In February 2026, the US Supreme Court held in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give the President authority to impose tariffs. A very large share of the duties collected on imports since 2025 were imposed under exactly that authority.
The ruling itself said nothing about refunds. What followed has been a sequence: the Court of International Trade ordered refunds, US Customs and Border Protection began processing them in phases from April 2026, and the government appealed the part of the order covering older, already liquidated entries. As this is written in October 2026, that appeal is unresolved.
None of which is a reason to wait. Whatever the courts decide about the hardest cases, the importers who recover money will be the ones whose records are in order, whose deadlines were protected, and who knew which entries were theirs. Most small and mid-sized importers are not in that position yet.
The short version
- Only the importer of record is entitled to a refund. If your supplier imported on a delivered duty paid basis and charged you a tariff-inclusive price, the refund goes to them, not you. Your remedy, if any, is contractual.
- Not every tariff is affected. The ruling covers IEEPA tariffs only. Duties under Section 232, Section 301 and other authorities are untouched.
- Liquidation status decides your route. Unliquidated entries, recently liquidated entries and long-liquidated entries sit in different places in the process, and the last group is the one being fought over.
- Protest deadlines are real and they do not wait for the appeal. Missing one can forfeit the claim regardless of how the litigation ends.
- Decide now what you owe customers if you passed tariffs through as a surcharge. The question is coming, from them or from their lawyers.
Who is actually owed the money?
The importer of record: the party named on the customs entry who paid the duty to CBP. That is a legal status, not a commercial one.
This catches out a surprising number of businesses. If you bought on DDP terms, your supplier or their customs broker was almost certainly the importer of record. You paid the tariff economically, but you did not pay it to the government. If you used a marketplace or a third-party logistics provider that imported on your behalf, check whose number is on the entries before assuming anything.
If you were not the importer of record but bore the cost, read your purchase contracts. Some include price adjustment clauses that arguably cover refunded duties. Most do not. The commercial conversation with a supplier who is about to receive a refund for duties you paid them is worth having early and politely.
Which tariffs are covered, and which are not?
| Tariff authority | Typical use | Affected by the ruling? |
|---|---|---|
| IEEPA | Broad country-level and "reciprocal" tariffs imposed by emergency declaration | Yes, this is what the Court struck down |
| Section 232 | National security tariffs on specific products such as steel and aluminium | No |
| Section 301 | Tariffs following trade practice investigations, notably on many Chinese goods | No |
| Section 201 and others | Safeguards and remaining trade remedies | No |
Many entries carry more than one tariff. A single line can include an IEEPA duty and a Section 301 duty. Only the IEEPA portion is in play, so the refund amount is rarely the whole duty paid. Also watch for replacement measures: several tariffs have since been reimposed under other authorities, and those are not refundable on the same basis.
What should an importer do this month?
1. Pull the entry data. Through the ACE portal, or via your customs broker, get a list of every entry since the IEEPA tariffs began, with the tariff lines, the duty amounts by authority, and the liquidation status of each entry. This is the single most important step, and the one most businesses have not done.
2. Sort entries into three buckets.
- Unliquidated. CBP's phased process was built to handle these first. Make sure the entries are being processed and track them.
- Liquidated recently. Entries within the protest window can be protected by filing a protest. The general rule under US customs law is a 180-day window from liquidation. Calendar every one.
- Liquidated long ago. These are the entries the appeal is about. Do not write them off, but do not book them as an asset either. Keep the documentation ready.
3. Follow CBP's own guidance, not a blog's. CBP publishes process updates through its Cargo Systems Messaging Service. The procedure has changed several times this year and will likely change again after the appeal.
4. Be careful with refund recovery firms. A lot of contingency-fee firms appeared after the ruling. Some are competent customs specialists. Some take a large share of money your broker could have recovered with a protest. Ask what they will do that your licensed customs broker or trade counsel cannot, and what percentage they keep.
5. Get the accounting right. Under most accounting frameworks, a refund that depends on an unresolved appeal is a contingent gain and should not be recognised until it is realised or virtually certain. Talk to your accountant before you show it to a lender or an investor. A refund also has tax consequences in the year it is received, because the original duty was likely deducted as a cost.
What do you owe your customers?
This is the question that is not legal yet, and is about to become commercial.
If you added an explicit "tariff surcharge" to invoices, customers will reasonably ask whether a refunded duty means a refunded surcharge. If you simply raised prices, the question is softer but still coming, especially from large accounts with procurement teams.
There is no single right answer, but there are three defensible positions:
- Pass through what you recover, when you recover it. Cleanest for line-item surcharges. Commit to the principle now; settle the amount when the money arrives.
- Hold prices and reinvest. Reasonable where you raised prices across the board and absorbed part of the tariff yourself. Be ready to show the arithmetic.
- Credit against future orders. Useful for retaining key accounts and avoids cash leaving the business before the appeal resolves.
What does not work is silence followed by a customer discovering the refund on their own. Decide your position, document it, and brief whoever answers the phone.
How does this change pricing from here?
It does not end tariff risk. The authorities that survived the ruling remain, and new measures can be imposed under them. The lesson of the last eighteen months is that tariff exposure is an operating variable, not a one-off event, and pricing should be built to absorb it. Our 90-day pricing playbook for tariff volatility sets out the mechanics: surcharge structures with clear triggers, review dates, and contract language that works in both directions.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Supreme Court ruling mean every tariff since 2025 will be refunded?
No. Only duties imposed under IEEPA are affected, and recovery for older liquidated entries depends on the outcome of the government's appeal.
We bought from a supplier who imported the goods. Can we claim?
Not from CBP. Only the importer of record can. Your route, if any, runs through your supply contract and your relationship with that supplier.
Will we receive interest?
Refunds processed so far have generally included interest, but the treatment of disputed entries depends on the appeal. Do not forecast it as certain.
What is the single most common mistake?
Waiting for the appeal before pulling the entry data. The records take weeks to assemble, and protest deadlines keep running in the meantime.
Where to go next
If you need entry data organised, deadlines calendared and the customer-facing position written down as one piece of work, that sits inside our business operations consulting. For sector context see our notes on logistics and supply chain and retail and consumer, or talk to us. This post is general information, not legal advice: for your own entries, work with a licensed customs broker or trade counsel.
