$85 Billion in Tariff Refunds Are Stuck in Processing. Here’s What Amazon Sellers Need to Know.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has accepted approximately $85 billion in tariff refund claims for processing, but only a fraction of that money has reached the businesses waiting for it. For Amazon sellers who import products into the United States, the gap between what is owed and what has been paid out tells an important story about where things stand today.

The Numbers Behind the Backlog

CBP built its CAPE system to handle refund claims tied to tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in February 2026 that those tariffs exceeded presidential authority. The scale of the effort is significant.

The latest court filing shows the following:

• Approximately $85 billion accepted for processing
• About $20.6 billion sent to the U.S. Treasury for disbursement
• Roughly $166 billion in total duties owed to importers
• More than 157,400 declarations submitted by importers and brokers
• Approximately 108,760 declarations deemed valid
• More than 15.8 million tariff entries covered by valid declarations

The figures make one thing clear: the system is moving, but the pace of actual payments trails far behind the volume of accepted claims.

Why Payments Are Taking So Long

The Gap Between Accepted and Disbursed

CBP's CAPE system processes refund claims in phases. Phase 1 focuses on entries that are either unliquidated or still within 80 days of liquidation. That means several categories of entries are not yet eligible for processing, including certain reconciled entries, drawback claims, open protests, and entries without a liquidation status in CBP's ACE system.

CBP has not announced a timeline for handling finally liquidated entries or more complex cases. That leaves many importers in a waiting period with no clear endpoint.

Payment Setup Issues

The court filing also noted that more than 4,000 consolidated payments have not moved to the Treasury because the importers involved have not set up digital payment capability. All refunds are issued electronically, and registering for ACH payments through the ACE portal is a required step before CBP sends any money. If your business has not completed that setup, your refund stays in the queue regardless of where your claim stands.

What This Means for Your Amazon Business

Cash Flow Planning

The refund program gives import-dependent sellers a path to recover duties paid under tariffs that courts later struck down. For many businesses, those were real costs absorbed into pricing, inventory decisions, or operating reserves. A successful claim could free up capital for new inventory, offset past import costs, or improve your working capital position.

The catch is that payment timelines remain uncertain. You should not build short-term cash flow plans around a refund arriving on a specific date. CBP estimates valid refunds go out within 60 to 90 days of a claim being accepted, but compliance issues at the entry level cause further delays.

Filing Your Claim

If you have not yet submitted a declaration, the data suggests many importers have already entered the system. As of the latest update, more than 157,400 declarations had been submitted and nearly 16 million entries were accepted in Phase 1. Of those, 8.5 million entries have been certified for repayment.

Refunds are not automatic. Every importer must actively file a CAPE Declaration to receive money back. Before filing, there are a few things worth confirming. Your business needs ACE portal access, since only the importer of record or a licensed customs broker who filed the original entries submit a CAPE Declaration. Your business also needs ACH enrollment on file in ACE, since CBP does not issue refunds by check. You should also ask your customs broker to pull an IEEPA-specific entry report so you separate those duties from Section 301 or Section 232 charges; only IEEPA duties are eligible.

What to Watch For

CBP continues to update the court on its progress, and the scope of Phase 1 processing will expand over time. Any change to how finally liquidated entries are handled could open a much larger pool of eligible refunds. Industry sources expect further phases to roll out through the fall of 2026, though CBP has not published firm dates.

Working with a licensed customs broker gives you better visibility into where your specific entries stand and whether additional steps are needed to keep your claims moving forward.

The Bigger Picture

The tariff refund pipeline reflects a legal and logistical process that has no real precedent in scale. Courts struck down tariffs; CBP now has to build the systems and staffing to return billions of dollars to tens of thousands of importers. Progress is real, but the distance between $20.6 billion disbursed and $166 billion owed is a reminder that this process will take time.

For Amazon sellers, the most useful thing you do now is confirm your filing is in the system, make sure your digital payment setup is complete, and stay current on CBP's court filings for updates on Phase 2 eligibility.