Executive Summary
CBP deployed CAPE Phase 3 at 5:10 a.m. eastern time on October 6, 2026, for finally liquidated entries filed by plaintiffs for which the Court ordered reliquidation.
CBP emailed plaintiffs’ counsel when the plaintiff had provided a valid importer of record number by July 30, 2026. Other plaintiffs are to receive further instructions.
By noon on launch day, 477 declarations covering 425,517 entries had passed Phase 3’s file and entry validations.
Phase 3 does not cover importers who are not plaintiffs. CAPE’s broader refund processing figures do not change that limit.
CAPE Phase 3 opened IEEPA refunds for finally liquidated entries on October 6, 2026, but only for plaintiffs whose entries are covered by a Court order for reliquidation. In its October 6 declaration, CBP said it notified eligible plaintiffs through counsel if they had provided a valid importer of record number by July 30, 2026. Importers who are not plaintiffs are outside this phase.
Which Finally Liquidated Entries Does CAPE Phase 3 Cover?
CAPE Phase 3 covers finally liquidated entries filed by plaintiffs when the Court has ordered reliquidation. That is narrower than a general IEEPA refund process: an entry’s final liquidation alone does not make it eligible for Phase 3.
CBP said plaintiffs who provided a valid importer of record number by July 30, 2026, were emailed through their counsel and can now file Phase 3 declarations. Plaintiffs who provided that number after July 30 are to receive additional instructions from CBP. The declaration does not say those later instructions have already been issued.
Phase 3 does not cover importers who are not plaintiffs. The existence of CAPE, or the fact that other CAPE phases process other entry types, does not put a non-plaintiff’s finally liquidated entries into this phase.
How Does CAPE Phase 3 Process IEEPA Refunds?
CAPE processes IEEPA refunds through declarations in the Automated Commercial Environment, then CBP reviews and liquidates or reliquidates eligible entries before refund disbursement. CBP’s IEEPA Duty Refunds guidance says a declaration is a comma-separated values file listing entries, filed through an ACE Secure Data Portal account, not through the Automated Broker Interface.
For the CSV file rules and rejection handling, see the CAPE filing guide. For which entries qualify in general, see the IEEPA refund eligibility guide.
The guidance says only the importer of record for listed entries, or the authorized customs broker that filed those entries on the importer’s behalf, may file a declaration. General CAPE guidance requires an ACE Portal account and bank account information for refunds. Refunds are consolidated by importer of record, or by a party designated through CBP Form 4811, and by liquidation date.
The guidance says valid refunds are generally issued within 60 to 90 days after declaration acceptance, unless CBP needs further compliance review. Some entries, including entries that are extended, suspended, under review, or warehouse entries, retain their liquidation status, with validated refunds issued at liquidation. CBP may also net overpayments and underpayments at liquidation or reliquidation, or divert refunds to offset legally fixed and undisputed debts to the United States.
What Did CAPE Phase 3 Accept on October 6?
By noon eastern time on October 6, CBP had accepted 477 Phase 3 declarations covering 425,517 entries. Acceptance means the declarations passed both file and entry validations; it is not a statement that refunds for all those entries had been paid.
CBP’s broader CAPE totals, measured at 3 p.m. eastern time on October 2, show why declaration acceptance and payment are different steps. Of 297,887 declarations submitted, 209,262 passed file validations. Those accepted declarations covered 27.4 million entries, but 6.2 million entries failed entry-level validation. The primary reasons were that CBP’s 90-day reliquidation authority had passed, the entry lacked a Chapter 99 tariff number used to assess IEEPA duties, or the entry had already appeared on an earlier CAPE declaration.
As of the same October 2 snapshot, approximately $136.6 billion in potential and certified refunds had been accepted for processing. CBP had completed certification of approximately $126 billion in refunds, including duties and interest, and sent them to Treasury for disbursement. Separately, 20,362 refunds totaling approximately $1.1 billion had not been transmitted because the importer or its authorized Form 4811 designee had not provided ACH account information. File validation failures also included importer of record or filer mismatches, incorrect or nonexistent entry numbers, and CSV files that did not match the ACE template.
How Do CAPE Phases 1 and 2 Differ From Phase 3?
CAPE Phases 1 and 2 address entry situations different from Phase 3’s finally liquidated plaintiff entries. CBP’s guidance describes Phase 1 as covering certain unliquidated entries and certain entries within 80 days of liquidation. It describes Phase 2 as covering entries flagged for reconciliation when the reconciliation entry is not yet on file.
CBP separately reported that functionality deployed June 29, 2026, allowed declarations to include unliquidated entries, or entries liquidated within the preceding 80 days, that were flagged for reconciliation and had no Reconciliation Entry on file. Those descriptions do not expand Phase 3. The phase that applies depends on the entry’s status and, for Phase 3, the plaintiff and court-order requirements.
What CAPE Phase 3 Dates Should Plaintiffs Track?
- April 20, 2026: CBP made the first CAPE functionality available at 7:11 a.m. eastern time.
- June 29, 2026: CBP deployed functionality for certain unliquidated and recently liquidated entries flagged for reconciliation.
- July 30, 2026: CBP’s cutoff for the valid importer of record number tied to the initial Phase 3 email notice.
- October 2, 2026: CBP’s reported overall CAPE processing figures are measured as of 3 p.m. eastern time.
- October 6, 2026: CBP deployed Phase 3 at 5:10 a.m. eastern time and reported its first-day accepted declarations at noon.
What Should Plaintiffs Do for a CAPE Phase 3 Refund?
Confirm the notice and cutoff. Check with counsel whether CBP sent the Phase 3 email and whether a valid importer of record number was provided by July 30, 2026. If it was provided later, wait for CBP’s additional instructions rather than assuming access is available.
Prepare the filing account and data. Confirm ACE Portal access and refund bank details. Use the CAPE template and check importer of record and filer information, entry numbers, and whether each entry meets the applicable phase criteria.
Resolve payment holds. Confirm that ACH details are on file for the importer or authorized Form 4811 designee. Keep the entry list, declaration status, and refund status under review because a declaration accepted for processing does not itself confirm payment.
What Has CBP Left Open About CAPE Phase 3?
CBP has not stated in its declaration when it will send additional instructions to plaintiffs who provided an importer of record number after July 30, 2026. It also does not specify how long Phase 3 review or reliquidation will take, or when the 477 declarations accepted on launch day will produce refunds.
CBP’s general guidance gives a typical 60-to-90-day refund period after declaration acceptance, subject to review, but does not state a separate Phase 3 schedule. It also gives no CAPE Phase 3 route for importers who are not plaintiffs. Those importers should not treat Phase 3’s launch or its first-day totals as eligibility for their own finally liquidated entries.
Sources
- Declaration of Brandon Lord Responding to September 17, 2026 Court Order, Freestyle World, Inc. v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Court No. 26-01088 (U.S. Court of International Trade), U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) Duty Refunds, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
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