPA tariff refunds?

In a key order, a CIT judge directed CBP to:

• Liquidate unliquidated entries without IEEPA tariffs.

• Reliquidate liquidated but not‑yet‑final entries without IEEPA tariffs.

• Extend relief to all importers of record with IEEPA‑tariffed entries, not just companies that had already filed lawsuits.

CBP has told the court that, because of the volume, it is developing an automated process in its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) system to calculate and issue IEEPA refunds. This process is expected to require importers to:

• Run ACE reports to identify entries where IEEPA tariffs were paid (especially entries involving China, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, and other heavily impacted origins).

• Submit data or declarations through a CBP/ACE refund interface once CBP finalizes and opens that portal.

• Track CBP liquidations, reliquidations, and eventual refund payments tied to their importer of record number.

The CIT has temporarily paused parts of its original refund order to allow CBP time to build this system, but has confirmed that importers who have not missed protest deadlines are entitled to IEEPA refunds.

Why direct importers should not take a “wait and see” approach

Even though CBP is working on a centralized ACE process, several risks remain for direct importers who simply wait:

• Finality and deadlines: Once liquidation becomes final for an entry and protest deadlines pass, the ability to recover IEEPA tariffs on that entry can be lost.

• Scope disputes: There may be disagreements over which products or countries were covered by specific IEEPA programs, particularly where imports already bear other tariffs (for example, Section 301 duties on Chinese goods, which remain in place).

• Government appeals and delays: The government can slow or narrow refunds through appeals or implementation choices, making it important to have a strategy rather than assuming a perfect automatic payout.

For companies directly importing from China, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, and other heavily tariffed sources, the dollars at stake can easily justify a structured legal and data‑driven response.

How Jeffords Anthony PLLC helps direct importers

Jeffords Anthony PLLC focuses on tax controversies and complex refund matters, and we apply that experience to IEEPA tariff recovery for direct importers. Working with your customs broker and, where appropriate, trade counsel admitted before the CIT, we help you:

• Map your exposure by country and program
  We review your imports from China, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, and other origins to identify shipments that were subject to IEEPA tariffs—such as fentanyl‑related or reciprocal duties—and separate them from other tariff programs that remain in effect.

• Build the ACE data foundation
  We coordinate ACE data pulls and internal records so you have a clean list of IEEPA‑tariffed entries ready to plug into CBP’s eventual ACE refund interface or forms, minimizing errors and disputes.

• Protect rights before they expire
  For entries where finality or protest deadlines are a concern, we evaluate whether additional action (such as protests or, through co‑counsel, CIT litigation) is necessary to keep IEEPA refund options open.

• Attorneys barred in the Court of International Trade
  Because tariff‑refund disputes ultimately fall under the Court of International Trade’s exclusive jurisdiction, our own attorney Philip Anthony is admitted to that court when a lawsuit or appeal becomes the right tool to secure or enforce refunds.

Our role is to give direct importers a single point of contact who understands both the tax/refund side and the customs/trade side of IEEPA recovery.

Next steps for direct importers from China, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and India

If you are a direct importer bringing goods from China, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, or other heavily impacted countries and you paid IEEPA tariffs since 2025, now is the time to prepare—not after CBP opens its ACE refund process. Steps you can begin with Jeffords Anthony PLLC include:

• Running ACE reports to capture all entries with IEEPA tariff lines tied to those origins.

• Creating an internal IEEPA‑refund file that matches entries to products, suppliers, and contract terms.

• Prioritizing high‑value lanes (for example, China‑origin goods already hit by other tariffs, or Canada/Mexico‑origin goods that did not claim USMCA benefits).

Jeffords Anthony PLLC can then help you turn that data into a proactive refund strategy aligned with CBP’s ACE process and, when necessary, with the requirements of the Court of International Trade.

To discuss your company’s IEEPA tariff refund options, contact Jeffords Anthony PLLC.