Tariff Refund Phase 3 Opens Oct. 6. Only Plaintiffs Qualify

U.S. Customs and Border Protection opens Phase 3 of its tariff refund system on Oct. 6, and only importers with a Court of International Trade lawsuit can file.

If your store has ever been the importer of record on a container, a pallet of freight, or a run of big-ticket units, you may have money sitting at CBP from IEEPA duties you paid before the February 2026 revocation. Most of that money is already moving through earlier phases, so the first job is finding out which bucket your entries fall into. I run Ecommerce Paradise for operators who sell expensive goods, and this is a deadline-driven cash question for the ones who import.

Here is what CBP and the trade advisors are saying about Phase 3, how the refund pool got built, who actually gets paid, and the six checks to run before launch day. If you are a pure dropshipper, I cover your angle too, because the refund still touches your supplier costs. For the basics of that model, start with my guide to what high-ticket dropshipping is.

Refunds go to the legal entity named as importer of record, so the LLC you form today decides who gets paid on tomorrow’s shipments. Northwest Registered Agent is where I’d form it, because the renewal price stays the same as year one with no upsell ladder, unlike the cheap formation sites. Form your LLC with Northwest →

CBP Opens CAPE Phase 3 on Oct. 6, Plaintiffs Only

CBP told the Court of International Trade on Sept. 15 that Phase 3 of its refund tool, called CAPE, will deploy Oct. 6, according to Thompson Coburn’s Sept. 23 trade alert. Phase 3 covers entries that have reached final liquidation, the stage where the standard protest window has closed.

Three conditions all have to be true. The entry must be finally liquidated, the filer must be a plaintiff in a pending CIT refund case, and the entry must fall inside a court reliquidation order, per C.H. Robinson’s Sept. 17 advisory. Importers who gave CBP a valid importer of record number by July 30 can file declarations on launch day. Later submissions go on a rolling basis, according to Troutman Pepper Locke’s Oct. 2 analysis.

The scale is large. CBP’s own figures, as relayed by C.H. Robinson, show more than 286,000 CAPE declarations submitted, over 201,000 accepted, and about $134.7 billion in refunds accepted for processing. Roughly $122 billion, interest included, has been certified and sent to Treasury for payment.

That needs a baseline. Leyton’s Sept. 17 breakdown puts the total at about $166 billion paid across 53 million entries by 330,000 importers. So $122 billion certified is roughly 73 percent of everything collected. Phase 3 is the long tail.

How long is the tail? ALS International’s Sept. 24 note says about $11.4 billion sits in finally liquidated entries, which is 6.9 percent of all IEEPA duties collected. ALS also estimates another $25 billion stays outside all three phases because of drawback claims or unresolved protests.

Two housekeeping numbers matter to small importers. CBP is holding 20,184 refunds worth $1.3 billion because the importer never supplied ACH banking details, per the C.H. Robinson advisory. That works out to roughly $64,000 per stuck refund. And refunds typically land 60 to 90 days after acceptance by ACH deposit, according to Corp-Intl’s status explainer.

One more flag, from the Logistics Strategies newsletter on Sept. 29: CBP began voiding inaccurate importer of record records on Sept. 18 with no grace period. If your Form 5106 lists your broker’s address and phone instead of yours, that record is at risk. I could not confirm this on a CBP page, so treat it as a newsletter report and check with your broker.

How the IEEPA Refund Pool Grew to $166 Billion

The pool exists because of a February 2026 Supreme Court ruling that struck down the IEEPA tariffs, per Coppersmith’s Sept. 18 client note. The president revoked the executive orders on Feb. 20, and the Court of International Trade ordered CBP to refund all IEEPA duties on March 4, according to Thompson Coburn.

CBP then rolled out CAPE in stages. Phase 1 opened April 20 for recent unliquidated entries. Phase 2 opened June 29 for entries flagged for reconciliation. Phase 3 was slated for Aug. 20 and slipped to Oct. 6, per the same Thompson Coburn alert.

I have covered this thread since June. That month I wrote about the move to freeze refunds during appeal. In July I explained why most sellers miss out on the money.

In August I showed how big retailers were pocketing their refunds. Phase 3 is the first phase where a lawsuit is the entry ticket.

There is real disagreement on what to do about that. The government has said it intends to appeal the CIT order requiring refunds of all duties, arguing the court lacks authority for a universal injunction, per Thompson Coburn. Corp-Intl and Leyton both note that the Federal Circuit appeal could decide whether non-plaintiffs can get finally liquidated refunds through administrative channels.

Coppersmith reads the same uncertainty as a reason to move now. Its advice is to contact trade counsel, identify finally liquidated entries, and avoid withdrawing IEEPA-only protests until a reliquidation order arrives. It points to statute of limitations pressure starting around February 2027. Troutman adds two risks on the other side of the ledger: CBP may offset refunds against other debts an importer owes, and at least one consumer class action has already been filed against an importer over how refund money was handled.

None of the sources I read prices out the cost of a CIT lawsuit, and fees vary by counsel. That gap matters, and I return to it below.

Who Gets Paid in Phase 3 and What It Means for Your Store

My read is that this story splits high-ticket sellers into three groups, and only one of them has a deadline this week.

Group one is the classic dropshipper. Your supplier or their freight forwarder is the importer of record, so the refund lands with them. You have no claim and nothing to file. Your angle is indirect: if your supplier is cashing refund checks, your cost per unit is a fair conversation to have.

Group two imports directly. That covers private label sellers, anyone holding inventory at a 3PL, and anyone buying container loads of patio furniture, outdoor power gear or mobility equipment. If that is you, the money belongs to the entity on your entries, and the status of those entries decides your path.

Here is hypothetical math, not a reported figure. Say your entity imported $200,000 of landed goods that carried a blended 20 percent IEEPA duty. That is $40,000 of duties. If the entries are unliquidated or recently liquidated, your broker files through Phase 1 or 2 and you wait 60 to 90 days. If they are finally liquidated, you are in Phase 3 territory and need a CIT case and a reliquidation order first.

Group three is the awkward one: finally liquidated entries and no lawsuit. Here are my thresholds, and they are opinion. At $5,000 owed, paying counsel to chase it probably does not pencil unless your lawyer bundles it with other work. At $50,000 owed, doing nothing while a statute of limitations clock runs is the expensive choice. Between those numbers, get a quote and compare it to your recovery.

The entity question deserves its own paragraph. CBP pays the importer of record, not the brand name on your website. Sellers who run storefront sales and direct imports out of one LLC have a muddier paper trail than sellers who separated them. If you have been meaning to split them, Bizee can stand up a second LLC for an import line quickly. And if your business address is a home address, my guide on getting a business address without renting an office fixes that before your customs records go on file.

Cash handling is the next trap. A $40,000 refund is a one-time event, not a revenue trend. Book it as its own line so your margin reporting stays honest, and read my breakdown of why your ecommerce payout is not your profit before you treat it as ad budget. A bookkeeping platform like Finaloop keeps the refund separate from cost of goods sold.

Do not assume the relief is permanent. Duties keep moving in both directions. I covered the list of 77 Chinese goods targeted for cuts. I also covered the 25 percent list that hit trailers and safes. A refund on last year’s duties does not lower this quarter’s landed cost.

Then there is the pass-through question. Troutman’s note on a consumer class action is a warning that your stance on refund money should be a decision, not an accident. For a small store I would keep recovered duties as margin repair, document that choice in writing, and avoid marketing language that promises customers a cut you never intended to give.

If direct importing sounds like more paperwork than you want, the cleanest exit is to stop being the importer. A domestic-stocked supplier like Inventory Source puts customs forms on someone else’s desk. Wholesale2b works the same way for general catalogs.

If you would rather hand the whole build to someone who has done it, my turnkey done-for-you team builds high-ticket stores on domestic supplier chains from day one.

Want a store where tariff paperwork is someone else’s problem? My team builds and runs high-ticket stores on domestic suppliers for you. See the turnkey done-for-you service →

Six Checks to Run Before Phase 3 Opens Oct. 6

Here are the six checks, in the order I would run them. The first three cost nothing and take a phone call.

Ask your customs broker for an entry list by status. Request every entry filed under your importer of record number since IEEPA duties began, tagged as unliquidated, liquidated or finally liquidated. That one spreadsheet tells you which phase applies to each dollar.
Confirm your ACH enrollment in ACE. The $1.3 billion held for missing banking details is the cheapest mistake in this whole process. If you live abroad, make sure the US account CBP pays into is one you can actually reach, and know how you will move the money out. A multi-currency account like Wise helps with that second step.
Check that Form 5106 shows your own contact details. Your address, email and phone should be there, not your broker’s, given the newsletter report about voided records since Sept. 18. Ask your broker to confirm in writing.
Get a counsel quote if you hold finally liquidated entries. Ask trade counsel this week whether a CIT suit makes sense now or whether waiting on the Federal Circuit appeal is safer, and do not withdraw IEEPA-only protests before a reliquidation order. Use the $5,000 and $50,000 thresholds above as a starting filter. For the legal paperwork that follows, a tool like DocHub speeds up signing and returning documents.
Hand the document gathering to a virtual assistant. Entry summaries, commercial invoices and proof of payment take hours to pull together. A contractor from OnlineJobs.ph can build one folder for your broker and counsel so you do not do it at midnight.
Write your refund policy before the money arrives. Decide whether recovered duties repair margin, fund price cuts or both, and note it in your books. If your import setup is tangled across suppliers and entities, a quick discovery call this week beats guessing.

If you are earlier in the build than all this, grab my free beginner’s guide first and pick your model before you pick your supply chain. My list of high-ticket niches is the next stop after that.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I qualify if I run a normal dropshipping store?
Almost certainly not directly. Refunds go to the importer of record, and in a standard dropship setup that is your supplier or their forwarder. Ask your supplier whether they plan to pass any savings along, and see my earlier breakdown on how that played out for big retailers.

Is the Phase 3 refund automatic?
No. Per Leyton, eligible importers must actively file CAPE declarations and pass validation. Your broker usually handles the filing, but you have to confirm that it is happening.

What if I missed the July 30 importer of record deadline?
Per Troutman, later submissions are processed on a rolling biweekly basis, and the Logistics Strategies newsletter says those importers await further CBP guidance. Ask your broker to submit your number now rather than waiting.

How long until money arrives?
Corp-Intl says refunds typically arrive 60 to 90 days after acceptance. Congressional concern about delays beyond CBP’s own 90-day target, noted by Leyton, is a reason to plan cash flow without counting on the date.

Could CBP keep part of my refund?
Possibly. Troutman flags that the government may offset refunds against other debts an importer owes. Clear any open CBP balances with your broker before you file.

Is this refund taxable?
I am not a tax or legal advisor, so ask your accountant. My guide to filing taxes as an ecommerce seller covers the basics of keeping clean records.

Want to compare notes on tariff refunds and import setups with other store owners and me inside the community? Join the Skool community →

Make the broker call before Oct. 6, even if the answer is that your supplier is the importer. A confirmed “not mine” costs you nothing, and a missed “yours” can cost five figures. Subscribe to the YouTube channel for daily breakdowns. More breaking news coming through the day.

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Trevor Fenner

Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.