CAPE Phase 1 Launches April 20. What It Covers, What It Does Not, and What to Do Before It Goes Live
The IEEPA refund process has a launch date. On April 1, Judge Richard Eaton of the Court of International Trade confirmed that CBP is on track to deploy Phase 1 of CAPE by April 20, 2026. The March 31 status declaration from CBP's Brandon Lord shows the four system components are now between 68% and 88% complete, with the most significant progress in Mass Processing, which jumped 23 percentage points since the March 19 report and has entered ACE validation testing.
This post covers what Phase 1 will actually process, what gets excluded and why, the final liquidation question that the court resolved last week, the compliance flags CBP has signalled, and what the new ACE portal application means for importers still setting up accounts.
Where CAPE development stands
As of March 31, the Liquidation Engine is 88% complete, the Claim Portal is 82% complete, the Refund Segment is at 75%, and Mass Processing is at 68%. The Mass Processing engine is the component responsible for removing the 9903.01 and 9903.02 IEEPA HTS codes from entry summaries and recalculating duty as if those tariffs had never applied. Its entry into ACE validation testing is a real milestone because it is the technical core of the entire refund calculation. The other components handle intake, scheduling, and payment. Mass Processing determines the numbers.
CBP has stated that Phase 1, as currently scoped, will cover approximately 63% of entries on which IEEPA duties were paid or deposited. That leaves 37% for subsequent phases, and CBP has not provided a timeline for when those later phases will be ready.
What Phase 1 covers
Phase 1 accepts CAPE Declarations for two categories of entries: those that are unliquidated as of the filing date, and those that have liquidated but are still within the 90-day voluntary reliquidation window under 19 U.S.C. 1501. That 90-day window runs from the date of original liquidation. Once it closes, the entry moves into finally liquidated status under the standard customs rules and falls outside Phase 1 scope.
Phase 1 also covers entries where the liquidation status is Suspended, Extended, or Under Review, including entries subject to antidumping and countervailing duties in those categories. For these, CAPE will remove the IEEPA codes and recalculate duty, but the refund itself will not be issued immediately. It will come in the normal course when the entry reaches liquidation. The same applies to warehouse and warehouse withdrawal entries.
India and Brazil tariffs have been confirmed as fully included in the automated process. Interest on qualifying refunds is also covered, currently accruing at approximately $650 million per month nationwide.
What Phase 1 does not cover
Several entry categories are excluded from Phase 1. Entries flagged for reconciliation are out, as are entries designated on a drawback claim. Both categories carry a higher risk of over-refunding and require additional development before CBP can process them safely. Entries covered by an open protest are also excluded from Phase 1. Entries not filed in ACE and entries without a liquidation status in the system cannot be processed. Entries subject to antidumping and countervailing duties for which Commerce has issued liquidation instructions that are pending liquidation under 19 U.S.C. 1504(d) are also out.
Two categories that many importers are asking about are flatly excluded from the entire refund mandate, not just Phase 1. Section 301 duties, which include China tariffs, and Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum, and auto products, are separate tariff regimes that remain in effect. The court's orders address IEEPA duties specifically, and those other tariffs are not part of this process. De Minimis suspension duties are similarly excluded. If you paid those, the refund order does not apply.
The final liquidated entry question
This was the most significant legal development of the past two weeks. Under normal customs rules, entries that have passed the 180-day protest window are finally liquidated and cannot be reopened. That created real uncertainty about whether importers with older entries could recover at all.
Judge Eaton resolved it in the March 27 amended order. The court explicitly authorized CBP to reliquidate finally liquidated entries and directed that those entries be addressed without regard to the IEEPA duties. CBP acknowledged the order and confirmed it will develop the capability to process finally liquidated entries in a subsequent phase of CAPE. That phase has no announced timeline, but the legal question about whether these entries are covered is settled. They are.
The practical implication: importers with finally liquidated entries are entitled to refunds but cannot access them through Phase 1. The advice from NCBFAA counsel, and from most trade attorneys tracking this case, is to continue protesting those entries and to consider filing at the CIT to preserve rights while the administrative process develops.
CBP will be checking compliance and offsetting outstanding bills
This point deserves attention because it affects how importers should approach their CAPE declarations. CBP has been explicit in its status updates that Phase 1 will include spot-checking entries for compliance issues. It has also stated that future phases will include tools to seek offset on refunds where the same importer has outstanding duty bills on non-IEEPA duties for entries included in the declaration.
That means a CAPE filing is not just a refund request. It is also an opportunity for CBP to look at the entry for classification, valuation, country of origin, and other compliance issues. Importers should make sure their documentation is in order before filing. Entries with known problems should be reviewed carefully before they go on a CAPE Declaration. The refund may be real, but so is the review.
The protest timing question
The guidance from NCBFAA Customs Counsel is to keep filing protests and not assume that withdrawing an open protest to qualify for Phase 1 is a sensible trade. Phase 1 excludes entries with open protests. But it also excludes finally liquidated entries, and withdrawing a protest on a not-yet-finally-liquidated entry could accelerate the path to final liquidation without guaranteeing Phase 1 access. The rules around protest withdrawal and CAPE eligibility are not settled. Until they are, maintaining protests is the conservative position.
On timing, CBP has said that if at least 10 days remain on the 90-day voluntary reliquidation clock when a declaration is submitted, it expects to be able to process the entry through Phase 1. That is not a guarantee, and waiting to protest while hoping CAPE processes in time carries its own risk. Both tracks, filing protests and preparing for CAPE, can run in parallel.
The new ACE portal application
Separately, CBP released a modernized web-based ACE Portal account application on April 1. The new digital form replaces the old PDF application for most account types and is designed to speed up processing for CBP personnel. It covers new applications for Importer, Exporter, Protest Filer, and other sub-account types. The one exception: companies that need to set up the Importer sub-account view for multiple Importer of Record numbers still use the legacy PDF form.
CBP is strongly encouraging the use of the new web-based application going forward and will temporarily continue accepting the legacy PDF during the transition. If you have clients who still need to establish ACE access before CAPE goes live, the new application is the faster path. The launch date of April 20 is real, and account setup takes time.
What to do now
If you have not enrolled in ACH electronic refunds through the ACE Portal, do that today. CBP reported that more than 12,300 certified refunds have been rejected since February 6 because recipients had not provided valid banking information. A CAPE refund issued to an account without ACH setup will be rejected and delayed, with no interest accruing during the wait.
Start compiling your entry data. CAPE will require a CSV file listing entry summaries on which IEEPA duties were paid. Knowing which of your entries are unliquidated, within the 90-day window, or finally liquidated will determine how to prioritize the filing and what strategy to follow for entries that fall outside the Phase 1 scope.
Our customs brokerage team is tracking every CBP status update and CIT order as they come in. If you want to talk through how Phase 1 applies to your specific entries, reach out to your ShipTech account manager directly.